Iraq economic growth leads to electronic stock exchange

Telegraph:

Iraq's rising prosperity is to be symbolically marked this week with the inauguration of a new stock exchange system in Baghdad.

The country's small band of traders are to mark the end of an era with the switch to electronic trading. It will be a milestone in the nation's recovery.

Under Saddam Hussein, the exchange was little more than a gambling hall, housed in premises resembling an old-fashioned souk. After the war it had a temporary home in a defunct Italian restaurant.

Now it stands in a sprawling villa in Baghdad's financial district, part school room with white boards marking trades, and part prison with iron bars protecting brokers from the clientele.

The revitalisation of the exchange comes as Iraq's economy begins to recover after five years of war and insurgency and decades of sanctions. High oil prices, a resumption of government spending and American military aid have combined to boost the economy by seven per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, which is forecasting a prolonged boom.

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Now if they can just keep the electricity running during the hours of operation, they can do some active trading. The Iraq economy has been almost a secret during the entire war. It has performed much better than prewar levels and some troops have actual saved dinars as an investment.