predicted that Iran’s inflation rate would go as high as 40% by the end the year. According to the Statistical Center of Iran, Iran's annual inflation rate stood at 42.4% during the month December 21, 2021 to January 20, 2022. Prices continued to rise for housing & utilities (28.5% vs 27.9 in January); transport (36.1% vs 35.3%); communication (3.8% vs 2.3%); and tobacco (35.0% vs 33.3%). Iraq Nearly 30 years of fighting, against Iran in the 1980s and the United States since 1991, has had a detrimental impact on Iraqi economic growth. Oil production remains Iraq's chief economic activity. The lack of development in other sectors has resulted in 18–30% unemployment and a depressed per capita GDP of $4,632. Reconstruction aid has helped to bolster the nation's infrastructure. Israel Israel's national leadership created a socialist economy when Israel was established in 1948. The purpose of this approach was to establish economic self-sufficiency, particularly agriculturally, in the face of hostile neighbors and to provide jobs for a population rapidly expanding through immigration. The socialist nature of the economy created a great deal of inefficiency which the government was able to offset through foreign aid, first in the form of West German Holocaust reparations then through direct aid, primarily from Western nations. Following the Yom Kippur War Israeli defense spending rose dramatically, exposing the weaknesses of the state-run economy. The result was rampant inflation that led Israel to recall the pound in 1980 and issue the sheqel. This move did not sufficiently curb inflation and consequently the sheqel was recalled in 1985 in favor for the Israeli new sheqel, a move implemented together with a comprehensive economic stabilization program which stemmed inflation and set the stage for high growth in the 1990s. Israel had also undertaken a privatization effort beginning in the late 1970s. The economy received a boost in the early 1990s with the arrival of several hundred thousand immigrants from the former Soviet Union. As a significant number of the immigrants were highly educated, Israel accelerated its privatization to encourage the high-skilled workers to stay. The new labor also attracted foreign direct investment. Israel's growth over the past decade has been commensurate with Western developed nations as is its per capita GDP (PPP), which is about $35,000/year – the third highest (behind Bahrain and the UAE) of the Middle Eastern countries not dependent on natural resources. It also has the