Market value of Iraq’s natural resources surpasses $15 trillion
A drilling rig in Iraq. Photo: World Atlas
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The financial adviser to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed on Saturday that the market value of Iraq’s wealth exceeds $15 trillion, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
Salih told INA that Iraq is one of the richest countries worldwide with natural resources, explaining that Iraq ranks ninth in the world with its resources that can be exported or used in local industries.
“According to estimations, the market value of natural resources in Iraq exceeds $15 trillion, compared to $45 trillion for the United States of America, which is ranked second worldwide, following Russia, whose resources are estimated at $75 trillion,” the Prime Minister’s financial advisor said.
“Countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand relied on manufacturing and exporting raw materials to reach economic stability and development, representing one of the theories of export-led growth,” Salih clarified.
The Iraqi official elaborated that industries based on natural resources and raw materials are able to make Iraq a great model of economic development and a leading developed nation.
Two months ago, the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals held a conference in Baghdad to encourage investments in mineral exploration and petrochemicals in addition to the fertilizer and cement industries, highlighting the large reserves of minerals available and the abundant energy to exploit them, The National reported.
The Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals, Kahlid Battal Najam, offered investors long-term partnership opportunities in a long list of state-linked phosphate, nitrogen, sulphur, fertilizer and glass production projects, according to The National.
Although Iraq has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at 143 billion barrels of proven reserves, it also has abundant sulphur, phosphate, and natural gas.
Iraq has recently invested in many projects to start taking advantage of the associated gas being flared in oil facilities in the country.