Iraq's Financial Surge

More progress in Iraq:

According to the not-quite-closed record book for 2007, Iraqi sovereign bonds, the Iraqi currency, and the Iraqi stock market have each logged astounding, not to mention politically provocative, gains.

[. . .]

Since the subprime mortgage meltdown began in August, these evidences of indebtedness of the government in Baghdad have gained no less than 18.3%. With a salute to General Petraeus and the doughty GIs under his command, one might say they surged.

So has the dinar, up 10% against the dollar this year. Now the dollar, admittedly, is no monetary fortress, and the dinar is one of the few Middle Eastern currencies left free by its issuing government to float in value (the exchange rates of most of the region's scrip are lashed to the dollar). The price of a barrel of oil, of which Iraq is a leading producer, has had a pretty good year itself. Still, during the 2007 New Year prediction season, how many guessed that the dinar would outperform the communist Chinese renminbi (up 6.3%) or the Russian ruble (up 6.8%)? The name of no such monetary prophet jumps to mind.

As for the Iraqi stock market, it is as much a hope as an institution. Trading is spotty, financial information is scarce, and the state-of-the-art technology is a white board. Yet the prices scrawled in marking pen have been in a strong uptrend. At last report, they were ahead by 36.8% on the year.

I'm waiting for the Liberal/Progressives to suffer a momentary remission from their fatal cases of Bush Derangement Syndrome and admit to another epiphany. You know, like this or this.