E-SMEs provide 60% of jobs opportunities in Iraq, says PM’s advisor

 
Baghdad-INA
 
 
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, on Friday, expected the Average Annual Growth Rate - AAGR in the gross domestic product-GDP, indicating that the accumulated housing shortage is estimated at about 3 million housing units, he also stressed that desertification and water scarcity are the biggest environmental challenges facing Iraq.

"The emerging companies system needs to improve its orientations, as it heralds a phenomenon of transforming the national market into an institutional one," Saleh told the Iraqi News Agency (INA). He indicated, “The phenomenon of organized national markets bears the factors and seeds of the government, which helps accelerate growth opportunities and flexibility in investment and legal dealings with official state agencies, which gives them greater confidence in collecting loans and intertwining with the productive forces within the market.”

He added, "The positive international external factors helped in the country's high growth rates during the past year, as the boom was estimated at nearly 9 percent of GDP. However, the international economic situation in the current year and the potential decline in energy markets may not provide the same high growth rate as last year." 
He noted, "The expectations indicate that the annual growth in GDP will reach 4-5 percent since the expected growth rates in industrialized countries will often be less than 2 percent."

He elaborated “The opportunity to renaissance SME will be greater because of the high flexibility it carries in adapting demand conditions, especially because it is possible to know the needs of the market and consumers early, in addition to the lower supply costs as trade will be adapted to the desires of the market, providing high demand flexibility for commercial services."
 
He continued: "Especially with the using the Internet and the possibility of promoting and publicizing the activity in the framework of the progress of digital services, as the entry of SME into market activity by accessible digital means is a success valve for the small Iraqi enterprise", noting that " SME with digital interaction provide a majority of 60% of jobs."

Saleh pointed out, " the accumulated housing shortage, which is estimated at about 3 million housing units, in addition to the success of the Iraqi Central Bank's housing initiative in providing soft loans of nearly 6 trillion dinars, crystallized the rush of investors to take advantage of the high demand for housing units due to the financing capacity, as well as to benefit from the advantages of the investment law in the ease of ownership of the land for real estate investors.”

He also indicated that "demand factors supported by government financing and investment policies have undoubtedly contributed to investors' orientation towards real estate investment in residential complexes throughout the country. However, real estate investment still deals with the upper-middle class and is relatively rich in providing luxurious accommodation, but the real need now requires investment in low-cost, high-quality housing supported by infrastructure services, and therefore the country needs accelerated development in housing policies that stimulate investors, and it is hoped that this will be implemented within the program of the current government.”

He warned that "The biggest environmental challenges facing the country are desertification and water scarcity, and this necessitates using the technology in water management, starting with the desalination of seawater and the purification of fresh rivers from drainage water and heavy water, ending with methods of rationalizing the use of water, especially in agriculture, which requires renewal of the desertification syndrome, water, and technology, and works on developing and updating them continuously.”