Despite economic downturn, Kurdistan-Iran trade on the rise

By Bakhtiar Qadir

CHOMAN, Kurdistan Region – Despite an economic downturn in Kurdistan, cross border trade with neighboring Iran has increased by 40 percent in the last two months, compared to the same period in 2014, Kurdish border officials told Rudaw.

“Compared to Turkish or other foreign goods, Iranian products are more consumer-friendly in terms of prices,” said Aso Qadir, manager of the Haji Omran border gate, one of the two official crossing points between Kurdistan and Iran.

Cross-border trade with Iran has increased in recent years, as many restrictions were removed on both sides. According to the Kurdish Chamber of Commerce in Sulaimani, the total value of trade between Kurdistan and Iran is close to $2 billion a year.

Official statistics show that in 2007 Iran exported nearly $2.8 billion worth of goods to Iraq, of which nearly $1 billion was imported via Kurdistan’s borders.

Despite the economic crisis in Kurdistan, brought on by a war with the Islamic State group (ISIS) that has raged for more than a year, the purchasing power of Kurdish consumers is still relatively high, largely because of a devaluation of the Iranian rial in July 2013.