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Shafaq News- Baghdad<\/p>\n
Iraq is seeking to reduce unemployment, currently around 13%, by expanding domestic production through agriculture and industry, Prime Minister\u2019s financial adviser Mudher Mohammed Salih said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Salih told Shafaq News that the policy focuses on boosting grain output through above-market procurement, input support, and crop planning, alongside measures to support industry, including land allocation, fuel supply, technology imports, and financing initiatives to expand private-sector factories.<\/p>\n
He said more than 1,300 industrial projects are being supported, with over one trillion Iraqi dinars (about $760 million) allocated as sovereign guarantees to enable private firms to secure foreign financing for projects linked to construction and industrial value chains. A planned \u201cRiyada Bank\u201d is expected to provide financing for small businesses and youth-led initiatives.<\/p>\n
The push comes as data point to a gap between production and imports. Economist Manar Al-Obaidi<\/a> said Iraq\u2019s roughly 1,200 medium and large industrial projects generate no more than 7 trillion dinars (about $5.3 billion) annually, compared with imports exceeding 100 trillion dinars.<\/p>\n He added that the sector provides about 50,000 jobs, rising to around 100,000 including informal labor, against roughly 500,000 new entrants to the labor market each year, while growth of about 5% in large projects has yet to make industry a significant contributor to GDP.<\/p>\n