Iraq to permit 100% foreign ownership of state companies

IRAQ’S leadership council announced yesterday it will open all sectors of its economy except oil to private investment, hoping to rebuild an economy mismanaged under Saddam Hussein’s rule and battered by international sanctions and war.

The wide-ranging reforms, undoing years of rigid control of the economy imposed by Saddam’s one-party rule, will permit the sell-off of Iraq’s numerous state-owned companies to foreigners and introduce new taxes.

“Our objective is simple to state: Promote Iraqi economic growth and raise the living standards of all Iraqis as soon as possible,” Iraqi Finance Minister Kamil Mubdir al-Gailani said in a speech to a banking think tank in Dubai.