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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Iraq Struggles To Create Jobs and Wealth
Iraq has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, but its economy suffers from high unemployment, war damage and the lingering effects of past international sanctions.
Crumbling1 infrastructure2 and political bickering3 also weigh down economic growth.
Oil dominates Iraq’s 82 billion-dollar a year economy, yielding most of the government’s revenues and export income. It dwarfs4 all other sectors6 of the economy, and some economists7 say it could spur double-digit growth.
That impresses U.S. President Barack Obama.
"In the coming years, it's estimated that Iraq's economy will grow even faster than China's or India's."
Mr. Obama spoke8 after a recent meeting in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Iraq has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world, but most of that potential wealth is still in the ground. Prime Minister Al-Maliki:
"Iraq ... needs experience and expertise9 and American and foreign expertise to help Iraq exploit its own wealth in an ideal way."
Foreign oil companies have made some deals in Iraq, but are hesitant to make more investments until the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government agree on clear laws governing this critical economic sector5. They have haggled10 for years over who has the right to approve agreements with foreign oil companies and how to structure those deals.
Ben Lando heads the website Iraq Oil Report. He spoke to VOA via Skype.
"It's a have a fundamental dispute as to what the future of the state looks like, and the oil is where you can see it most starkly11 playing out."
Iraq's economy is recovering slowly from war and sanctions. At one point, gross domestic product per person fell to just $800, but is now about $3000. But that is lower than Iraqi incomes in the 1970s. Unemployment is at least 18 percent, but the oil industry's growing efficiency means it will provide fewer jobs than it did in the past.
Mohsin Khan is with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
“Refineries12, people say that you can run refineries that would take 1,000 people in the 1970s, now with 10 [people]. Because of computerization and so on, you don’t need people.”
But Iraqis need jobs. Nearly a quarter of the nation's 32 million citizens live in poverty.
1 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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2 infrastructure | |
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施 | |
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3 bickering | |
v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 );口角;(水等)作潺潺声;闪烁 | |
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4 dwarfs | |
n.侏儒,矮子(dwarf的复数形式)vt.(使)显得矮小(dwarf的第三人称单数形式) | |
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5 sector | |
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形 | |
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6 sectors | |
n.部门( sector的名词复数 );领域;防御地区;扇形 | |
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7 economists | |
n.经济学家,经济专家( economist的名词复数 ) | |
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8 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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9 expertise | |
n.专门知识(或技能等),专长 | |
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10 haggled | |
v.讨价还价( haggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11 starkly | |
adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直 | |
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12 refineries | |
精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 ) | |
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