"With the support of the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region, we were able to approve the license of an international bank from Baghdad to operate in the Kurdistan Region,” said Minister Rebaz Hamlan.
The bank will be named Nishtiman – meaning homeland.
Hamlan met with Mirza Hussain Hasan, executive director of the World Bank Group, on Wednesday.
In their meeting, Hamlan said they have been able to pay back a significant portion of the KRG’s debts to private banks, using its oil revenues.
The KRG was hard hit by a four-year economic crisis that forced the government to introduce unpopular austerity measures, borrow cash from private firms, and put on hold almost all its service projects.
Hasan said he was happy to see Kurdistan Region’s banking sector develop and promised assistance, according to a KRG statement.
The KRG is also working to reform the banking sector, including introducing technology tools, said Hamlan.
Now that relations between Erbil and Baghdad are mending and the financial crisis is easing, the government is picking up where it left off on its unfinished projects that have been on hold since 2014.
They have also started paying their employees regularly.
"We have been able to resolve the financial woes to a large extent and with the resilience of civil servants. We overcame the issues such as drop in oil prices, the cutting of the civil servants' salaries by Baghdad," said Hamlan.
"We are now paying our employees every 30 days," the minister announced.
The public sector salaries are secured in the new Iraqi 2019 budget, even if Erbil does not hand over stipulated quantities of oil.
Hamlan said they are encouraged about enhanced cooperation between the two governments, hopeful they will finally be able to end long-standing disputes.
"The KRG-Iraq joint committees are economically working to improve our relations," he said.
He was equally optimistic about the economic outlook for 2019.
In a subsequent meeting with KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Deputy PM Qubad Talabani, Hasan commended the government’s implementation of its economic and administration plans that helped the Region tackle the financial crisis, according to a KRG statement.
KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani (R) sits with Mirza Hussain Hasan, executive director of the World Bank Group. Photo: KRG
Representatives from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, who have in the past funded strategic private sector projects in the Kurdistan Region, also accompanied Hasan on his visit to Erbil.
The IFC showed readiness to fund more projects, the KRG statement added.
Barzani stressed that the private sector should play a pivotal role in the development of a strong economy in the Region.
