USAID Iraq - From the American People Picture of Earth, with Iraq highlighted July 26, 2013

Iraq Financial Sector Development Project
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Program Snapshot

Award Amount: $31.6 million
Start/End Dates: August 2010 - 2014
Implementer: AECOM
Overview

USAID/Iraq’s new activity in the financial sector is designed to assist Iraqi counterparts develop a comprehensive financial sector infrastructure that will help ensure the long-term growth of the sector.

The objective of the Iraq Financial Sector Development activity is to:

Expand private sector financial intermediation by enhancing the advocacy capacity of the private financial sector.

Improve the soundness of the financial sector through focused reforms and capacity building.

Improve the quality and availability of finance and business education.

USAID/Iraq’s activities will help raise the financial sector’s capacity to international standards with a special focus on private banks. The development of the private financial sector offers opportunities for providing the credit needed to promote and sustain economic growth and job creation, particularly in the non-oil segment of the economy.

The Iraq Financial Sector Development project will work with private sector stakeholders and organizations to advocate for reforms and provide assistance to the Government of Iraq counterparts, such as the Central Bank of Iraq, to implement focused reforms and capacity building that support expansion of financial intermediation.

The Iraq Financial Sector Development activity comprises three integrated elements:

1.Enhancing the Advocacy Capacity of the Private Financial Sector is designed to strengthen private financial industry associations to serve their members through advocacy and training. The associations will lead the dialogue with the Government of Iraq on policy, legal and regulatory reform, and capacity development under the project.

2.Improving the Soundness of the Private Financial Sector through focused Reforms and Capacity Building can assist Iraqi counterparts establish and develop financial sector institutions such as a credit bureau, a financial sector training institute, a payments system and a modern centralized data Repository System.

3.Improving the Quality and Availability of Finance and Business Education will fill the gap in finance and business skills needed for private financial sector development, this component will provide faculty and degree programs at select business schools and/or universities with the technical assistance, as needed, to develop modern business and finance curricula.

http://iraq.usaid.gov/node/167