Clare: Iraq maintains its global ranking in natural resources
6/15/2025
Iraq ranked ninth globally among the best natural resources, according to Visual Capitalist, a company that focuses on topics including markets, technology, and energy.
In a report seen by Shafaq News Agency, the company stated that natural resources form the backbone of modern manufacturing and are essential to the production of everything around us.
She added that 10 countries, including Iraq, dominate the global natural resources landscape, each holding vast reserves important for various industries.
The report indicated that Iraq ranked ninth among the world’s countries in terms of the availability of natural resources, estimated at $16 trillion, which include oil and phosphate rocks.
Globally, according to the company, Russia leads the world in natural resources, with an estimated value of $75 trillion, including coal, natural gas, oil, gold, timber, and rare earth minerals. The United States is second, with a value of $45 trillion, including coal, timber, natural gas, gold, and copper.
She continued, “Saudi Arabia came in third with a value of $34 trillion, which includes oil and timber, followed by Canada in fourth place with a value of $33 trillion, which includes oil, uranium, timber, natural gas, and phosphates, followed by Iran in fifth place with a value of $27 trillion, which includes oil and natural gas.”
The company noted in its report that China came in sixth place with a value of $23 trillion, which includes coal, rare earth minerals, and timber. Brazil came in seventh place with a value of $22 trillion, which includes gold, uranium, iron, timber, and oil.
She continued, “Australia came in eighth place with a value of $20 trillion, which includes coal, timber, copper, iron ore, gold, and uranium. Iraq came in ninth place, and Venezuela came in tenth place with a value of $14 trillion, which includes iron, natural gas, and oil.”
Iraq was ranked among the top ten countries with the most valuable natural resource reserves, in terms of the total estimated value over the past four years.
According to a 2024 Statista report, natural resources are the raw inputs used to make everything we use, from intermediate goods to final products. These resources are found in the ground among reserves that have not yet been extracted.
According to Statista estimates, Russia ranked first, with its natural resource reserves estimated at $75 trillion. This amount includes coal, oil, natural gas, gold, timber, and rare earth minerals.
The United States came in second, with an estimated value of $45 trillion in natural resources, nearly 90% of which is timber and coal.
Iraq ranked ninth, boasting $15.9 trillion in natural resources. Its desert terrain contains oil, natural gas, phosphates, and sulfur, according to the website.
Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest producer of crude oil and the world’s fifth-largest producer of proven crude oil reserves. Iraq relies on crude oil exports for a significant portion of its revenue. LINK
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Clare: Prime Minister’s Advisor: Iraq is qualified to become a regional financial center with four strategic powers.
6/15/2025 Baghdad – Nassar Al-Hajj
The Prime Minister’s financial advisor, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, identified four factors that make Iraq a regional financial center on Sunday, stressing that Iraq possesses foreign reserves exceeding $100 billion.
“There are four elements of strength that make Iraq a regional financial center, the first of which is that it is the second largest producer of crude oil in the Middle East, and it has the fourth largest oil reserves in the world, through which it competes to take precedence in the global energy market, through more production and achieving financial flows that make it a financial and economic pillar in the economic geography of the Middle East, by achieving large financial surpluses that can be directed to investment in financial infrastructure,” Saleh told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
He stated that “Iraq has foreign reserves exceeding $100 billion, which provides it with a significant financial safety margin, confidence in monetary stability, and high financial investment attractiveness.”
He added, “The second factor is Iraq’s unique geoeconomic location, which is a vital corridor linking the world’s north to its south. This represents an open economic space between global markets and their financial and commercial attractions, with links that provide important climates for the concentration of regional financial markets, which will revolve around the strategy of the ‘development project’ linking Europe and the Gulf.”
He continued: “The third factor is the demographic or human factor, and its foundation is the population boom, as the percentage of the population under the age of thirty is close, which makes Iraq one of the young nations. The high percentage of youth (more than 60% under the age of thirty) will provide a flexible human base that can be trained in financial technology, banking innovation, digital technology, and artificial intelligence.” He noted that “the government is undertaking the establishment of an important college for artificial intelligence sciences as inputs to the financial labor market and its foundations.”
He added, “The fourth factor is modernizing and restructuring governance in government-owned banks, given that they currently control 80% or more of banking activity.” He emphasized that “the reform campaign being led by the government today for the aforementioned banks aims to transform Iraq into a global financial center after ridding it of the risks of bureaucracy and inefficiency inherited over many decades.”
He pointed out “the importance of electronic payments and the gradual expansion of the use of bank cards, point-of-sale (POS), collection systems, and smart wallets, which have helped achieve significant leaps in digital financial inclusion. This is coupled with the presence of the Iraq Stock Exchange and the Securities Commission, which operate in a robust, integrated, and promising manner as an infrastructure to establish Iraq as a regional hub for consolidating the country’s institutional financial stability.”
He explained that “the legal, executive, and regulatory infrastructure requirements are the key lever for enabling this transformation. These include, for example, linking banks to effective electronic payment platforms and supporting the development of the current National Data Center to serve as the sovereign digital financial infrastructure that supports Iraq’s efforts to transform into a regional financial center.”
He pointed out that “Iraq’s transformation into a regional financial center will be achieved through the collection and integration of financial, banking, and economic data, supporting smart monetary and financial policies, enabling financial technology and smart data analysis, enhancing transparency and governance of financial institutions, stimulating the non-banking finance sector, such as microfinance companies, reforming the insurance sector, and licensing financial technology ( Fintech ) companies.”
He pointed out that “the current political, legal, and institutional stability that our country enjoys today, in a prosperous and solid manner, is the true basis for financial strength. There is no financial center without a stable and secure political and legal environment.”
Saleh emphasized the importance of building regional and international partnerships, such as studying the importance of joining regional payment systems and financial structures of international groups such as the G20 or BRICS, or partnerships with strong financial centers in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, and others. LINK
Courtesy of Dinar Guru: https://www.dinarguru.com/
Militia Man Just because Iraq looks ready, sounds ready, is ready, does the IMF, World Bank, US Treasury, Bank of International Settlements feel they’re ready? …It’s about Iraq but it’s not all about Iraq…It isn’t just Iraq pushing the button. It’s going to have to be something to the effect of that inter-connectivity I’ve been talking about. They need to be allowed to be able to do that…Bottom line is what we see with all the things collectively to this date shows Iraq is ready…A lot of pressure on everybody to make sure they get it right.
Bruce [via WiserNow] …the indicator is that things regarding the RV are moving forward for us…the most recent information for us is saying that we will get notified, quite possibly Monday and begin exchanges on Tuesday… I believe that could very well be the case…we know that redemption center personnel are going in Monday…exchanging Lord willing on Tuesday… that’s what it’s pointing to, because this is coming up to where this needs to go.
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What’s Behind The Gold (+ Silver + Platinum) Bull? | Michael Pento
Liberty and Finance: 6-15-2025
The labor market is cracking, says portfolio manager Michael Pento . While there is superficial optimism based on tariff deals, the foundations of the economy are cratering. And partly due to high energy costs, there is likely no relief coming for high prices.
“The level of inflation has destroyed the middle class,” he argues. While central banks have been accumulating hard assets like gold, the movements in Bitcoin show that the common man is moving into precious metals.
“People are dying for another alternative to the U.S. dollar,” he says. He is bullish on gold, platinum, and potentially silver as demand for hard assets outside the manipulated financial system increases.
INTERVIEW TIMELINE:
0:00 Intro
1:40 Macro outlook
14:25 Gold, silver & platinum
25:08 Central banks buying gold
26:15 Market crash
29:10 Pento’s relocation
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KhzkfiSb_Yg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
