Iraqi Kurdish food retailer Nuri Barzan was considering closing his warehouse because of the lack of business when the launch of a military campaign to oust Islamic State from their stronghold of Mosul eased his worries.
However, with Iraqi forces having recaptured parts of Mosul since October, traders in Kurdish towns have been quick to start supplying shops that are opening again in retaken districts.
His stocks include rice, cooking oil, soap and cornflakes -- goods in high demand in Mosul districts resuming life after two-and-half-years of occupation under Islamic State.
It is a welcome development. Unemployment has been on the rise in Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq, for two years as oil prices have slumped and the Baghdad government has cut off funding after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) started building a crude pipeline to Turkey.
Abandoned construction sites, shuttered shops and traders sitting idle in their offices had become a frequent sight in Kalak, the rest of Kurdistan and the regional capital Erbil.
Mosul, an Arab city, used to get supplied mainly by traders from the western neighbour Syria shipping Turkish, Iranian and Syrian goods. The militants boosted that route by linking Mosul with its Syrian stronghold Raqqa, while roads to the Kurdish and Iraqi government-held territory had been largely cut off.
REUTERS
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