Within the guidance and sponsorship of the Iraqi government headed by Haider Abadi to all ministries and state institutions to promote the economic reality and reduce the rates of poverty in the country, and provide employment opportunities for young people, and work to establish the typical villages in the Iraqi countryside , the Iraqi Ministry of Planning seeks since Salman Jumaili took over the leadership of the ministry to promote the economic reality with the contribution of the real actors in the process of development and reconstruction and employment of labor, and increase non-oil revenues.
In order to achieve sustainable development and progress, the Ministry adopted the National Development Plan 2018-2022, formulated by Minister of Planning Salman Al Jumaili and endorsed by the Council of Ministers, for the broader launch of the Sustainable Development Journey in accordance with Iraq Vision 2030, which emphasizes the active partnership between development partners: (private sector, civil society, Academics, and international actors).
Sustainable development means a new vision for the search for social structures, economic activities, production, consumption patterns , and technologies that sustain the environment and ensure an adequate life for future generations, as part of Iraq’s 2030 Plan, to complete the Millennium Development Goals and achieve what is not achieved within it. It is an ambitious plan that is comprehensive in terms of scope and importance. It includes national goals and objectives. It is integral and indivisible. It balances the dimensions of sustainable development. It is based on transformation free from poverty, hunger, disease and destitution to a world where respect for human rights, dignity and the rule of law and justice and non-discrimination prevail ; Proceeding from the importance of planning in building communities, and develop realistic solutions to the challenges;
Al-Jumaili stressed that Iraq faces many obstacles and challenges and he sees that the steps are slow in implementing the requirements of sustainable development and the low economic situation requires an integrated strategic vision that addresses the economic, social and environmental aspects in which the private sector , civil society, academics and representatives of relevant ministries and government bodies to contribute effectively .
Al-Jumaili explained that the plan paves the way for building the future state by addressing the challenges and achieving the goals set out in Vision 2030, which depends mainly on human and social capital and the people’s economy, providing services with the lowest costs and providing new opportunities for growth, especially with continued international and regional support for Iraq.
Al-Jumaili stressed that great efforts have been made by the team of experts to prepare the five-year development plan 2018-2022 since its work began in 2016. The team has been able to develop a development plan, responsive to the challenges and flexible that makes it feasible.
He points out the benefit of the previous experiences of the 2010-2014 and 2013-2017 development plans, which faced great difficulties and challenges, stressing that this plan is closer to a policy plan than a program plan.
Al-Jumaili pointed out that Iraq has adopted , after getting rid of terrorism, the philosophy of sustainable development building , creating strong partnerships with the national private sector and benefiting from international support, both economically and politically, with the unified national political will that will provide a more stable environment for the implementation of development policies that allow activating required economic alternatives to reach a multi-national economy rather than a unilateral one.
The priorities of the plan :
• To promote the low economic reality and social structures, activate the governmental and institutional role, and encourage the role of the local private sector in investment, in order to overcome the funding constraint and provide an appropriate business environment conducive to the practice of various economic activities.
In this context, Jumaili met representatives of the Iraqi private sector and discussed with them ways to expand their participation in the development march in the light of the next development plan and the economic openness of Iraq and the reconstruction process, as the private sector has the potentials and qualifications that enhance its active participation with the public sector through the implementation of investment projects.
Al-Jumaili stressed that there are many investment projects that were under implementation at the beginning of the financial crisis in 2014 and the government has taken a series of measures to address this completion by setting priorities and presenting them as investment opportunities.
He pointed out that the development in Iraq has faced challenges in the past years negatively affected the development plans, especially the development plan 2013-2017 due to political and security instability, corruption and environmental challenges.
Jumaili stressed that the new development plan 2018-2022 plan must be implemented by all the concerned bodies, noting that the ministry relies heavily on the role of local governments in development.
• The National Development Plan 2018-2022 depended on the analysis of reality and draw specific tracks based on four axes: (laying the foundations of governance and associated pillars and elements, the private sector and the development of business environment and investment, reconstruction of the provinces, multi-dimensional poverty alleviation in all provinces) .
• The plan has adopted a results-based management methodology as a path for its construction in a realistic framework in line with available information on the current situation and review what was achieved in the previous plan.
• The Plan adopted the slogan of establishing foundations of an effective development state with social responsibility or “post-recovery options”. A country that adopts and plays directed development roles in policy-making that the private sector is an active partner in defining and implementing economic, social and environmental priorities through diverse partnership methods through an enabling environment attractive to capital and expertise and in accordance with the principle of efficiency and real competition in the light of good governance for the preparation of the adoption of the system of the social market economy as a approach to economic management.
• The plan was keen to reduce spatial disparities between governorates and improve asset management, based on the philosophy of the development model by giving priority to sectors with heavy labor in order to reduce unemployment and achieve high growth rates.
• The plan focused on addressing the problems and obstacles that were represented by institutional, economic, social and environmental challenges through the strategic objectives and principles adopted by it, including the establishment of good governance principles and the achievement of economic, monetary, banking and commercial economic reform and work for the recovery of affected communities due to the displacement crisis and the loss of human security in addition to provide the requirements of an enabling environment for investment in all its forms.
• The plan aims to achieve growth rate in the Iraqi economy up to 7% by raising the gross domestic product to (292.5) trillion dinars in the year 2022 after it was 182.2 trillion dinars in 2015, and revenues during the years of the plan are expected to be about 440 trillion dinars, of which 370.2 trillion dinars of oil revenues and about 70 trillion dinars of non-oil, while the volume of oil production in 2022 to reach about 5 million barrels per day and an export rate of up to 4 million barrels per day.
Investments in the plan
– The investments required during the five-year plan will be 220.6 trillion dinars, of which 132 trillion will be government investments, amounting to 60% of the total investments, and 88.6 trillion dinars will be from the private sector and 60% of the total investments.
– The distribution of investments in the fields of mining, construction, finance, insurance, oil, electricity, water, trade, agriculture, manufacturing, transport and communications. The per capita GDP is expected to reach about 7 million dinars at the end of the plan’s life in 2022.
• The plan has set goals and directions for macroeconomic policies in the field of fiscal, monetary and trade policy, as well as in the energy sector and manufacturing industries. In the field of electricity sector, the plan aims to increase the production capacity in the electrical system to about 21 thousand megawatts and increase the per capita energy access (4041) kWh and work to conserve energy for different uses and reduce them by 7% and enhance the role of the private sector in the management of the production and distribution sectors.
• In the field of manufacturing and extraction industry except oil, the plan works to increase the contribution rate of gross domestic product in fixed prices for manufacturing and non-oil extractive industries to 1.17% in 2022, and work on finding other sources to finance public sector projects and limiting the financing of investment budget for strategic projects only, as well as supporting petrochemical industries, fertilizers and industries that rely on mineral raw materials and benefit from the abundance of raw materials for these industries.
– The plan works in the field of agriculture and water resources to increase the contribution of the agricultural sector in the gross domestic product to 5.2% and to achieve growth in this sector up to 8.4%, and to secure the annual demand for water for sustainable uses in the agricultural, industrial and municipal areas in order to achieve water balance with the possibility of reduction of annual water demand by 500 million cubic meters annually.
The plan seeks to achieve logical objectives in the transport, communications, storage, water, sanitation and buildings and services sectors noting that the work in this area will be concentrated on completion of residential projects under implementation or suspended, including investment, estimated at 700 thousand housing units in all governorates except Kurdistan.
– Provide 100 thousand housing units according to the methods and modern technologies and the establishment of other 100 thousand housing units suitable for the requirements of securing the return of displaced persons and slums and transgressors, and provide 50% of mortgage financing of private sector investment required to cover the housing deficit.
– The plan works to achieve its objectives in the sectors of culture, archeology, population, labor force, human and social development, health, youth, women and social development.
The plan is the outcome of a national action in which the efforts and inputs of all ministries and concerned authorities of the state are integrated, namely the development compass which guides the economic and social sectors. The idea of preparing a national medium-term development plan came because of the failures and problems encountered in the preparation of annual investment programs especially the difficulty to set comprehensive medium-term and long-term development visions, and to define projects prioritization and its integration on the basis of the annual development approach.
Al-Jumaili assured the Iraqi people that the economic situation of the country is improving since that the allocation of revenues will feed the budget that adopts reconstruction and development after the liberation of the Iraqi territory completely from the desecration of terrorism.
Economic Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research, Studies and Strategy