Publication: The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Reforming the Economy for Shared Prosperity and Protecting the Vulnerable
Date
2016-05-30
ISSN
Published
2016-05-30
Author(s)
World Bank Group
Abstract
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is a
constitutionally recognized semiautonomous region in
northern Iraq. Its government, the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG), based in Erbil, has the right, under the
Iraqi constitution of 2005, to exercise legislative,
executive, and judicial powers according to the
constitution, except in what is listed therein as exclusive
powers of the federal authorities. The Iraqi constitution
defines the Kurdistan Region as a federal entity of Iraq.
KRG has a parliamentary democracy with a regional assembly
that consists of 111 seats. KRI has been largely immune to
the insecurity and conflict witnessed elsewhere in Iraq,
especially following the 2003 Iraq War. KRG is facing a wide
range of immediate and medium to longer-term challenges that
are intrinsically linked to the overall macroeconomic
situation of Iraq as well as the regional and global
environment. The immediate challenge consists in coping with
(a) the deep fiscal crisis, and (b) the security and social
problems brought about by the conflict with the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group and the resulting
influx of Syrian refugees and Iraqi Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs). These challenges are clearly immediate
priorities for the KRG, and will bear significant
repercussions nationally and internationally if inadequately
addressed. The medium to longer-term challenges pertain to
moderating dependence on the oil sector and transforming the
KRI economy into a diversified one that supports private
sector-led economic growth and job creation in a sustainable manner.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2016. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Reforming the Economy for Shared Prosperity and Protecting the Vulnerable. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24706 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”