| NATIONALIZATION OF THE OIL INDUSTRY. The move came after more than a decade of wrangling between the Iraqi government and Western oil companies, in particular, the Iraq Petroleum Company. Until the start of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq enjoyed a tremendous oil boom and became highly dependent upon its earnings from oil. Most of the additional revenues were channeled into heavy industries, such as steel, iron, and petrochemicals, and into the development of Iraq's infrastructure. The service sector was another favored area of the economy. By 1979, Iraq ranked second in production of oil among Gulf states. Oil revenues provided 98 percent of foreign exchange and 90 percent of total revenues. The Iran-Iraq War (See 1980, Sept. 22) cut these revenues in half. | 3 |
