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Most local and foreign investors are forced to withdraw from projects in Iraq for fear of reprisals from militias and clans that always require them to pay the money, which led to the suspension of some 6,000 projects between 2008 and 2019, according to Al-Monitor.
The site states that, “In recent events related to this matter, the Malaysian company Petronas threatened to abandon the Al-Garraf oil field in Dhi Qar on October 18, following tensions with clans living near the field.”
Petronas is not the only company facing demands from parties, militias and tribes in Iraq. On the 15th of this month, an unknown force raided an investment residential complex in Salah al-Din governorate, detaining the workers for more than three hours and threatening to kill them if they resumed work.
The site quotes a member of the Board of Directors of the Iraqi Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Muhammad Rahim al-Rubaie, as saying that “foreign investors and companies operating in the country face more attempts at blackmail.”
Al-Rubaie added that “some tribes claim to own lands abandoned for decades, claiming that these properties belong to their parents and grandparents, in order to obtain financial compensation from oil companies or investors.”
He continues: “The Iraqi government paid the tribes huge compensation amounts despite the fact that the lands they claim are owned by the state,” noting that “the next stage of extortion is forcing companies to hire tribal members. despite having no experience. “
In recent years, tribal extortion has taken a religious form, according to al-Rubaie, who claims that “some companies were forced to pay a lot of money to build religious shrines.”
The prime minister’s financial adviser, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, says Iraq today ranks 171 out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s 2019 “ease of doing business” assessment.
Despite the availability of hundreds of promising investment opportunities, most Iraqi investors prefer to go to neighboring countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates due to bureaucracy, corruption, extortion and legislation. weak, according to the website report.
The head of the Iraqi Investors Association, Alaa Al-Mousawi, says the Iraqi economy is suffering as a result of having to employ unskilled labor imposed by tribes and militias.
It confirms that blackmail attempts and outside interference in corporate affairs have alienated investors and deprived the economy of the opportunity to create new jobs.
On the other hand, economist Karim Akrawi points out that the majority of foreign companies want to withdraw from Iraq due to the interference of armed groups and tribes in their operations and the absence of state protection.
He says this interference in corporate affairs affects the quality of work and increases expenses, adding: “If a project generally costs the state $ 10 million, it can double to $ 20 million in that climate.”
