Iraq is planning to launch an online bourse for building material prices in a bid to curtail continuous increases in costs, the official Alsabah daily said on Friday.

The Trade Ministry is working on the project, which also includes food prices and aims to curb price manipulations in the domestic market, the paper said, quoting Mohammed Hanoun, head of the private sector development section at the Ministry.

“We are working on a project to set up an online bourse for construction and food items…the project is intended to control prices and prevent continuous increases which contribute to upward price pressure in the market,” Hanoun said.
He did not provide details of the platform apart from saying that it would “regulate prices and provide information on demand and supply in the local market.”

OPEC producer Iraq has been locked in a costly post-war reconstruction drive involving its damaged infrastructure and other sectors.

The country is heavily reliant on imported building materials although it is seeking to reconstruct cement and other factories and build new plants.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)