Iraq's big rebuilding project
Damage to the country has been severe. The recovery needs lots of money and willing investors
It has been a brutal 15 years for Iraq since the US-led invasion. Now, as the country heads towards parliamentary elections in May, its politicians believe Opec's second-biggest oil producer is entering a new phase of growth and rehabilitation. Green shoots are cropping up. The IMF, which in 2016 began a string of loans to Iraq amounting to $18bn, says the country's GDP will rise by 3% this year, following a contraction in 2017. Higher oil prices and exports are helping. Iraq's budget this year envisages a $20bn deficit. But its oil-price assumption is a modest $44 a barrel. If international prices hold around the $70/b level reached in early April-and Iraq keeps exporting at about 3.4m barr
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
