 Iraq oil exports $11.07 bn in March, highest for 50 years Baghdad (AFP) April 2, 2022 - Iraq exported $11.07 billion of oil last month, the highest level for half a century, as crude prices soared amid shortfall fears following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the oil ministry said. The second largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iraq exported "100,563,999 barrels for revenues of $11.07 billion, the highest revenue since 1972", the ministry said. The figures published late Friday are preliminary data but final data "generally does not vary" much, a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. In February, oil revenues reached an eight-year high of $8.5 billion dollars, with daily exports of 3.3 million barrels of oil. Oil exports account for more than 90 percent of Iraq's income. Crude prices spiked over fears of a major supply shortfall after Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24. Russia is the world's second biggest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, the OPEC group of oil producing countries and its Russia-led allies agreed on another modest oil output increase, ignoring Western pressure to significantly boost production as the Ukraine conflict has rocked prices. The 13 members of the Saudi-led OPEC and 10 countries spearheaded by Russia -- a group known as OPEC+ -- backed an increase of 432,000 barrels per day in May, marginally higher than in previous months. - 'Two-edged sword' - The United States has urged OPEC+ to boost production as high energy prices have contributed to soaring inflation across the world, which has threatened to severely derail the recovery from the Covid pandemic. While OPEC refused to budge, Washington said it would tap its strategic stockpile by a record amount in a bid to cool soaring prices. The international benchmark contract, Brent North Sea crude, flirted with a record high in early March as it soared to almost $140 per barrel, but has retreated since then. On Friday, oil was around $100 a barrel. Oil revenues are critical for Iraq's government, with the country mired in a financial crisis and needing funds to rebuild infrastructure after decades of devastating war. Iraq, with a population of some 41 million people, is also grappling with a major energy crisis and suffers regular power cuts. Despite its immense oil and gas reserves, Iraq remains dependent on imports to meet its energy needs. Neighbouring Iran currently provides a third of Iraq's gas and electricity needs, but supplies are regularly cut or reduced, aggravating daily load shedding. "Overall, a windfall in oil revenues is positive for Iraq," said Yesar al-Maleki, an analyst at Middle East Economic Survey. "But is a two-edged sword, since it may dampen government efforts to implement economic reforms needed to diversify it's sources of income beyond oil." Many ordinary Iraqis are frustrated that they see little impact of the higher oil revenues trickle down to them, in a country where nearly a third live below the poverty line, according to the UN. "With the new parliament bringing a more populist flavour of MPs, it is expected that this windfall will lead to greater calls by politicians and the public alike to increase public sector wages and employment," Maleki added.
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Iraq, once synonymous with conflict and chaos, is becoming a land of opportunity for Lebanese job-seekers fleeing a deep economic crisis back home.
Akram Johari is one of thousands who fled Lebanon's tumbling currency and skyrocketing poverty rates.
Last year, he packed his bags and boarded a plane from Beirut to Baghdad, using social media to search for opportunities.
"I didn't have enough time to look for a job in the Gulf," the 42-year-old said, explaining why he eschewed the more traditional path for those seeking economic opportunities in the region.
With its relative proximity and visas on arrival for Lebanese, the Iraqi capital seemed a good option.
"I had to take quick action, and so I came to Baghdad and began searching for work on Instagram," Johari said, speaking in a restaurant he has run for about a month.
Lebanon is grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis that the World Bank says is of a scale usually associated with war.
Beirut's crisis, driven by years of endemic corruption, has seen Lebanon's currency lose more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar.
Lebanon's 675,000-pound monthly minimum wage now fetches around $30 on the black market, and about 80 percent of the population now lives in poverty, according to the UN.
When he left Beirut, Johari was earning the equivalent of about $100 per month. In Iraq, he earns enough to support his family back home, he said.
- Thousands flock to Iraq -
More than 20,000 Lebanese citizens arrived in Iraq between June 2021 and February 2022, excluding pilgrims visiting the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, according to the Iraqi authorities.
Lebanon's ambassador in Baghdad, Ali Habhab, said that movement from Lebanon to Iraq "has recently multiplied".
There are more than 900 Lebanese businesses now operating in Iraq, the majority of them in the restaurant trade, tourism and health, Habhab said.
In particular, there have been "dozens of Lebanese doctors who offer their services" in Iraqi hospitals, he said.
Iraq's decades of conflict -- from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, to the US-led invasion of 2003 and subsequent sectarian conflict, and on to the rise of the Islamic State group in 2014 -- means that Baghdad might appear to be an unlikely magnet for those seeking to build a new life.
But since the country declared victory over IS in 2017, Iraq has slowly begun to recover its stability.
Today, streets in Baghdad that once witnessed atrocities are buzzing with shops lining main thoroughfares and cafes open late into the night.
According to Iraqi economic expert Ali al-Rawi, many Lebanese companies came to Iraq because they "know the investment environment well", while many foreign companies from other countries "fear investing" because of its violent past.
"There is a lot of space for Lebanese enterprises in the Iraqi economy," he said.
But Iraqis themselves have seen their fair share of economic hardship.
In a country where 90 percent of revenues come from oil sales, roughly a third of the population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.
In 2019, nationwide protests erupted across Iraq, driven by anger over rampant corruption, the absence of basic services and unemployment -- similar factors behind protests in Lebanon that erupted around the same time.
- Lebanese firms flourish -
Lebanon was once a prime destination for medical tourism, as Iraqis flocked to better equipped medical centres in Beirut and other cities.
But, as with other sectors, Lebanon's economic crisis has hit healthcare.
The Beirut Eye & ENT Specialist Hospital was once popular with Iraqi patients, but an official at the hospital, Michael Cherfan, said that "many doctors had left Lebanon".
The hospital responded to the crisis in the way many Lebanese have -- by opening a branch in Baghdad, sparing Iraqis the trip to Beirut.
"Our doctors come on a rotating basis," Cherfan said. "Every week, one or two doctors come and do consultations and surgeries, earn some money and then return to Lebanon, which helps offset some of their losses."
For Johari, while the money he earns in Iraq supports his family, it comes with a bitter taste. He flies home once a month, but he misses his family.
"It saddens me a lot that I can't watch my two-month-old daughter grow up", he said.
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