Forced to deal with an aging, poorly maintained electricity infrastructure, ongoing insurgent attacks on gas and transmission lines, and the ever-increasing demand of Iraqis, Iraq still averages only about 13 hours of electricity a day nationwide, with only six hours on average in Baghdad, the country's largest population center, according to U.S. officials. Iraqis consider the lack of power to be among their most serious problems, especially during the summer, when temperatures can top 120 degrees.

Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Saddam Hussein's government routed power to Baghdad, which received 18 to 24 hours of electricity a day while the rest of the country received two to four hours. Since then, Iraq's electricity generation capacity has increased from 2,500 megawatts to about 5,000 megawatts, but attacks and breakdowns have kept another 3,500 megawatts offline.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3860926.html
Psycho4Bud Reviewed by Psycho4Bud on . Iraq banking reforms are on track: central bank BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iraqi Central Bank Governor Sinan al-Shabibi said on Thursday the country was making solid progress in reforming its financial sector despite the ongoing violence and had enough reserves to defend the currency. "I can say that we are succeeding in maintaining a stable financial situation in Iraq," he told Reuters at the Arab Economic Forum in Beirut. "This level of reserves is helping us keep the currency exchange rate stable." Shabibi said net foreign reserves stood at Rating: 5