Iraqis enjoy new wealth

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EDWARD WONG IN BAGHDAD


IT IS a family ritual played out in second-hand car markets across the globe - a father buying a car for his son.

Only in Baghdad, the familiar transaction was being played out to the accompaniment of distant gunfire and explosions.

Aadel Kadhem, 43, and his 23-year-old son Mohammed walked around a pair of black BMWs, opening the doors, staring through the windows. Mr Kadhem snr paints cars for a living, and his income has risen ten-fold since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government, he said, allowing him to squirrel away £1,700 for a car for his son.

"The situation is still tight for us, but we have a bit to play with," Mr Kadhem snr said. "In the past, the government wanted to fight against the citizens; they wanted this country to be underdeveloped. But my income now is much stronger than before."

Jamal Nasir, the owner of the Black Gold, the car shop, looked on with a glint in his eye and a smile on his lips.

"Because of small salaries before, many people couldn’t buy cars," he said. "Now I sell to all sectors of society. It’s the wheel of life. Everybody’s working, getting better salaries than before."

Well, not exactly everybody. About 60 per cent of Iraqis have no jobs; those that do are often living in fear because of the lack of security.

Still, an entire swathe of middle-class society, particularly government workers like doctors, teachers and administrators, has experienced a tremendous jump in income since the United States-led occupation began.

That is driving an exultant boom in demand for luxury goods - cars, televisions, fine clothing, expensive perfumes. It has also heightened fears of crime among the beneficiaries since street robberies remain rampant here.

Import tariffs have been scrapped until the end of the year. The UN trade embargo is gone. Stores have sprung up all over the city. Before the invasion in March, for example, people in Baghdad bought cars from two large bazaars. Now they go to dozens of small shops like Mr Nasir’s.

Large trucks carrying used cars are a common sight at border crossings. A spokesman for the oil ministry estimated that 250,000 cars had entered Iraq since spring.

Mr Nasir, who before the invasion sold clothes and small household appliances, said he now bought cars wholesale at a market in Amman, the Jordanian capital. Under Saddam’s rule, the price of a car bought outside the country for £2,308 would rise by £1,442 in tariffs, driving up the retail price, Mr Nasir said. Cars, especially luxury German imports like BMWs and Mercedes, were not affordable.

Now, prices have dropped and the luxury brands are the most sought after, Mr Nasir said as he stood in front of the two BMWs he hoped to sell for £2,885 and £6,348.

His shop is on Outer Karada Street, one of Baghdad’s busiest commercial streets. People flock here now to buy washing machines, television sets and satellite dishes.

A reporter who interviewed 85 store owners on a half-mile stretch found that 33 were selling satellite dishes and receivers, up from just two before the invasion. The dishes were banned by Saddam, who wanted to keep Iraqis isolated. People caught selling them were sent to prison for six months. Demand soared as soon as Saddam was ousted.

"The satellite business nowadays in Baghdad, it’s the best business we can choose," said Aysar Abdullah, one of about ten satellite equipment wholesalers in Baghdad.

Down the street, another retired government worker, this one enjoying a six-fold pension increase, was browsing through suits and leather jackets. "Now I want to buy a Japanese car," the shopper, Abdul Kazim al-Janabi, said.

The store owner, Loay Hamandi, described the new business environment: no import taxes or bribes, and no fear of officials suspicious of his foreign dealings.

But Mr Hamandi did not have kind words about Iraq’s American occupiers. He said that he was afraid to stay open late at night and that the stores in his area were paying £29 a month each to hire five armed guards.

Mr Abdullah, the satellite dish salesman, expressed similar sentiments. "Let the Americans take all the profits I have. But let me feel secure again. Let me send my nine-year-old son to school without an escort," he said

[Adam D]

There's still that pesky 60% unemployment.

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Originally posted by Adam D
There's still that pesky 60% unemployment.

Oh yes, let's dwell on the 60% unemployment, as opposed to the fascist dictatorship that has fallen as of late.

Great one, Warlord.

Originally posted by Adam D
There's still that pesky 60% unemployment.

Give it some time Adam - the countries been canabalized for the past decade. Signs seems to be showing that life is improving at a steady clip - which must not be too hard once a guy like Sadam is gone.

[Element4040]

EDWARD WONG IN BAGHDAD

Mjr. Lee Hung begs to differ with Edward "Little" Wong.

ill give this one the conservatives on the forum.

after the entire country gets ransacked after a war a 60% unemployment rate aint bad.

think of europe after WWII.

things are looking up, but they still suck.