Erbil- A stock exchange has been inaugurated in Erbil, the capital city of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the market’s director said on Thursday,reported by Aswat Al-Iraq website.
“The Kurdistan Stock Exchange has been opened following the approval of the central government,” Abdullah Abdulrahman said in a press conference held at the Sheraton, Erbil .“Twenty percent of the shares will go to the regional government, 13 percent to traders and the rest to private sector companies,” Abdulrahman pointed out.

In a press conference, the establishment of Erbil Stock Exchange Co. (ESX) was announced. The establishment committee of ESX held a press conference today and announced that it has been working on establishing this market for almost two years.This is expected to play a key role in boosting the economy of Kurdistan and the region.

ESX Finally received a license from Baghdad. Ahmed Adul-Rahim the head of Establishment Committee stated “our stock exchange market is completely independent of that of Baghdad, and is licensed by Baghdad”. “We hope to advance Kurdistan economy, and link Kurdistan economy to the outside world” said Rahim. Several big corporations have already taken part in this market. KRG as for its part is the main participant holding 20% of the market’s stocks.

Opening a stock exchange market here in Kurdistan is significant; due to the security problems other parts of Iraq are not as valid as Kurdistan for such a market said the head of the committee. Any company holding 5% capacity of the overall ESX’s stocks can take part in ESX, including foreign companies.

Source: Curdonia