About Kamal Al-Basri

Kamal Field Al-Basri

Kamal Al-Basri has occupied several academic positions with a number of British Universities. Subsequently, he has worked for a number of international financial institutions GE Capital, Barclays and Lloyds Bank. In 2003, he moved back to Iraq and served as Deputy Ministry of Finance and Economic Advisor to the PM. He has experience in making strategic decision in: Banking Reform, Public Subsidies and Privatization.  As the Deputy Minister of Finance he has been engaged with national and international organisations, such as, IMF, World Bank and DFID, on economic development and reforms.

Dr Al- Basri is the founder of the Iraq Institute of Economic Reform (IIER), the first think tank organisation based in Baghdad. The institute involved in drafting economic policy papers, organising regular public debates and training. Building links with other think tanks organisations such as: International Republic Institute (IRI), United State Institute of Peace (USIP), Centre of International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The institute website can be found at: www.iier.org

Achievements:

a) Dr. Kamal has contributed to major international economic literatures and written several policy papers.  Amongst his achievements are:  contributed to the policy design and implementation of economic reform in Iraq. Launched and founded by Iraq Institute for Economic Reform,

b) Drafted several policy papers on the economic and financial situation in  Iraq;

c) Lead on providing training to members of the new Iraqi parliament and senior members of Iraqi government on strategic economic needs and simulation exercises;

d) Developed analytical solutions to identify business opportunities for financial institutions and high-street retailers

e) On the academic level whilst working in the UK as health economist, he  provided evidence that targeting those with high blood pressure and history of coronary diseases is more cost effective than universal screening for prevention of coronary heart diseases, using random control trial data. This paper was published in the British Medical Journal 1995;

f) Provided critical and Quantative Analysis explaining that the motivation of mergers amongst British Building Societies cannot be explained in terms of improving economic efficiency, but rather by managerial objectives, ie power and prestige. The paper was  published in Applied Economics Journal in 1991, and.;

g) Provided initial analysis and justifications of road pricing in London and its impact on road congestion and  on health and the environment.

Specialist Expertise

He has working experiences in the following subjects: Expert on Iraqi Economic Affairs, Banking Reform, Credit Scoring and Modelling, Marketing Campaign, Health Economist and Applied Econometric.

Work Experience

In the past he occupied several positions including:

• Advisor to Prime Minister of Iraq on Economic affairs
• Deputy Minister –  Ministry Finance, Iraq
• Advisor :  Minister of Trade,  Iraq
• Senior Business Analyst – Lloyds TSB  Bank, London
• Senior Business Analyst – Barclays Bank, London
• Senior Business Analyst – GE Capital, Leeds
• Occupied several positions at the following British Universities:

London as Senior Research Fellow in Health Economist,

Surrey as Senior Research Fellow in Health Economist,

Leeds as Research Fellow in Transport Economics,

Manchester as Research Associate in Labour Economics,

West of England as Senior Lecturer in Economics.

Wales as Senior Lecture in Economics,

Honorary Positions

• Research Associate, Economics Department, West of England University 1997 – 1999.
• Associate Lecturer in Economics, the International Islamic University, London, 1997-2003.
• Member of the Executive Board of the American University, London, [1987]-1995.
• Associate Lecturer, Economics Department, Surrey University 1989-1991.
• Research Associate, Economics Department, Manchester University 1988-1991.

Education

PhD in Economics – University of Strathclyde 1985

BS.c. in Economics (First Class) – University of  Basra 1976

Profile

• Experience in managing large organizations such as the Iraqi Ministry of Finance and Trade with over 20,000 employees.
• Experiences in making strategic decision such as Banking Reforms, Public Subsides, Privatization… etc
• Dealing with international organization such IMF and World Bank and other government institutions.
• Developing analytical solutions to identify business opportunities for Financial Institutions and high-street retailers.
• Experience in building models for predicting risk and fraud, improving the response rate for personal loans and other mailing campaigns, cost-benefit analysis, forecasting consumer behaviour, and productivity analysis.
• Segmentation, targeting potential customers and providing analytical solutions to the Small Businesses.
• Statistician and computer programmer, analysing large data files and using standard software such as SAS, SPSS and other data-mining tools.
• Teaching experience in economics, managerial economics advanced statistical methods, econometric and operational research techniques and health economics.
• Supervising and implementing standard quality techniques to ensure effective executions of projects.

Summary of Achievements

• Contributed to policy design and implementations with regard Economic Reform in Iraq (2003-2007).
• Managing Director Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform, which is first “Think Tank“in Iraq recognised on international level.
• Drafted several policy papers on the economics and financial situation reforms in  Iraq
• Provided training to members of the Iraqi Parliament and senior members of Iraqi government on Strategic Economic needs and Simulation Exercise
• Provided evidence (using random control trial data) that universal screening for prevention of coronary heart disease is not cost effective, whereas targeting those with high blood pressure and history of coronary diseases is. See British Medical Journal, April 1995.
• Established merger activities of British Building Societies that cannot be explained in terms of improving economic efficiency, but rather by managerial objectives. See Applied Economics, March 1990.
• Developed a method for updating and forecasting input-output technology.  This method has the potential to provide accurate forecasts for firms/industry input requirements.
• Provided evidence on the economic efficiency of British universities and hospitals, and identified the source of their inefficiency.
• Undertook a cost-benefit analysis on the impact of road pricing (in London) on road congestion.
• Developed an econometric model to explain, the variation in unemployment across UK regions and over time.
• Developed an econometric model for analysing consumers demand in Scotland.
• Contributed to the debate of re-structuring  Iraq’s economy

Selected Academic Papers

Published and presented numerous papers in the fields of Statistics, Economics and Operational Research these include:

• Farmer Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Constraint Game Approach. Mimeo, Basra University, 1977.
• Evaluation of the Agricultural Structure of Basra City, Journal of Arabian Gulf, 1979.
• Mathematical Notes on Marxian Transformation Problem and Sraffa Standard Commodity. Mimeo, Basra University, 1980.
• Testing the Economic Efficiency of a Firm with Multi-input and Multi-output: Mathematical Programming Approach, Mimeo, Fraser of Allander Institute, 1982.
• Estimating Cost Function under Incomplete Technology Diffusion (with Dr C. Robertson), Mimeo, Department of Mathematics, Strathclyde University, 1983.
• Scottish Dynamic Expenditure System for the Period 1963-1980. Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Strathclyde, 1985.
• Input-Output Technology Forecasting: A Micro-econometric Foundation Approach, Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Strathclyde, 1986.
• The Estimation of Direct and Indirect Production Functions: An Example from Indian Paddy Production, Discussion Paper in Economics, Strathclyde University, 1986.
• Critical Survey of the Methods of Up-dating and Forecasting Input-Output Technical Coefficients. Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Strathclyde, 1987.
• Production Efficiency of British Building Societies. Applied Economics, Vol. 22, No. 3, March 1990.
• Decomposing Overall Production Efficiency of Indian Paddy Farmers (with Dr P H Kuishari). Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Strathclyde.
• Non-parametric Approach to Test Performance: A case study of Chilalot District, Ethiopia (with Dr M. Demak).
• Male and Female Unemployment, 1980-1990, with (Dr Derk Lesli), Economics Department, Manchester University.
• Testing Co-operative Efficiency: The Important of Management and Multi-Production, with R. Welford, In: Small Business and Business Development: A Practical Approach, Edited by R Welford, European Press, 1991.
• Measuring Economics Performance of Acute Hospitals, With Professor Charles Normand, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
• Cybernetics and Performance Measurement of UK Universities, with K. Al-Naji, Systemist, vol. 15(3), Aug. 1993
• The Cost of Pressure Sores, with M. Clark, Report to Department of Health, 1991.
• Cost Effectiveness of Radon Grant, report to Department of Environment, 1993.
• Strategies for Coronary Risk factor Prevention in Primary Care: which is most effective?, with M. Thorogood and C. Normand, British Medical Journal, April, 1995.
• Input-Output Models in Economic Policy and Forecasting, Presented to Workshop Arab Planning Institute-Kuwait, Jan.1996 and to be published in a book entitled ‘Economic Models for Policy Analysis’.
• Economics Efficiency of Baby Care Units (Scottish Hospitals) paper presented at Operational Research Society Conference, September 1996.
• The Productive Efficiency of British Universities: An Historical Data Envelopment Analysis, with G. Al-Naji & A.T. Flegg. Working Paper in Economics, No. 25, April 1998, University of the West of England, Bristol.

Selected Business Reports

• Reject Inference for Personal Loans: New Development.
• Modelling Attrition for Consumer Loans: Case of GE-SOVAC (France).
• GE Europe Auto Sale: Improving Sale Effectiveness.
• Customers’ Response Model for Insurance company: Case of Boiler Insurance.
• BHS Profitability Analysis: Choice Card vs. Choice & Credit cards.
• Modelling Unemployment & Mortgage Insurance Claims: A case study for Halifax Building Society.
• GCF-UK Fighting Strategy: Debenhams Customer Attrition Models.
• Bank Card Model : A net present value analysis for customers’ financial behaviour?
• GE Capital United (Brazil) Behavioural Profitability model: Net present value to customer behaviour.
• GE Capital United (Brazil) Merchandise models for Mappin: Forecasting model to customer spending
• Response / Net Conversion Model for Personal Loans
• Response Model for Sale Promotion : Case of Laura-Ashley Stores
• Personal Loan Model for GE-PASTAN, Sweden
• Risk Model for Loans: GE Capital Austria

Selected Policy Papers (in Arabic)

• Fuels Price Reform in Iraq 2005
• Critical Review to Investment Law in Iraq 2006
• Inflation & Monetary policy in Iraq 2006
• The Budget Strategy for 2007
• The Oil Law and Economic Challenges
• Economic Reform and IMF condition
• International Compact with Iraq

Other Publications

• The Conflict between Private and Social Interests & Decline of Civilisations, Al-Sahwa, February .91.
• Economic and Social Objectives of an Islamic Society, Journal of Al-Twhied, No. 38, 1998.
• Marxian’s Historical Materialism: A Critical Analysis. Al-Minbur News Paper, May, 1996
• The Social-Economic Problems: An Islamic Prospective. Al-Minbur, April 1996.
• The Main Aspect of Islamic Economics, Al- Sahwa, May 1991.
• Privatisation in Islamic Economics, Al-Hayat Newspaper, May 1997.
• Private vs. Public Enterprises and Economic Development, Al-Hayat Newspaper, 23 of April 1998.
• Iraq Foundation for Economic Recovery, Al-Hayat Newspaper, 21 of Sep 2004.