Tuesday 2/7/2012An international center: Iraq's economy struggling due to central policy
Describe the status of "Carnegie" International Research of the Iraqi economy in a recent report Palmtakbt and turbulent.
The report said that "until now, has not taken the necessary economic measures to strengthen the political agreements, such as the application of administrative decentralization policies in order to address the negative effects left behind by the economic regime of Saddam Hussein in the provinces, as well as enliven the economy dead in troubled areas."
The report also pointed out that "for four decades, the Iraqi government has pursued economic policies based on the strategy of exclusive central administration, which led to the impoverishment of the rest areas for the benefit of Baghdad."
The report said the National Development Plan for the years 2010-2014, indicate that a comprehensive analysis of the reality of the Iraqi economy on the overall level reveals significant disparities between the capital and the rest of the country (schools, health care, unemployment and development).
He pointed out that the previous regime deliberately through the nationalization of banks and the wholesale trade to make the transfer of systematic profit trade and investment funds from the provinces to the capital, adding that since Iraq imports most of the non-agricultural products has been able to central government, an inventory of commercial profits in the capital, depriving areas of an important source investment could have been saved in the provinces.
The report considered that "the current government to learn the disparity between the capital and the regions and the need to de-centralized economic management," indicating that it recognizes that it must broadcast activity in the economy.
He went on to say that "progress has been made primarily to some extent on the paper along with the launch of a free market economy and the abolition of control of the public sector on the economy, the text of the 2005 constitution on the distribution of oil revenues, which constitute 96% of government revenue, to the provinces according to population, and the involvement of government in the planning of oil and gas resources in the country and its management.
"Although the Constitution set the terms of reference in policy, but it is still necessary to clarify the mechanism of implementation and management."
He stressed that the Constitution clearly states the goal of transferring power to a government sub-structures, but operational budgets are currently subject to the control of the central government continues to fund management services passes through the ministries concerned. "
According to the "Carnegie", the "oriented negative taken by policy appears in the changes between the plans of national development first and second. Where crossed the first national development plan (2005-2007) a large number of development needs and agreed that the central economic poses the problem, promoting the creation of five development centers in the regions to determine investment priorities and oversee the implementation of budgets at the provincial level, but the five centers yet to be formed despite the cabinet's approval of the plan.
The Second National Plan (2010-2014) shall be allocated, according to the International Institute, additional funds (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) to address the disparities between regions, but they dropped the idea of establishing centers for development and assigned responsibilities to the provincial councils that lack the technical and managerial skills to carry out the tasks of investment .
He said he was "in order to enable each region to deal with their problems in a comprehensive manner, it must set its own priorities of development and their conformity with the investment strategy. Therefore, it is necessary to establish development centers, which provided the first national development plan to be set up in the territories.
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