The Invisible Boom?

What if Iraq's economy boomed, but the western major media ignored it?

This bit from ABC has some numbers.

It says:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts a post-conflict economic boom in Iraq this year and in 2005 but admits lending to the country is a big risk because of the fighting and huge debt.

The IMF cleared a $US463 million loan to Iraq on September 29.

The organisation says the Iraqi gross domestic product (GDP), or total economic output, should soar 52 per cent this year.

Then 17 per cent in 2005 and 9 per cent a year on average from 2006 to 2009.

The IMF says oil output should climb from 2.1 million barrels per day this year to 3.5 million by 2009.

Unstated; there would be no way to project such a boom if the vast majority of Iraq weren't in relatively good shape.

Naturally, there are security issues; duh. But booms are not symptoms on nations where the majority of the workers and businesspeople are worried about getting blown up on the way to work in the morning.

As to the debt - perhaps the UN and the French can pony up some of their oil for food lucre?

The debt- owed mostly to Arab and European nations as well as India, Japan and Korea - comes to roughly 16 times Iraq's current GDP. The US has already written off its share of Iraq's debt; the French apparently have not.

Posted by Mitch at January 17, 2005 06:53 AM | TrackBack