ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Car sales have plummeted in Duhok province amid a weak economy and complaints of high taxes.
Car dealerships in Duhok are overflowing with cars as they struggle to make sales. Hussein Ahmed, who owns a dealership, said he has sold six cars over the past month. This is a significant drop compared to the same time last year when he had already made 70 sales. He now does not know how he can cover his expenses.
“We cannot pay the wages of our employees, what about the contractors, the tea server? Even their fees cannot be paid,” Ahmed said, pointing out that with the low number of sales, he now faces the challenge of paying his rent.
“Now March is coming and I have to pay rent. How can I pay the rent, if I do not have money?” he said.
The Kurdistan Region’s economy was slashed when oil exports were halted last March following a court ruling on a dispute between Turkey and Iraq over the Region’s independent oil sales. With the loss of its main source of income, the Kurdistan Regional Government had to turn to Baghdad to help pay its public sector, which went for months without being paid.
The dire economic situation has left business owners struggling to attract customers.
Mevan Mohammed, a father of six, works as a tea server at one of the city’s dealerships.
“Previously, I had an income up to 600,000 [close to $400] dinars, sometimes it reached 700,000 [$475], but now it cannot reach 200,000 dinars [close to $130],” Mohammed said.
Mohammed said he is barely making an income now because of the low demand for cars.
“I get paid when a car is registered. If not, then I am left without money. Even now, a couple of cars are registered daily, and there are days when nothing is registered,” he said.
Some dealership owners have put their businesses up for sale, though they hesitate to advertise the sales because they are worried it could affect prices.
“About nine dealerships are selling out. They said they would hang for sale signs, but we told them not to do that. The reason why dealership owners are considering selling their premises is that taxes are high,” Abdi Mustafa, head of Duhok’s syndicate of car dealerships, told Rudaw.
Mustafa noted that some dealerships pay up to 59 million dinars [close to $39,000] in taxes.
Interest in residential apartments in Erbil also experienced a significant downturn, especially following the recent ballistic missile attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that targeted the Kurdistan Region’s capital city.
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