ISIS; Economy side of Terrorism

Think about one radical group, because of their violent activities even Al-Qaeda announced that `They are not from us.` And now, just think that this radical group is making 3 million USD per day.
But this is not the only problem. The problem is; How ISIS affects the world economy?

Firstly, if we want to answer this question we have to consider few things;

• Iraq is the third biggest OPEC producer after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
• ISIS is producing between 30.000 to 50.000 barrels per day
• ISIS has the biggest oil field in Syria which produce %50 of the Syrian Oil.

Despite the fact that, some analysts say ISIS' oil is very poor quality oil and ISIS have just small fields in Iraq,they are self-sufficient terrorist group and damaging the world economy deeply. They are now the richest terrorist group in the world and getting bigger and hurting the countries specially Iraq.

After Saddam Hussein has gone, Iraq is trying to recover itself. Now, Iraq is the 5th largest oil producer in the world and according to reports Iraq's oil producing will grow. Perhaps, the best way to develop for them is oil yet they lost already their north fields to ISIS.

What is more, oil is serious but not only problem which caused by ISIS. They are still controlling very important territories in Iraq and Syria such as Mosul and Aleppo which have population of 8 million people. But, also millions of people escaped from ISIS and some of them even escaped from country which is big lost of labor force. I'm not talking about normal labor force. The quality labor is specially leaving the country such as scientists, accountants, teachers, doctors etc.

Coalition Bombs ISIS Oil Fields in Syria

Of course Iraq and Syria is not the only countries which are affected by the situation. For example; Turkey had very big trade and construction business in Iraq and Syria. Because of the ISIS, Turkey's trade with Syria became zero (Perhaps that is also because Turkey is the strongest supporter of Anti-Essad Movement) and with Iraq decreased 50%. Also, Kerkuk-Yumurtalik pipe line agreement has cancelled because of the situation in Iraq. Despite the fact that, some Syrian and Iraq sources claimed that ISIS sells the oil in Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected these claims and indicated that Turkey spent 2 billion USD for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Lebanon has also threatened by ISIS politically and economically. 20% of Lebanon export just stopped due to the conflict which is huge damaged from ISIS to them. Lebanon's regime is also publicly threatened by ISIS.

Iran is the biggest shiite country in the world and not surprisingly threatened by ISIS because of that. Still, Iran has access to South Iraq which is big plus for them according to trade. As you can see in the Why price of Crude Oil Decreasing? Which countries will be affected? article,  for Iran price of crude oil has to be $100 at least. And this conflicts don't help them.

Conclusion

ISIS is getting economically stronger. Coalition forces shoot them, bomb them but everyday new jihadist militans are joining the group. This is mostly because they pay high level wages and shares from treasure. So, first the world has to stop the financial sources of ISIS. Because maybe now, It damages mostly middle-east countries but of course West will see the cost of this conflict soon. ISIS causes chaos and this chaos is not good for global economy, people are leaving their countries, countries are losing the big resources of GDP. Investments in Middle-east crushed to the bottom because of unstability and unsecurity. All in all, maybe now ISIS has small part of Iraq oil but still cheap oil always has demand.