IMF First and Second Review Documents
Released in August 2006, this package from the International Monetary Fund includes information collected in connection with the Fund's first and second reviews under its Stand-By Arrangement, financing assurances review, and request for waiver of nonobservance and applicability of performance criteria.

The Quarterly Report on "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq:" Fact, Fallacy, and an Overall Grade of "F"
This June 2006 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies says of the quarterly report on Iraq issued to Congress by the Department of Defense, "it makes basic analytical and statistical mistakes, fails to define key terms, provides undefined and unverifiable survey information, and deals with key issues by omission."

Iraq: 2005 Article IV Consultation
Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. In the context of the 2005 consultation with Iraq, these documents were released, including the IMF Staff Report, a Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion, and a Statement by the Executive Director for Iraq.

Open letter on the Oil and Gas wealth in the Draft Iraqi Constitution
Experts on the oil industry sent this open letter to Iraq's National Assembly and future House of Representatives in October 2005. In it, the experts raise questions about the new constitution's handling of oil revenues.

Crude Designs - The rip-off of Iraq's Oil Wealth
This November 2005 report, published by the London-based charity PLATFORM, claims that control of Iraq's future oil wealth is being handed to multinational oil companies through long-term contracts that will cost Iraq hundreds of billions of dollars.

Iraq: Considerations on Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations for the Constituent Assembly
In preparing for the discussions of the Iraqi Constituent Assembly, IMF and World Bank staff and consultant experts presented to senior officials from the central and local governments in Iraq, including from Kurdistan, key options that might be relevant for the discussions. This April 2005 working paper reflects the thrust of the discussions, including the views on the options prepared by the Iraqi officials, and develops a short-term work plan for the benefit of the assembly.

Transparency International's Global Corruption Report 2005
This March 2005 report shows how corruption in the construction sector undermines economic development, and threatens to hamstring post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq and beyond.

Iraq in Transition: Post-Conflict Challenges and Opportunities
A joint publication of OSI and the United Nations Foundation, this November 2004 report examines the coalition's record during occupation and provides benchmarks on how best to approach the shared goal of a more stable and peaceful Iraq.

A Fleeting Opportunity to Contain Iraq's Insurgency on Horizon - Expert
Iraqi nationalists and radical Islamists, who until now have refused to participate in Iraq’s political process, could extend an olive branch to US and Iraqi officials in the form of an open letter in the coming days, a leading expert on events in Baghdad said on October 28, 2004.

Iraq: Use of Fund Resources--Request for Emergency Post--Conflict Assistance--Staff Report
Following discussions with Iraqi officials on economic developments and policies, IMF staff prepared this September 2004 report.

Reconstruction Funds Bypass Iraqis
This October 2004 chart from the Center for Strategic & International Studies illustrates the Center's conclusion that only about 27 percent of the $18.3 billion appropriated for Iraq's reconstruction is actually available to provide "direct benefit to Iraqis and Iraq’s economy."

A Failed "Transition": The Mounting Costs of the Iraq War
Among the major findings of this September 2004 report from Foreign Policy in Focus are stark figures about the escalation of costs in these most recent three months of "transition" to Iraqi rule, a period that the Bush administration claimed would be characterized by falling human and economic costs.

Agencies That Oversee Spending on Iraqi Reconstruction
An Iraq Revenue Watch Backgrounder
June 2004
This IRW reference tool provides information about the various agencies that are overseeing spending on Iraqi reconstruction.

Progress or Peril? Measuring Iraq's Reconstruction Progress
Although Iraq's governing institutions lack adequate capacity and negative trends dominate security, jobs, and services like electricity and sewage, Iraqis themselves remain optimistic, according to a September 2004 report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Reconstructing Iraq
International Crisis Group's September 2004 report focuses on the task of recontruction in Iraq as a key to quelling the ongoing violence there. It finds that the CPA's performance in this arena "fell far short of expectations and needs and offers a fragile, dysfunctional legacy on which to build."

Reconstructing Iraq's Economy
In this Autumn 2004 Washington Quarterly report, Bathsheba Crocker argues that Iraq's economic recovery in the short to medium term remains wholly dependent on security and political stability, legal certainty, and Iraqis buying in to the CPA's economic program; and that the United States must now move from dictating Iraq's economy to enabling an indigenous Iraqi course.

Covering Globalization: A Handbook for Reporters
Covering Globalization is the first journalism textbook aimed at reporters who cover finance and economics in developing and transition countries.

The Iraq Jobs Crisis
This report from the Education for Peace in Iraq Center presents a conservative yet sober account of Iraq's unemployment crisis, and provides recommendations for US policy makers and the international community.

Iraq Pipeline Watch
The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security's page listing attacks on Iraqi pipelines, oil installations, and oil personnel. Updated frequently.

Audio: Iraq's economy in transition
Revenue Watch director Svetlana Tsalik discusses Iraq's changing economy with Pratap Chatterjee of Corpwatch) and Steven Susens of the Coalition Provisional Authority, on Your Call Radio, June 23, 2004.

Audio: Iraq—Where's the Oil Money Going?
It's proven easier for Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority to spend the country's oil money rather than funds approved by Congress. Revenue Watch director Svetlana Tsalik talks with Chicago Public Radio about where that money's going. June 21, 2004.

Advocate Seeks New Policy on Civilian Deaths in Iraq
An American non-governmental sector activist is attempting to quantify the impact on civilians of the US offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The activist, Marla Ruzicka, suggests that formulating a system to account for civilian deaths and economic dislocation can assist US-led reconstruction efforts.

Iraq as a Failed State: A Six Month Progress Report
While there have been many reports on Iraq, there is no systematic evaluation that measures the success of U.S. policies in that country based on sustainable security trends over time. The Fund for Peace, which developed an analytical tool for this kind of evaluation, is applying it to Iraq at six-month intervals to monitor trends. The goal is to measure the progress toward sustainable security, the stage in which Iraq is deemed self- sufficient, largely peaceful, and capable of governing itself without external military or administrative oversight.

Iraq's Transition: On a Knife Edge
The latest report by the International Crisis Group argues that fundamental change in Iraq is needed soon if the widening gap separating the occupation's governing institutions from the Iraqi people is to be narrowed and a spreading insurgency is to be overcome.

Different Circumstances Require Different Tactics in Iraq — Halliburton
KBR's response to recent media reports regarding an internal document.

Is What's Good for Boeing and Halliburton Good for America?
A new report from the World Policy Institute suggests contractors are cashing in on the War On Terror.

Managing Iraq's Oil Revenues
The United States Institute of Peace convened its Iraq Working Group on January 22, 2004, to discuss the contentious issue of Iraq's oil revenues and their management. Read a summary of the discussion or listen to archived audio from the panel here.

Banking on Empire
CorpWatch reports that Iraqi ministries will now be able to borrow billions of dollars to buy much-needed equipment from overseas suppliers, but only by mortgaging the national oil revenues through a bank managed by New York-based multinational JP Morgan Chase.

Federal Contracting and Iraq Reconstruction
The Project On Government Oversight's recommendations regarding problems in the federal government's current procurement system that may be affecting Iraq's reconstruction contracts.

Needs Assessments and Donor Relations
From the Humanitarian Information Center for Iraq.

After Saddam (PDF file)
The Brookings Institute's Kenneth Pollack assesses the reconstruction of Iraq.

Jubilee Iraq: Baker's mission on Saddam's debt may undermine Iraqi democracy
According to this press release from Jubilee Iraq, by arranging a Paris Club debt restructuring James Baker goes against the will of Iraqis, who are demanding a fair arbitration tribunal on Saddam's odious debt.

Making Sure the Money Goes Where It's Supposed To (PDF file)
Anthony Richter, the Open Society Institute's director of Central Asia and Middle East Initiatives, and Revenue Watch director Svetlana Tsalik argue in the New York Times that stability and financial transparency in emerging oil suppliers such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are key to American energy security.

Iraq: the missing billions
This report from Christian Aid reveals that a staggering US$4 billion in oil revenues and other Iraqi funds earmarked for the reconstruction of the country has disappeared into opaque bank accounts administered by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US-controlled body that rules Iraq. By the end of the year, if nothing changes in the way this cash is accounted for, that figure will double.

Iraq Supplemental Requires Transparency
A legislative call from the Open Society Policy Center calls on Congress to insist that clearly defined standards of transparency are incorporated into the $87 billion appropriation for Iraq.

Iraqi Scholar Calls Occupation a "Conflict" of Its Own
A prominent Iraqi intellectual told a New York audience on August 25 that his fellow citizens had become "victims of an ideological conflict" within the administration of US President George W. Bush.

The Iraq war: Social and humanitarian implications from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Reconstructing Iraq: A Guide to the Issues (PDF file)
This new publication from the Open Society Institute and the United Nations Foundation provides concise background information on recent post-war reconstruction efforts in other nations as well as on the unique challenges presented by Iraq.

Iraq: Macroeconomic Assessment
The International Monetary Fund reports on Iraq, one of the heavily externally indebted countries in the world.

British Department for International Development's report on Interim Iraq Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Strategy. (PDF file)