Iraq economic growth to rise to 9 percent in 2012

Aseel Kami reports for Reuters:

Iraq’s gross domestic product growth should rise to 9 percent in 2012 from around 6 percent currently, mainly driven by an expected increase in oil production and exports, a senior central bank official said on Sunday.

Iraq has some of the world’s largest oil reserves and is currently producing about 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd). High oil prices have helped the country earn billions of dollars more than projected this year.

“It will easily jump to 9 percent next year, it will not be difficult. If production and exports in the oil sector rise, it is possible to reach that figure,” Mudher Kasim, a deputy governor of Iraq’s Central Bank, told Reuters in an interview.

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