One day in the spring of 2021, Akram Johari carried his luggage and his Lebanese passport. He boarded the plane from Beirut to Baghdad without a prior plan, in search of work, following his salary in Lebanon did not support a family of two children and elderly parents.
As a result of the ongoing crisis in Lebanon for nearly two years, which the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world since 1850, Akram’s salary, 42, is no longer equal to one hundred dollars, with the value of the Lebanese currency deteriorating by 90%. He, like many Lebanese, chose to travel.
He left his job in Lebanon, and Baghdad was the most obvious choice for him: a nearby city with a nascent economic movement, and receiving the Lebanese on a visa at the airport.
“I didn’t have enough time to look for work in the Gulf. I had to make a quick move. I came to Baghdad and started looking for work on Instagram,” Akram told AFP from the cafe he started running regarding a month ago on a commercial street in central Baghdad. Until he got the job.
The severe economic crisis that began more than two years ago is stifling the Lebanese, 80% of whom are below the poverty line.
And between June 2021 and February 2022, more than 20,000 Lebanese entered Iraq, according to the Iraqi authorities, not counting the visitors who come to Najaf and Karbala.
The Lebanese ambassador to Iraq, Ali Habhab, explains that the movement of Lebanese to Iraq “recently doubled, and increased steadily, especially in the health sector,” as this applies especially to “dozens of Lebanese doctors who provide services and are considered visitors in Iraqi hospitals and medical centers.”
new market
Iraqi economic expert Ali Al-Rawi believes that there is “a large space and greater opportunities for Lebanese companies in the Iraqi economy”, because “most foreign companies are afraid to invest” in the country because of the “image taken from the security situation.”
The expert adds that the Lebanese companies “are more in contact with the Iraqi economy and know the investment environment well and coexist with it.”
The cultural and linguistic rapprochement between Lebanon and Iraq contributes to facilitating the stability of Lebanese companies. Paradoxically, the political situation, sectarian structures and the spread of corruption in the two countries are also very similar.
For a long time, the deteriorating security situation deprived Iraq of investments and a destination for action, especially following the US invasion in 2003, the sectarian conflicts, the takeover of the Islamic State and the violence that followed.
Today, life is gradually returning to the streets of Baghdad, which witnessed bloody atrocities during the past years, as cafes open their doors until late at night, while beauty centers and medical clinics are scattered in all corners.
However, this new pulse is accompanied by a lack of expertise and deep living crises in a country that depends on oil for its revenues for 90%.
The Iraqis themselves also suffer from poverty, unemployment and deteriorating infrastructure, as the unemployment rate among young people is 40%, and a third of its population of more than 40 million people suffers from poverty, while a large number of them, like the Lebanese, seek to emigrate.
In addition, the health sector, especially in Iraq, faces many problems that push many Iraqis to go to neighboring countries such as Iran, Turkey and Lebanon, to receive treatment.
“outlet”
A large number of the clients of the Beirut Specialized Ophthalmology Center in Lebanon were Iraqis, explains its managing director, Michael Cherfan from Baghdad, to AFP. The crisis began to affect the work of the center in Lebanon, and it began to incur huge losses. In 2020, Charfan notes that “many doctors have left Lebanon, and we have lost doctors.”
Then, Iraq represented the ideal destination: the market is not saturated, the demographic composition is adequate, and the services provided by the center are not present in Iraq, explains Cherfan.
The presence of the center, which opened a year ago, saved Iraqi patients from traveling to Beirut, but it also constituted a “breathing space” for many Lebanese doctors and in compensation for the losses incurred by the center due to the crisis in Lebanon.
Sharfan says, “Our doctors come here on a rotating basis. Every week, one or two doctors come to perform visits and operations, earn some money and then return to Lebanon, which compensates them for some of their losses.”
At the same time, the center provides services to Iraqi patients that are not available in Iraq. Iraqi doctor Muhammad Hamza Ahmed, who also works as a visiting doctor at the center, says, “There are a number of surgeries that are not available in Iraq, which are currently provided by this center.”
There are currently in Iraq more than 410 Lebanese companies working in various fields such as education, construction and tourism sectors such as restaurants and hotels. As for the Kurdistan region, there are more than 500 companies, according to the Lebanese ambassador, especially in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.
Although he is able to secure a good living for his family as a result of his work in Baghdad, it comes with a taste of bitterness for Akram. It hurts the man so much not being able to see his two daughters grow up in front of him. “I am very sad because I cannot see my two-month-old daughter,” he told AFP.
But the distance between the two countries makes this hardship a little easier. “Every month I can travel and see my family,” he says.