Iraq
Irak or Iraq, in long form the Republic of Iraq, is a country in the Near East, located in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Iraq is sometimes called “the land of two rivers” in Arabic, in reference to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
General presentation
Official name: Republic of Iraq
Type of regime: Republic
Area: 438,517km2.
Capital: Baghdad
Main cities : Basra, Kirkoûk, Arbîl, Mossoul
Official language(s): Arabic, Kurdish
National holiday: July 14
Population (2019): 39.3 million
Population growth: 2.5% (2018)
Literacy rate (2015): 81.5
Source: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs
Economic situation
The country’s security and economic situation has been developing positively since the beginning of 2017. This dynamic is driven on the one hand by the victory against Daech announced on December 09, 2017, and on the other hand by the good performance of the price of a barrel of crude oil (average of $65.8 over the year 2018 against $50 over the year 2017, $62.5 over the first 7 months of 2019)
Iraq is also, with approximately 40 million inhabitants (a census is expected in 2020), one of the largest markets in the region with a rapidly growing demand for consumer and capital goods. Finally, the country has the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves (143 billion barrels) and 12th largest proven gas reserves.
Iraq’s GDP has been steadily increasing over the past two years ($193 billion in 2017, $226 billion in 2018) and should reach $247 billion in 2019. This dynamic is largely explained by a recovery in crude oil exports (around 3.5 Mb/d) and a rising average price per barrel.
Source : DGT
Bilateral Relations
Bilateral investment treaties
Work in process
Double taxation agreements
Work in process
Free trade agreements
Work in process
Leading sector for Swiss companies
Work in process
Indicators
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 E | 2019 E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (in billions of USD) | 171.7 | 192.7 | 230.91 | 250.07 |
| GDP per capita (USD) | 4533 | 4958 | 5.793 | 6.117 |
| Growth rate | 13.1% | -2.1% | 1.5% | 3.2% |
| Unemployment rate | 15% | 15.1% | ||
| Inflation rate | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Public debt (% of GDP) | 66.9 | 59.726 | 51.771 | 48.852 |
| Budget balance (% of GDP) | 13.38 | -4.34 | 15.85 | 7.87 |
| Current account balance (% of GDP) | -7.8 | -2.3 | 6.9 | 3.1 |
(Sources FMI, Banque Mondiale)
Main customers
2015: China (23.9%), India (21.4%), South Korea (11.8%), USA (8.6%), Italy (7.1%), Greece (6.5%).
Main suppliers
2015: Turkey (20.7%), Syria 19.6%), China (19.2%), USA (4.8%), Russia (4.4%).
Swiss exports to
Work in process
Exports of …. to Switzerland
Work in process
Swiss direct investment in
Work in process
The business climate
Work in process