![]() Public debt reached 84 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and GDP itself fell 16 per cent, inflaming anger at the government. Not only does this make long-term development planning difficult, but in 2020, when global oil prices plunged, the government was left unable to fund basic services or even pay public-sector salaries and pensions. The dependency on oil rents also exposes the Iraqi economy to fluctuations in global oil prices. This has led to a bloated public sector characterized by patronage and to a shortage of jobs for new graduates-especially those without the necessary connections and networks. ![]() Successive governments have done little to wean Iraq off this heavy dependency on oil rents and diversify the economy. A fragile, oil-dependent economyĬrude oil exports accounted for an estimated 95 per cent of federal revenues in 2020. This Topical Backgrounder aims to provide a snapshot of the situation in Iraq 20 years since the invasion. However, the country remains fragile and divided, and its people face an array of deepening challenges that the state is struggling to address. Armed violence persists in different forms, but it is sporadic, fragmented and localized. Today Iraq is enjoying its most stable period since 2003. A period of relative calm in the early 2010s was broken by the rise of the extremist Islamic State group, which occupied large parts of the country from 2014 until it was largely defeated by Iraqi forces with the support of a US-led international coalition in 2017. It also ushered in years of chaos and civil war, as a variety of armed groups vied for power and territory and targeted coalition forces and the fledgling post-Ba’athist Iraqi Army. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States and United Kingdom toppled the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. Over the past two decades Iraq has been affected by several waves of intense conflict and violence.
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