| 2008: Trade Bank of Iraq Aims to Offer $7.5 Billion in Credit in 2008 |
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February 15, 2008 Trade Bank of Iraq, established in 2003 to finance trade and help in the reconstruction of the country, plans to issue about $7.5 billion in letters of credit this year, its chairman said. The amount compares with the $6.3 billion offered last year and the $25 billion granted since 2003 by the bank, President and Chairman Hussein al-Uzri said in an interview at the Dead Sea in Jordan late yesterday. The credit lines will be offered to ``importers of food stuffs, other vital commodities and imports for power equipment, the oil sector and other infrastructure projects,'' al-Uzri said. Iraq, which is the holder of the world's third-largest oil reserves and exports about 1.7 million barrels a day, derives 95 percent of its income from oil production, al-Uzri said. The country imports about $3 billion in oil products a year ``because of the lack of refineries and other downstream facilities.'' Trade Bank of Iraq was involved in the financing of a 500 megawatt power plant in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, which will begin operating in March this year, al-Uzri said. The bank wants to ``expand from trade finance to more project finance and participate in major projects in the country and be one of the conduits for foreign investment in Iraq,'' al-Uzri said. Iraq has an estimated 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran, according to BP Plc figures. The Middle East and North Africa region account for about 35 percent of Iraq's imports, Europe represents as much as 30 percent and the U.S. and Asia account for the rest, according to al-Uzri. |