Interview
Khaled Battal al-Najm, Iraq's Minister of Industry and Minerals, speaking to Rudaw’s Mohammed Sheikh Fatih on March 1, 2024. Photo: Rudaw/screengrab
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s public sector manufacturing output reached an estimated one billion dollars in 2023, the country’s industry minister told Rudaw on Friday, but added that the number should be tens of times higher.
“In the public sector, the total production of the ministry last year was about 1.4 trillion dinars, that is, approximately one billion dollars, while it is supposed to be tens of times this number,” Khaled Battal al-Najm, Minister of Industry and Minerals, told Rudaw’s Mohammed Sheikh Fatih.
This number does not include the private sector as that data is not precise, according to Najm who accused private firms of not reporting their production in order to evade taxes.
“Industry should contribute to the budget, but what is happening now is that we are taking from the budget because we have companies that are still receiving support from the budget and the government,” the minister said.
The Ministry of Industry and Minerals currently has around 100,000 employees, much higher than its actual need and this is a factor contributing to the low revenues, according to Najm. He gave an example of a cement factory in Najaf.
“There are 2,500 employees at the Kufa factory, while it needs 250 or 500 employees max. Therefore, the revenues generated are given as salaries to the workers and a grant is requested from the state,” he said, noting that the factory would be profitable if the number of workers was proportional to the factory’s needs.
Cement, minerals, chemicals, and agriculture are some of Iraq’s industrial products, but they are dwarfed by the oil sector, on which Iraq’s economy is dependent. Iraq has one of the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves. Experts warn that economic diversification is crucial to stabilizing Iraq’s economy.
Najm said the government is looking to reactivate its mining industry and confirm the quality and size of its reserves, but that it needs a new geological survey as the last one was conducted in 1980.
“We have 10 billion tons of proven phosphate reserves, the second highest in the Arab world, and we have 600 million tons of sulfur… We also have silica in large quantities, kaolin, bentonite clay, and others. There is evidence and predictions about the more important ones like copper and aluminum, but they could exist or not exist,” he said.
“In the public sector, the total production of the ministry last year was about 1.4 trillion dinars, that is, approximately one billion dollars, while it is supposed to be tens of times this number,” Khaled Battal al-Najm, Minister of Industry and Minerals, told Rudaw’s Mohammed Sheikh Fatih.
This number does not include the private sector as that data is not precise, according to Najm who accused private firms of not reporting their production in order to evade taxes.
“Industry should contribute to the budget, but what is happening now is that we are taking from the budget because we have companies that are still receiving support from the budget and the government,” the minister said.
The Ministry of Industry and Minerals currently has around 100,000 employees, much higher than its actual need and this is a factor contributing to the low revenues, according to Najm. He gave an example of a cement factory in Najaf.
“There are 2,500 employees at the Kufa factory, while it needs 250 or 500 employees max. Therefore, the revenues generated are given as salaries to the workers and a grant is requested from the state,” he said, noting that the factory would be profitable if the number of workers was proportional to the factory’s needs.
Cement, minerals, chemicals, and agriculture are some of Iraq’s industrial products, but they are dwarfed by the oil sector, on which Iraq’s economy is dependent. Iraq has one of the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves. Experts warn that economic diversification is crucial to stabilizing Iraq’s economy.
Najm said the government is looking to reactivate its mining industry and confirm the quality and size of its reserves, but that it needs a new geological survey as the last one was conducted in 1980.
“We have 10 billion tons of proven phosphate reserves, the second highest in the Arab world, and we have 600 million tons of sulfur… We also have silica in large quantities, kaolin, bentonite clay, and others. There is evidence and predictions about the more important ones like copper and aluminum, but they could exist or not exist,” he said.
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