US to "unveil a blueprint" for a "thriving capitalist economy" in Iraq

[Andy Coates <esquincle@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another official formulation of the fire sale of Iraq's national
resources planned by the U.S. occupiers.  As they enthusiastically
seek to liberate the natural resources and labor power from Iraq so
that it might flow into the pockets of their corporate sponsors, a
casual and arrogant afterthought -- "in overall terms it's not nearly
as big a task as it was in most of the eastern bloc countries."

Yet this pokes through also:  "He said he believed estimates that
placed Iraqi unemployment at 50 to 60 percent were too high."

Andy
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-usa-businesses.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[The New York Times]  October 8, 2003

U.S. Strives to Privatize Iraqi State - Owned Firms

By REUTERS
Filed at 10:37 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. civil administration in Iraq intends
early next year to unveil a blueprint for privatizing Iraq's
state-owned businesses in a quest to create a thriving capitalist
economy, an official said on Wednesday.

Thomas Foley, director of private-sector development for the U.S.-led
Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, was bullish about getting
Iraq's economy back on its feet, but said it was important that
corruption be stamped out in Iraqi business.

In a conference call with reporters at the Pentagon, Foley said he
hoped to present to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council within
about five to seven months a proposal on privatizing state-owned
businesses. He said he would propose the creation of an Iraqi
privatization agency to handle the process of making state-owned
companies private.

Foley said his plan would involve about 150 of the 200 state-owned
enterprises in Iraq and exclude the oil industry, electricity assets
and financial institutions such as state-owned banks and insurance
companies.

Businesses in Foley's portfolio include cement companies, fertilizer
operations, a phosphate mining operation, sulfur mining and extraction
businesses, pharmaceutical companies, an airline and automobile tire
makers.

"Although it is a large task in Iraq, in overall terms it's not nearly
as big a task as it was in most of the eastern bloc countries, both in
terms of the number of companies and the percent of the work force
that's affected," said Foley, a private equity investor.

He said the percentage of the Iraqi work force employed in the
companies he was seeking to privatize was about 3 to 4 percent.

Foley said he was "fully confident" Iraq could become "a thriving
capitalist economy."  He said he believed estimates that placed Iraqi
unemployment at 50 to 60 percent were too high.

Corruption in Iraqi businesses would have to be addressed, he said.

"It wouldn't surprise me if there's a fair amount of it around because
under the regime (of ousted President Saddam Hussein) bribes and
kickbacks were a very successful strategy, so that type of activity
was rewarded, and the people who didn't participate in it basically
didn't succeed," he said.

Foley said the key to turning that around was having a good set of
commercial laws and a judicial system that enforced the laws.

Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.



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