Editing Economy of Iraq (section)

== Services ==
=== Finance ===
Iraq's financial services have been the subject of post-Saddam reforms. The 17 private banks established during the 1990s were limited to domestic transactions and attracted few private depositors. Those banks and two main state banks were badly damaged by the international embargo of the 1990s. To further privatize and expand the system, in 2003 the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] removed restrictions on international bank transactions and freed the [[Central Bank of Iraq]] (CBI) from government control. In its first year of independent operation, the CBI received credit for limiting Iraq's inflation.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} In 2004, three foreign banks ([[HSBC]], [[Standard Chartered]], [[National Bank of Kuwait]]) were the first to receive licenses to do business in Iraq.<ref>{{cite news |title=Iraq licenses first foreign banks |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/1/31/iraq-licenses-first-foreign-banks |access-date=12 January 2023 |work=Al Jazeera |date=31 January 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112155520/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/1/31/iraq-licenses-first-foreign-banks |archive-date=12 January 2023}}</ref>

==== Banking ====
{{excerpt|Banking in Iraq}}

=== Private security ===
Because of the danger posed by Iraq's ongoing insurgency, the [[Security (finance)|security]] industry has been a uniquely prosperous part of the services sector. Often run by former US military personnel, in 2005 at least 26 companies offered personal and institutional protection, surveillance, and other forms of security.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Security Contractors in Iraq |url=https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2005/0910contractors.htm |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=archive.globalpolicy.org |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508061604/https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/occupation/2005/0910contractors.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Retail ===
[[File:Al Basheer shopping center, Najaf.webm|thumb|Inside a shopping mall in Najaf]]
In the early post-Hussein period, a [[freewheel]]ing retail trade in all types of commodities straddled the line between legitimate and illegitimate commerce, taking advantage of the lack of income tax and import controls.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Iraq Economy Iraqi Economy, business opportunities in Iraq |url=https://www.globaltenders.com/economy-of-iraq |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=Global Tenders |language=en |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508061607/https://www.globaltenders.com/economy-of-iraq |url-status=live }}</ref><gallery mode="packed">
File:فندق بغداد روتانا.jpg|[[Baghdad Mall]]
File:Dream City Mall.jpg|Dream City Mall
File:مول زيونة.jpg|Zayoona Mall
File:مول بابلون.jpg|Babylon Mall
File:Basra Mall.jpg|A mall in Basra
File:Basra Times Square Shopping centre.jpg|Basra Times Square
</gallery>

=== Tourism ===
The [[Tourism in Iraq|Iraq tourism industry]], which in peaceful times has profited from Iraq's many places of cultural interest (earning US$14 million in 2001), has been dormant since 2003. Despite conditions, in 2005 the Iraqi Tourism Board maintained a staff of 2,500 and 14 regional offices.<ref name=":2" /> Between 2009 and 2010, 165 tourists from 16 countries entered Iraq to visit historic sites; as of January 2011, a U.S. State Department grant provided $2 million to help preserve [[Babylon]], supporting the re-opening of one of the site's two museums.<ref>{{cite web | title= Iraq tourism hangs in balance at Babylon | date= 13 January 2011 | publisher= [[CNN]] | url= http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/01/13/babylon.iraq.archaeology/index.html | last1= Neild | first1= Barry | last2= Tawfeeq | first2= Mohammed | work= Inside the Middle East | access-date= 2011-01-14 | archive-date= 25 September 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130925041758/http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/01/13/babylon.iraq.archaeology/index.html | url-status= live }}</ref>

=== Telecommunications ===
From 2003 to 2008, mobile phone subscriptions had expanded over hundred-fold to ten million nationwide, according to the [[Brookings Institution]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=4473387&page=2|title=Page 2: Iraq, 5 Years On: Key Facts and Figures - ABC News|author=ABC News|work=ABC News|access-date=3 March 2015|date=2008-03-18|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402174257/http://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=4473387&page=2|url-status=live}}</ref>