Executive Summary
The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) has played an increasingly important role in Iraq’s financial system since its establishment in 2004. Designed to operate in line with international stock exchange standards, the ISX received technological support from NASDAQ in 2008 and 2019. Currently, the ISX hosts 105 listed companies trading across nine sectors, operating through approximately 225 trading sessions annually, and is a member of both the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) and the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (AFCM).
In this report, we dive deep into the history of the stock exchange market in Iraq, its current status across sectors, the challenges faced, and a comparison to regional stock exchange markets.
Key results from our report include:
• Trading Shares and Volume. In the year 2021, traded shares and volume increased compared to the previous years, which were mainly offset by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Companies and Sessions. Listed companies reached 105 in 2021, 76% of them were trading during the 226 trading sessions in the same year.
• Sectors in the ISX. Although there are 9 sectors listed in the ISX, the money transfer sector stopped trading almost completely after 2019. The telecommunications sector is the highlight of ISX, as AsiaCell had its IPO in 2013.
• Foreign Exchange in ISX. The Asiacell IPO doubled the ISX capitalization to $9.3bn, as foreign investors mobilized their foreign capital in Iraq.
• Regional Stock Exchanges versus ISX. The most comparable stock exchange market to the ISX is the Egyptian Stock Exchange. The ISX has 4 times the capitalization of the Egyptian Stock Exchange market with half the number of listed companies.
• Issues in ISX. The undeveloped market infrastructure, the lack of a unified policy to voluntarily disclose in Iraqi corporations, and the confusing tax regime are some of the issues facing the ISX.