Hundreds of Iraqi contractors gathered outside the finance ministry in Baghdad on Monday to protest over unpaid deals with the government. "We came from all over the country. We did our job but we never got paid and now we owe our own suppliers," Thaer Ali, who owns a construction firm in Wasit province south of the capital, told AFP.
According to the demonstrators, the government has for two years failed to honour contracts it signed with scores of companies for infrastructure projects such as schools, roads and hospitals. "We've been patient because we know Iraq was going through a rough patch with IS, but the situation is better now and oil prices have gone up again," said Rawhi al-Araji, vice-president of the Iraqi Contractors' Federation. The federation estimated the government owes its contractors a massive $12 billion (11.3 billion euros).
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