Reforming Iraqi State-Owned Enterprises: Lessons From The China’s Experience

Abstract

The research highlights the significant importance of State-owned enterprises for the Iraqi economy and society. They provide goods and services and create many work opportunities. They also dominate many vital industries, such as oil, electricity, construction, pharmacies, nutrition, finance, and other sectors. However, they went through continued financial and administrative difficulties that negatively affected their efficiency and productivity. Therefore, the research discusses national attempts to reform SOEs either by collaboration with international agencies or through public-private partnerships and the difficulties hindering these reform processes. The difficulties include the interest of political parties in SOE activity, an externally imposed plan for economic change, and possible negative social effects that could result from privatising Iraqi SOEs. Then, it compared the suggested reforming plan to China's experience in developing its economies and improving the efficiency of its SOEs. The comparison is based on similarities between the two countries regarding legal backgrounds and the SOEs' importance to their economies. The research proposed a reforming plan suggesting that serious measures should be taken to prevent political interests from influencing the structure or performance of SOEs. State-owned enterprises must also enhance their corporate governance practices to become more transparent and accountable and improve their competitiveness in local and global markets. This could contribute to developing the economy and permit a smooth transition to a market-oriented economy.