 Improving security environment and foreign investment are helping to spur economic activity  Foreign investment  Economy dominated by oil industry  Inflation has remained in check past 6 years  Dependent on imported food sources as result of food-for-oil program

 Oil dependent (petroleum and natural gas)  refineries  petrochemical products (plastics, other chemical products)  Agriculture (Tigris and Euphrates river valleys)  wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton  cattle, sheep, poultry  Building Materials  limestone  Concrete  Minerals  sulfur  phosphates

 Exports (US 21.4%, India 21.1%, China 13.8%, South Korea 11.2%, Canada 4.8%, Italy 4.5%, Spain 4.3%)  Crude oil (84%)  Crude materials excluding fuels  Food and live animals  Imports (Turkey 27.8%, Syria 15.9%, China 12.6%, US 5.2%, South Korea 4.8%)  Food  Medicine/medical supplies  Manufactured goods

 Labor force - approx. 9 million participants  Unemployment – 16%  25% of population under poverty line  Inflation – 6%  GDP - $242.5 billion at 53 rd in the world (growing at 8.4% per year)  90% of total revenue from oil

 Long-term success dependent upon government policy reforms  Control unemployment  Deregulation to spur private investment  Central bank stability  Stability and security of government  Eliminate corruption within the government  Address skilled labor shortages  Continued growth in construction, retail, and energy sectors (rebuilding efforts)  Need to upgrade oil infrastructure in order to boost production