Propositions to survive repercussions of credit crunch in Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Several experts in Iraqi economy believe that the repercussions of the current international financial crisis for the Iraqi economy will not be transient, citing the fall in oil prices. During a Baghdad-based economic workshop on Sunday, the former minister of planning, Mahdi al-Hafiz, said that it is wrong to depend on oil revenues as the only source of national income. Stressing the significance of reforms, Hafiz noted that it is necessary to turn to market economy, which he said is a worthwhile task that is necessary for change in the aftermath of the collapse of the former Iraqi regime. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Iraqi Businessmen Union, Ragheb Rida Bulaybel, said that it is important to study the effects of the drop in international oil prices on the 2009 federal budget. The current credit crisis, which most analysts link to the sub-prime mortgage business, has hit most of the world’s economies, particularly in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. SS (P) 1