Salih: Iraq ranks first in the world in the concentration of natural resources

Economy
  • 2-01-2025, 16:06
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    Baghdad - INA

    The Prime Minister's financial advisor, Mudhar Mohammed Salih, confirmed today, Thursday, that the country's future will depend on transforming natural resources into productive capital assets. He indicated that the natural resources renaissance project will come in parallel with the development path strategy.

    Salih said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Since Iraq ranks ninth in the world in the value of its natural resources reserves, which exceed $16 trillion in current market value, at a time when it ranks first in the world in the concentration of natural resources per square kilometer," noting that "the features of the country's future in a comprehensive renaissance will depend on transforming these natural sovereign resources into productive capital assets that are employed in the movement to diversify the national economy."

    He added: "This requires an economic model for managing and investing in diverse wealth (except for oil and gas)," noting that "what comes to mind is the manufacture of natural resources that can be manufactured to generate value-added chains that maximize national income and generate accelerated opportunities for sustainable development in our country, whether towards export or export substitution."

    He pointed out that "the natural resources renaissance project will undoubtedly come in parallel with the development path strategy in generating a leading industrial renaissance in the national economy, which is Iraq's outline in building the future of its economy for the twenty-first century in two directions: the first is the export-oriented development model, and the other is the development model directed towards maximizing input-output tables and replacing imports within the national economy."

    He explained that "the national market is in the formation and development stage, and that the government program strategy is close to the philosophy of partnership through the concept of the social market, because the state's contribution to the gross domestic product (national income) is close to 65%, and this requires an important role for the state in economic legislation and laws.

    Salih explained that “improving the entity of the national market and building its role stems from two directions: the first is providing market guarantees by approving the Social Security Law for the labor and business sector, and the second is the financing partnership by providing soft financing for the forces generating market activity responsible for absorbing 60% of the labor force,” noting that “the beginning is in the Riyada program led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, by providing the necessary financing to employ youth in productive national projects, in addition to preparing to launch Riyada Bank for the same purpose without neglecting the major role of the Iraq Development Fund.”

    He continued: "In 2037, Iraq will become one of the nations of the housing gift, where young people of working age will dominate 60% of the population," adding that "the national strategy for the private sector will increase the contribution of the private sector to more than 53% of the gross domestic product within the next ten years."

    Salih concluded by saying, “My message to the Iraqi people is to abandon the fear of worrying about the current oil economy and its connection to the consumption cycle, part of whose luxuries we live, and to look forward to a productive era to come, an era of investment in Iraq’s vast material and human wealth, an era of diverse material and digital production that is intertwined with the global economy and the two arms of the path of development and investment in natural resources and diversification of production networks in the national economy that guarantee human well-being and the sustainability of its development in our country.”