Corruption’s Reflection: Iraq’s Shadow Economy

Accurate economic intelligence is critical in designing policies, strategies and investments for Iraq ’s economic recovery. Unfortunately, very little is known about the country’s economic progress over the last several decades,[2] let alone the current situation. There are huge gaps in even the most routine data compiled by nearly every country. The International Monetary Fund, for instance, does not have any data on even the balance sheets of the central bank or the financial system since 1977, let alone national income accounts (missing since 1993), prices, interest rates, or the balance of payments.[3] Today, the insurgency and persistent insecurity has made even the simplest data-gathering exercises almost impossible to conduct. The picture we have and are likely to have for some time will, by necessity, be derived from indirect indicators and inference.[4]