21 October 2003
USAID Chief Says Iraqi Economy Poised to Grow Rapidly
Natsios says Iraq could become richest country in Mideast
By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The Iraqi economy is functioning and poised to grow according to USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios. In an October 21 briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, Natsios observed, "The big thing that I look at whenever I go to a country that has just been through a war or conflict is the markets. Are the markets functioning? Because merchants don't take risks if things are highly unstable. And there are more things on the markets now in the streets of Baghdad than there have been in 20 years."
Natsios noted in particular the growing number of satellite dishes being installed as Iraqis seek access to international broadcasts.
Furthermore, Natsios and USAID staff working in Iraq see enormous potential for quick economic growth. "If Iraq gets their policies right and they move into a stable market economy under a democratic system of government, I think it could be the richest country in the Middle East," Natsios asserted.
"[This is] mainly because the number of highly educated, technically skilled people in Iraq is very high," he continued. "I was kind of astonished at the level of competence. And they're not only competent technically in their disciplines, like medicine, they're also very good managers. They made systems work that were profoundly dysfunctional," Natsios explained.
The USAID administrator also commended the Iraqis' work ethic. "They're very hard working. There are countries in the world where it's difficult to get the workforce focused in a highly efficient way," he said. "Our people [in Iraq] are telling me that this is very unusual and that there are a lot of building blocks for a highly stable, prosperous economy," Natsios stated.
As the economy begins to grow, of course, the demand on the infrastructure will grow, he said. Natsios confirmed that Iraq's electrical generation capacity returned to its pre-war level of 4400 MW as of a week ago, but he noted that efforts to rebuild capacity were not stopping there. "We expect a lot of industries to come back on line. Pouring all of this money into the economy is having an effect," he explained.
"As the economy begins to pick up, there's going to be more need for electricity and that's why there is this plan that Bechtel and Ambassador Bremer have to get the load up to at least 6000 MW by next June," Natsios continued.
The USAID administrator decried the neglect that the Iraqi infrastructure has suffered over the past 20 years. Discussing the state of facilities currently under reconstruction, he explained, "None of this damage we're talking about, almost none of it, is from the war. It's from the deterioration of infrastructure because money was not put by the Baathist Party into public infrastructure from before the Iran-Iraq War."
He went on to discuss the port of Um Qasr, which is "now one of the most modern ports in the entire Middle East. It's completely dredged, which has not taken place since 1983. We've taken the equivalent of 23 football fields of silt out of it. We've taken out 19 sunken ships and 250 pieces of unexploded ordinance."
The USAID administrator also noted the neglect of the country's human capital. According to Natsios, NGOs and the World Food Program have discovered that the food distribution system in place before the war was being used for purposes of political control. He said, "in some villages and cities 20 percent of the population were not on the rations. They had been taken off because they were politically suspect or they were regarded as opponents of the regime."
He also noted the low level of distribution of oral rehydration salts prior to the war. "Probably the lowest level in the world was in Iraq," he stated. These salts are a common treatment for severe diarrhea in young children and a key to preventing death from gastric diseases. "UNICEF had terrible problems getting the Iraqi government to allow the stuff out of the warehouses," he explained.
Natsios confirmed that everyone in the country is now receiving the food rations, that infant immunization programs are in place and that the rehydration salts are being distributed. "As you go through the list in the health sector, things are improving," he stated.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=October&x=20031021191727ndyblehs0.8371393&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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