The cumulative unaudited pre-tax profits of 79 out of 123 companies listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange totaled IQD371.4bn in the first nine months of 2018, constituting an increase of 2% from IQD364.2bn in the same period of 2017. In US dollar terms, the profits of listed companies reached $304m in the first nine months of 2018 and increased by 6% from $286.8m in the same period of 2017. The dollar figures reflect the prevailing official exchange rate that appreciated from an average of IQD1,270 per US dollar in the first nine months of 2017 to an average of IQD1,222 per US dollar in the first nine months of 2018. Listed telecommunication firms generated profits of $215.7m and accounted for 71% of total earnings in the covered period. Banks followed with $46.9m (15.4%), then industrial firms $32.3m (10.6%), companies in the hotel & tourism sector with $6.1m (2%), services firms with $2.2m (0.7%), insurers with $0.9m (0.3%) and money transfer operators with $0.2m (0.1%). Further, the profits of firms operating in the hotel & tourism sector rose by 181.5% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2018, followed by the earnings of telecommunication companies (+155.4%), the earnings of firms in the services sector (+28%), and companies in the industrial sector (+22.9%). In contrast, the profits of money transfer operators decreased by 90% annually in the first nine months of 2018, followed by the income of banks (-72.4%) and insurers (-6.3%). 
Source: Rabee Securities, Iraq Stock Exchange