Iraq's industrial output trails imports despite 1,200 projects
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s industrial sector generates no more than 7 trillion Iraqi dinars (≈ $5.34 billion) annually, far below imports that exceed 100 trillion dinars (≈ $76 billion), economist Manar Al-Obaidi said on Saturday.
Al-Obaidi explained that the sector includes around 1,200 medium and large projects -about 900 large private ventures and 300 medium-sized ones.
He said production remains concentrated in construction and food industries, while key manufacturing sectors such as textiles, furniture, and household goods have sharply declined, even as roughly 1,000 factories depend on imported raw materials, raising costs and weakening competitiveness.
The sector provides about 50,000 jobs, rising to an estimated 100,000 including informal labor, compared with roughly 500,000 new entrants to the labor market each year, while growth of around 5% in large projects has yet to make industry a significant contributor to Iraq’s GDP.
