Is it ok to run your company in Iraq?

As a young businessman working in Iraq, I do not think that managing various projects, whether commercial, industrial, or service, is an easy and simple matter in a country where investment and business leadership are among the most difficult in the world. As a young businessman working in the private sector in Iraq, I do not think that managing various projects is the same. Commercial, industrial, or service business is an easy and simple matter in a country where investment and business leadership are among the most difficult in the world, and its difficulty increases with every new government, as the government laws and multiple departments that take decisions in the field of private sector work often operate within a complex mechanism whose goal is to end the business and not to help it provide More job opportunities for others or raising the country's GDP rate

In fact, since I returned to work completely in Iraq from the winter of 2018 until today, the problems and difficulties have increased and not decreased. On the contrary, the continuous advice from many friends not to make the decision to return to Iraq was real and realistic, and I find it materialized in practice on a daily basis.

I cannot advise any businessman not to work in Iraq or not to return to it, but to make this decision you must read this article carefully and follow it with all its realistic details and from the womb of the reality of Iraq regarding neglected companies and businessmen, which suffers from many serious real problems.

First, when working in Iraq, the local law is almost inoperative and is applied by some government employees in order to collect bribes, receive gifts, and in some cases to establish relationships, while you find that the laws related to finance and business for companies applied are almost restrictive and do not allow companies to expand or work freely. On the contrary, all the owners of companies and shops in Iraq do not own companies and work in the old traditional way

The financial and business sector for small and medium-sized companies in Iraq is almost non-existent, and all the propaganda about the existence of some companies and some attempts is very risky, just as the propaganda of all prime ministers to support the private sector and companies is non-existent and is just propaganda that the officials themselves can hardly believe, who always exploit small and medium-sized companies or... They are working to seize it or through the economic entities of the Iraqi political parties, which control 90 percent of the projects in Iraq.

Laws can be applied to any successful company operating in Iraq very quickly, and these legal games are often played by those who fight some companies because of competition or want to eliminate them and buy those companies at a low price. This happens very naturally and there is no law in Iraq to address this problem and the problem increases. It gets worse when most companies become in the range of many gangs and local armed militias in Baghdad and in all governorates, and the owners of the companies are often threatened to pay royalties for the sake of work and protection, in addition to the fact that most companies are subject to the constant threat from the security services and their members to pay bribes on an ongoing basis, and most companies are forced to change... Its headquarters and warehouses have been destroyed more than once due to a bribed employee who continuously harasses the company

Add to that the prosecutions from the rest of the municipal departments, civil defense departments, and others, which are pursuing companies and warehouses in Baghdad and the provinces and making millions of dollars by blackmailing companies on an ongoing basis. Imagine, a few days ago, I was sitting in one of the company’s warehouses in the center of the capital, Baghdad, to be surprised by a civil defense official searching for workers. Foreigners who are widely spread in Iraq! He pursued and took bribes from the rest of the warehouses and neighboring companies to keep Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers. I do not know what the civil defense official in central Baghdad has to do with foreign workers???

This thing happens on a regular basis, especially with the inspection of the workers of the Baghdad Municipality and municipalities, especially on the Karkh side of Baghdad, who receive bribes amounting to 2.5 million dinars for each store and store. Yesterday, by chance, I was walking in the Al-Mansour neighborhood, where I saw a friend of mine who owns a small express delivery company leaving quickly. With his employees from the warehouse and the door is closed because some employees imposed fines of up to five million dinars on these companies, or they must pay a bribe of half the amount to continue working!!! This situation is widespread on a daily basis, and you must pay attention to everyone and in any region in Iraq

Bribes, additional costs, royalties and fines are not limited to the risks facing entrepreneurs in Iraq, but also many other major problems that I list in this article.

To work in Iraq, all work must be through cash due to the high costs of banking and financial transactions, and the risks of working with cash are increasing with the serious security problems in the country, which often expose companies and financial institutions to the risk of theft and raids.

The process of loans and financing is almost impossible through government banks, whose financial allocations are limited to influential groups in parties and armed militias, and even the private banking sector in Iraq, which includes a large number of money exchange owners and dollar stores in Iraq, who are mostly affiliated with political parties or their affiliates. They provide financing within Almost impossible conditions and interest rates that may reach 24 percent to 36 percent annually through some short-term financing programs that are almost impossible for companies.

Imagine, two days ago, I met in Baghdad with a financing company affiliated with one of the banks that brags about its financial operations in the center of Karrada - Indian Arsat in Baghdad demands a monthly rate of 2-3 percent. There is no project in Iraq that can achieve such returns until it pays interest to these companies and banks.

Another important point for any businessman to imagine in Iraq is that companies are unable to pursue any suspect, thief, or any problem whatsoever, otherwise they will be persecuted by armed militias, clans, and armed groups.