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Iraq's Chilling Economic Statistics Iraq's Chilling Economic Statistics
By Ali Abunimah
Iraq Action Coalition Iraq's total GDP has fallen to just $5.7 billion, or $247 per capita, according to estimates by the well-respected Economist Intelligence Unit in The Economist's newly published annual supplement "The World in 1999." Just prior to the Gulf War, Iraq's GDP was more than ten times higher--around $60 billion. Last year the Economist Intelligence Unit estimated Iraqi GDP at $30.4 billion, or $1,300 per capita. This year's figure represents both a further precipitous decline, and more accurate estimates. To put this in perspective, Jordan, Iraq's tiny neighbor has a GDP of $8.6 billion. With an estimated per capita GDP of only $247, Iraq, once one of the most developed countries in the Middle East, is now poorer than many countries in sub-saharan Africa.
March 18, 1999Just this evening I had the opportunity to attend a talk by former UN humanitarian relief coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday. Halliday noted that Iraq's recurring annual budget needs for health, food and essential services, is $12-15 billion. With the Oil-for-Food program, which Halliday ran for thirteen months, Iraq gets barely $4 billion. With a total GDP of $5.7 billion Iraq's economy is worth about the same as four B-1 bombers. It is worth about half of Bill Gates. The entire Iraqi economy amounts to just 2% (two percent) of the annual United States DEFENSE budget of $265 billion. The increase in the US defense budget proposed for next year by the Clinton Administration ($12 billion) is more than twice the entire GDP of Iraq. Just exactly what kind of threat can Iraq present? You do the math.
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