EXCLUSIVE: Election results crucial to Iraq’s $80bn reconstruction plan

17 May 2018
The bloc led by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi trailed other parties in recent elections

Projects have been slow-moving in Iraq due to the elections but activity levels are expected to pick up once the results are announced and a new government is in place, a senior government adviser tells MEED.

In February, Iraq presented investors with dozens of projects across the power, water, oil, housing and transport sectors that require over $80bn in investment as part of the country’s proposed 10-year reconstruction plan following the violent war with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis).

Private developers, particularly in the power and renewables sectors, expressed strong interest in partnering with the Iraqi government to develop the projects.

A nationalist alliance between Moqtada Sadr and mostly secular groups led the recent parliamentary elections,  followed by a group linked to Iranian-backed Shia paramilitaries who fought Isis. The bloc led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi  trailed in third place.

Al-Abadi, along with high-ranking government officials all over the GCC as well as in Turkey, attended the Iraq investment conference in Kuwait in February, which raised $30bn in pledged investments and credit lines.

Washington-based World Bank and its finance arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), are providing advisory services for Iraq’s reconstruction plan.

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