Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdistan Boom Turns Bleak on Refugee Flood, Oil Decline

Dec 15, 2014 | Hermione Gee, Channel NewsAsia
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ERBIL, Iraq: The promise of the oil-rich autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq on the back of rapid economic growth has waned this year as civil strife from a growing Islamic militancy has pushed public finances to a breaking point.

The downturn was accelerated by a sharp drop in oil prices in the final quarter of 2014, with benchmark Brent crude futures down more than 40% and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis spurred by a wave of refugees fleeing the militancy has added to woes, Channel NewsAsia reports. Almost two million refugees have flooded into Kurdistan in the past three years, seeking food, shelter and medical care.

Erbil's skyline tells a story of hope, and decline, with half-finished buildings that once marked a thriving construction business, hitting businesses like Hasan Korbani's cement block factory that supplied the material to lay down the foundations. But the economic crisis has put paid to that - developers no longer have the funds to finish the high-rise apartments they had rushed to build.