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

201620172018 E2019 E
GDP (in billions of USD)171.7192.7230.91250.07
GDP per capita (USD)453349585.7936.117
Growth rate13.1%-2.1%1.5%3.2%
Unemployment rate15%15.1%
Inflation rate0.50.12.02.0
Public debt (% of GDP)66.959.72651.77148.852
Budget balance (% of GDP)13.38-4.3415.857.87
Current account balance (% of GDP)-7.8-2.36.93.1

(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