Haider Al-Abadi . “Oil prices are not at the required level to be used for sustainable development,” state TV quoted al-Abadi as saying during a press conference. Iraq proclaimed itself victorious earlier this year after a three-year, hard-fought war against the terrorist Islamic State. The victory freed up some money—but not enough—for reconstructing the nation after almost 15 years after the demise of dictator Saddam Hussain and the fall of his regime. The oil price crash of 2014 has made it difficult for fossil-fuel dependent countries to provide key government services to its citizens, and Iraq was not immune. In Iraq, years of financial mismanagement and domestic conflict exacerbated existing civil governance issues. Just over a month has passed since the Kurdish referendum, which resulted in a near-unanimous vote for the Kurdistan Regional Government to secede from Iraq. Baghdad has not accepted the results of the vote, moving instead […]