Iraq

G

Culture

The cultural heritage of Iraq is primarily Arabic, although long before the advent of Islam in the 7th century ad the area known as Mesopotamia was the centre of the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations. The Arabian influence is represented today in much of the surviving antiquities, including the Kadhimain Mosque, the Abbasid Palace, and the Shrine of Samarra. Iraq is known for producing fine handicrafts, including rugs and carpets.

The leading libraries of Iraq include the University of Basra Central Library; the University of Mosul Central Library; and the library of the Iraqi Museum, the National Library, and the University of Baghdad Central Library, all in Baghdad. Public libraries exist in most of the provincial capitals.

Noteworthy museums of Iraq include the Iraqi Museum, which contains relics of early Mesopotamian cultures; the Iraq Natural History Museum and the Iraq Military Museum, also in Baghdad; the Babylon Museum, which exhibits models, pictures, and paintings of ancient Babylon; and the Mosul Museum, containing exhibits of Assyrian and other antiquities. However, the fate of many antiquities is unknown following the War on Iraq, when many ancient sites and storage facilities were destroyed by bombing and subsequent looting.

UNESCO has inscribed two World Heritage Sites in the country. The first, inscribed in 1985, is at Hatra, a large fortified city of the Parthian Empire. The second is at Ashur (Ash-Sharqat), the first capital of the Assyrian Empire. The site was inscribed in 2003.

IV

Economy

The modern Iraqi economy is largely based on oil, of which the country has the second-largest deposits in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Most of the few large manufacturing industries are oil related. Agriculture is the mainstay of the population, with dates the chief export crop. Virtually all sectors of the economy suffered as a result of the war with Iran, which left Iraq with a foreign debt exceeding US$75,000 million, much of it owed to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. By 1990 the industrial sector of economy was almost completely restored, with the aid of large-scale foreign investment. Iraq had a serious foreign exchange shortage, however, which left it unable to repay its debts, despite oil production of over 3 million barrels per day by 1990. The economy was again devastated by the trade embargo imposed by the UN after the invasion of Kuwait and by bombing during the Gulf War; the combined damage is estimated to have reduced Iraq to a nearly pre-industrial economic level.

The annual budget in the early 1990s included US$20,000 million in revenue and US$18,500 million in expenditure, although those figures are regarded as unreliable. The GNP of Iraq in 1990 was estimated at US$73 billion (World Bank figures, 1989-1990 prices) or US$4,110 per capita, but after the Gulf War these figures deteriorated dramatically; GNP was estimated at US$15,000 million in 1994, equivalent to about US$882 per capita. In 2003 the World Bank estimated that GDP per head was between US$480 and US$630.

A

Agriculture and Fishing

Approximately 13 per cent of the land is under cultivation, although it is estimated that about 50 per cent of the total available land is arable, with around 1.7 per cent of the labour force employed in agriculture in 1994. Most farmland is in the southern region between the Tigris and Euphrates. Agricultural production increased and food imports declined in the late 1980s as a result of increased investment, self-sufficiency in fertilizers, and the disbandment of state farms. During the Gulf War, compulsory state purchase of the harvest and harsh measures against hoarding were introduced.

Agricultural production in 2003 included about 2.55 million tonnes of wheat, 600,000 tonnes of barley, and 230,000 tonnes of rice. Date exports from Iraq accounted for some 80 per cent of world trade in the commodity. Other fruits produced include watermelons, tomatoes, apples, figs, grapes, olives, oranges, pears, and pomegranates. Livestock husbandry is an important occupation for the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples. In 2005 the livestock population included about 6.20 million sheep, 1.50 million cattle, 1.65 million goats, and 23 million poultry. In addition, the world-famed Arabian horse is extensively bred.

Iraq has a small fishing industry. In 2005 32,970 tonnes of fish were caught. About three quarters of the catch was made up of freshwater species. In 1990 a US$160 billion fish-processing plant was opened at Basra.

B

Petroleum

Oil is the most important natural resource of Iraq. The country has the largest oil reserves in the Middle East, cautiously estimated at 100,000 million barrels—enough for almost 100 years of production. The oilfields are located in three main regions: in the south-east around the Persian Gulf, near Basra in the north-central part of the country, near Mosul and Kirkūk and in the east-central part of Iraq, near the town of Khanaqin.

Iraq’s main industry is the production of oil and natural gas for export and domestic consumption. Until the early 1970s four foreign-owned companies controlled the Iraqi oil industry. The two leading firms were the Iraq Petroleum Company, which held concessions in the north-central area, around Kirkūk and Mosul, and the Basra Petroleum Company, which operated in the south-east, near Basra. During 1972 to 1975 all the foreign oil companies were nationalized by the government; their operations were taken over by the Iraq National Oil Company and the Northern Petroleum Organization. Refineries are located at Baghdad, Basra, al-Hadithah, Khanaqin, Kirkūk, and Qayyarah. A plant for producing liquid natural gas is situated at Taji, near Baghdad.

Falling oil prices and the war with Iran severely hampered the oil industry during the 1980s, although Iraq continued to be the world’s third-largest supplier of oil. The 1990-1991 Gulf War crippled Iraq’s oil production: in 1992 functioning refinery capability was only 3 per cent of its level in the late 1980s. About 100 million barrels of oil and 10.7 billion cu m (377 billion cu ft) of natural gas were produced annually in the late 1980s; in the years immediately following the Gulf War, production stabilized at around 99 million barrels and 1.3 billion cu m (46 billion cu ft) a year respectively. With the imposition of oil sanctions Iraq produced oil for domestic consumption only. In 2004 production amounted to 478 million barrels and 1.50 billion cu m (53 billion cu ft) respectively. According to the Coalition Provisional Authority the 2004 levels of oil production reached the pre-war totals, with exportation also having been renewed. Currently the country is producing in the region of 2 million barrels of oil a day.

C

Mining

Sulphur reserves of 515 million tonnes form the biggest reserves in the world. The country also has sizeable phosphate reserves that allowed self-sufficiency in fertilizers; excess fertilizer production was exported prior to 1990. Salt and gypsum are fairly abundant, and seams of brown coal are numerous. Small deposits of various other minerals are found, principally ores of iron, gold, lead, copper, silver, platinum, and zinc.