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Competition scares Iraqis
It doesn't leave me too comfortable, either. Learn to live with it...
Iraqi entrepreneurs who have finally won the freedom to start businesses now face a new threat: competition, especially from well-heeled foreigners, given unrestricted access to the market.
After languishing in a state-run command economy for more than 40 years, Iraqi business people are now worried about their future.
| Maybe they should have dumped their socialist dictatorships 35 years ago, eh? |
Their anxiety stems from an October law that turned the country's socialist system into the most open economy in the Arab world, permitting 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses. "Most Iraqi investors aren't millionaires," said Ihsan al-Titenchi, membership director of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "They want to know what's going to happen to them. Are they going to stay in business? Or is someone from the outside going to arrive and put them out of business?"
| Some will stay in business, some won't. Of those who stay in business, a few will become millionaires, most won't. Next question? |
The October law, signed by the Iraqi Governing Council and US administrator Paul Bremer, banishes most restrictions on trade, capital flows and foreign investment. It allows, for instance, foreign banks to open branches and buy Iraqi banks. It slashes import tariffs to 5%.
| It's called "opportunity." Some people are never happy, are they? |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-12-05 |
