Iraq Economic News and Points To Ponder Saturday Afternoon 10-10-26
Softbank Seeks To Raise $100 Billion From Gulf Investors
Money and business Economy News - Follow-up Masayoshi Son, chief executive of SoftBank Group, is seeking to raise up to $100 billion from Gulf investors to fund a new wave of investment in artificial intelligence.
Over the past few weeks, Son has held discussions with senior figures, including in the UAE, about the potential fundraising process.
The move comes at a time when Son is raising his bets on artificial intelligence, as the company announced last week that it had completed its $30 billion investment in OpenA. As part of its commitment to the latest funding round for ChatG. B. T, according to Reuters.
Last month, SoftBank raised $11.1 billion in the largest sale of high-yield corporate bonds globally to fund its huge bet on OpenA. Ai.
According to the report, the Japanese Investment Group will use the proceeds to create a fund that acquires companies and improves their operations using artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies https://www.economy-news.net/content.php?id=74795
Putin: The Volume Of Trade Exchange Between Russia And The CIS Countries Exceeded 110 Billion Dollars Last Year
Money and business Economy News - Follow-up Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the volume of trade exchange between Russia and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States exceeded 110 billion dollars during the past year. He added, during the meeting of the leaders of the ASEAN countries, that this exchange continued to grow this year https://www.economy-news.net/content.php?id=74797
UNCTAD Expects Global Trade To Grow By About 4% This Year
Money and business Economy News - Follow-up The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Friday revealed that global trade continued to grow in 2026 after setting records in the previous year.
The World Trade in Goods and Services (GSO) is expected to grow by about 4 percent in 2026, although this growth primarily reflects a rise in prices rather than volumes of trade.
Trade volume rose by 4.7% in 2025 to reach a record high of $35 trillion.
While trade between China and the United States has fallen by more than 20 percent since 2024, East Asia has expanded its trade with both China and North America, highlighting the changing trade landscape.
The agency also expects global growth of 2.6 percent this year, compared to 2.9 percent in 2025.
Products associated with artificial intelligence are the main driver of this business.
From 2020 to 2025, advanced economies accounted for nearly 70% of the value of foreign investment projects announced in strategic high-value-added sectors, particularly in the fields of semiconductor, energy transition technologies and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
In terms of high-value-added sectors, developing economies are only at the forefront of the field in the areas of biometals and strategic materials, accounting for 60% of new foreign direct investment in these areas.
The energy crises caused by the war in the Middle East have particularly affected import-dependent developing economies, as well as on the poorest households.
The agency also highlighted expectations that development assistance, a vital source of financing for least developed countries and small island States, would decline by nearly 7% in 2026, marking a third consecutive year of decline
https://www.economy-news.net/content.php?id=74808
Trade Begins To Sell Construction Materials In Cash And In Installments
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad The Ministry of Commerce announced on Saturday the start of direct sale of construction materials to citizens in cash and in installments.
The Director General of the General Company for the Trade of Construction Materials, one of the formations of the Ministry of Commerce, Areej Hussein Al-Jumaili, said that "the company has started the procedures of direct sale of construction materials to citizens, in implementation of the directives of Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, in order to meet their needs and reduce their financial burdens, as well as support the stability of the local market."
She added that "the materials covered by the sale include all the construction, health and electrical materials available to the company," indicating that "the company is working in coordination and cooperation with private sector companies, within the construction cooperation project, to provide rebar, cement, bricks and various other materials at competitive prices to the local market and installments will be through (K-card) and payment for two years."
Al-Jumaili pointed out that "this step comes within the framework of the government's efforts to provide construction supplies to citizens at reasonable prices, and enhance their purchasing power, especially in light of the changes in exchange rates and their repercussions on the prices of materials in the local markets," stressing "the company's keenness to contribute to the stability of prices and not to burden citizens with additional financial burdens as a result of the fluctuations of the dollar exchange rate, in line with government trends aimed at supporting citizens and achieving balance in the local market. "
Earlier, Minister of Commerce Mustafa al-Ani directed to facilitate the sale of construction materials in cash and in easy installments without interest in the sales centers available in Baghdad and the provinces https://www.economy-news.net/content.php?id=74828
New Turkish Investments in Egypt Exceed $295 Million
Money and business Turkish companies plan to inject new investments in Egypt exceeding $295 million, concentrated in the textiles, clothing, porcelain and manufacturing industries, with the aim of boosting production and exporting and creating new job opportunities.
The investments expected during the Egyptian-Turkish Business Forum in Istanbul were discussed, with the participation of about 60 Turkish companies, amid efforts to expand industrial partnerships and transform investment opportunities into implementable projects.
The head of the Federation of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, Rifaat Hassaroglu, said that the existing Turkish investments in Egypt amount to about 4 billion dollars, and provide about 100,000 jobs, pointing to support the lifting of trade exchange between the two countries to 15 billion dollars by 2028.
For his part, Egyptian Finance Minister Ahmed Kajouk stressed the government's continued provision of tax and customs facilities and the simplification of procedures to attract investments, while officials called for the development of maritime transport and logistics to enhance trade between the two countries. https://www.economy-news.net/content.php?id=74854
Iraq Moves To Conclude An Agreement With Turkey To Finance The Development-For-Oil Project
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad The Ministry of Transport announced on Saturday the move to conclude an agreement with Turkey for financing for oil to establish a fund to finance the development road project, while noting that the financing of the first phase of the project through the World Bank loan.
The director of the projects department in the General Company for Iraqi Railways, Fadel Abbas, said that "the development road project is currently going through the stage of preparing designs," noting that "the project will work to develop the Iraq railway network, link the provinces, and provide services for the transport of passengers and goods, as well as its main goal of transporting goods from the port of Faw to Turkey and from there to Europe and vice versa."
He added that "work is currently underway to conclude an agreement with Turkey to establish a fund to finance the implementation of the project by Turkish companies in exchange for oil."
Abbas explained that "the existence of another project represents the first phase of the development road, which is working on the development of the current railway line extending from Baghdad to Basra and to Umm Qasr in the south, and from Baghdad to Mosul in the north, with the link of this line to the port of FAO and the Turkish border north in Fishkhabur," noting that "the financing of this project is through a loan from the World Bank."
Abbas pointed out that "the company is currently working to introduce the railway (Baghdad - Akashat) to service, after the rehabilitation of most of the sectors of the line and the rehabilitation of most of the bridges destroyed by the terrorist gangs," noting that "the work was limited to one small bridge is (Wadi Fatem), which was found in the process of referral and signing the contract."
He pointed out that "the file of the Baghdad metro was transferred from the General Company for Railways to the Secretariat of Baghdad, which in turn announced an investment opportunity to implement the project," stressing that "there are no current plans for railways related to the subject of tram or metro