Basil Al Rahim

"Al Rahim has emerged as a strong advocate of neo-liberal policies in Iraq. He has been a guest of the American Enterprise Institute and testified before the US Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on the economic transformation of Iraq. In an economic paper for the Iraq Foundation, Al Rahim provides the classic neo-liberal argument: “The fact that the [Iraqi] state (through nationalization and expropriation) owns over 80% of the productive economic assets of the country must be recognized and immediately addressed. It is only by shifting these assets squarely back into the private sector that the economy will be properly invigorated and set on a path of sustainable long-term growth." [40][1] Basil Al Rahim is also founder and managing partner of MerchantBridge, a Riyadh-based private equity firm, and chief executive officer of MerchantBridge-UBS, a joint venture with the Swiss financial services firm. [41][2]