ISIS and Baghdad siege on Kurdistan hit the economy and drives 100 thousand into unemployment

when foreign companies were scrambling to the region and the latter became an important economic center in the region.

But the occupation of terrorists of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “ISIS” organization on large areas in northern and western Iraq and heading towards the borders of Kurdistan Region as well as the financial crisis of the region made ​​it possible to get the same rental property only half the value which already reflects the outcome of the things there.

The recent circumstances that its repercussions are still ongoing resulted in tens of thousands of workers to lose their jobs while the region is struggling to rebuild towns and villages that were destroyed by wars and conflicts that extended through decades.

Observers and specialists in economic affairs confirm that the financial crisis experienced by the region, and what it has suffered from the effects of terrorist attacks left a clear economic effect and pushed hundreds of companies to withdraw or stop investment projects.

Muhammad Ali Al-Uozeri , the editor of independent investment magazine says “ the circumstances of Kurdistan Region in particular and Iraq in general greatly impacted on all areas of the reconstruction, commercial and even marketing.

Uozeri  attributed the reason in an example of what happened to Erbil city after the withdrawal of foreign companies, by saying that there are areas within the Erbil that are considered villages of business as the rent of per office was up to 5000 dollars, but now you can find an office at half that price because of the withdrawal of firms.

The suffering of the region began earlier this year when Baghdad cut its stake from the state budget amounting to 17 percent because of disagreements on oil exports, which left immediate effects on public and private sectors.

Over the past months, public sector employees have complained of irregular receive for their salaries from the government and staged protests while some of them threatened to go on strike.

The private companies that implement the projects found itself unable to pay the wages of their workers as a result of non-receipt of funds from the Government of the Region which led to stop a lot of projects.

Uozeri  says that the economic blockade imposed by Baghdad on Erbil impact negatively on the financial liquidity and the economy of the region.

The Kurdish region is seen as the only successful model in Iraq in the wake of the overthrow of the former Iraqi regime in 2003 by the US-led international forces.

Prior this date the Kurds enjoy autonomy from Baghdad, which imposed an economic blockade by the addition to the blockade imposed by the international community on all of Iraq.

However, the flow of funds to sell oil to the region after 2003, and receiving about 17 percent of the state budget changed the image of the region and made it the focus of the international companies to take advantage of investment opportunities and investment law, the investment legislature in 2006, which grants wide privileges to the investors.

Although , differences were still outstanding with the federal government in Baghdad that plans to hinder the region and economic development in the energy and other sectors which prompted the leaders of the region to take steps to make Kurdistan more independent from Baghdad on the economic side.

Uozeri  pointed to the economy in Kurdistan which is not a socialist or a capitalist economy, but it is a compromise between this and that, and most people rely on the salaries of the public sector and the investment budget controlled by the state.

He said that the delay in payment of salaries and lack of access to the budget of Baghdad led to the stop the commercial and construction projects, and even damage to the tourism sector due to the security implications.

Kurdistan provinces remained insulated from threats of ISIS until early last month when it has launched a major offensive by extremists who took control on the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil, while the Kurdish Peshmerga forces had deployed after the defection of the Iraqi army in June in front of ISIS.

The American air strikes have contributed to stop the advance of ISIS to the region but the latter is now threatened and in the crossfire of ISIS and thus lost to a large extent the safety feature that was characterized form the rest of Iraq over the past years.

Following the attack, giant foreign companies in the energy field has withdrawn its foreign employees, which increased from the economic plight of the region and raise the unemployment rate.

According to official figures, 100 thousand foreign and local workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of this year because of the financial crisis in Kurdistan.

Uozeri  say that there are more than a thousand Contracting Project that have stopped as well as 300 investment projects. He added that 300 thousand people have received foreign residency in Erbil last year, but most of them returned to their homes.

Uozeri got these numbers from the General Assembly of investors. He says.

The Government of Kurdistan has sought to address the scarcity of money through the export of its oil independently of Baghdad through a new pipeline over a period of last year to Turkey.

Baghdad has chased the exported shipments but the region has already sold more than 11 shipments until now.

The Economic academic , Sabah Khoshnaw told “Shafaq News" that “ The resort of the region to export its oil independently of Baghdad, was a logical solution for its financial crisis.

He added that the export of oil treated relatively the problem but did not fully address it.

He believes that the solution lies in mixing the capital from public projects with the private sector that can create alternative opportunities for workers and stimulate economic activity in general.