Assuming that they have 30,000 fighters, it must cost about $20.00/day for food…throw in another $30.00 for ammunition. plus, their tanks and trucks need fuel and pare parts…so is a monthly estimate of about $45 million about right? Where is the money (and ammunition) coming from?
If it is illegal oil sales to Turkey, is Donald Trump right in claiming that ISIS could be shut down by stoppong the flow of oil into Turkey?
While i was driving home from work last week, they had a story on NPR’s Marketplace about ISIS funding.
For obvious reasons, it’s pretty much impossible to arrive at an exact breakdown of their finances. Still, the story suggested that we do have some idea of their main sources of income.
In addition to getting money from oil, they also get it from taxes. Apparently they levy taxes on the people within the territory that they control, although it was not made clear exactly how this worked. One thing i do know: if i was behind on my taxes, i’d prefer to face the IRS than ISIS.
They sometimes get ransoms for the people they kidnap, although presumably that doesn’t include the ones whose heads they chop off, or run over with tanks. Apparently they also sell off antiquities from some of the incredibly old and valuable sites they control. They might destroy the big stuff, like temples and such, but if something is small enough to be carried and smuggled out, they can get money for it.
One of the things the story pointed out was that many people believe that ISIS will eventually begin to run into financial trouble, because at least some of these sources of income (ransoms; artifacts) are rather finite, and others (like the oil) can possibly be stopped if the right strategies are used.
Currently they administer territory occupied by about 10 million people. Even with the economic disruption of war, that’s not an insignificant tax base.
Plus, as already pointed out, oil. And looted artefacts. And no doubt other loot.
There may be a flow of funds from supporters around the world, and possibly there are or has in the past been funding from some state sources - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have all been mentioned in this context.
Some ISIS affiliates are said to be engaged in drug trafficking. I hear there’s plenty of money to be made in that business.
In short, they probably have a diversity of funding sources. It’s not likely that there’s a single money tap that can be turned off to starve them of resources.
Their other sources of income would be much less significant than sales of oil. Yes that can and should be cut off, but it can only really be cut off with Turkeys help and so far they have shown no interest in doing that.
Estimate of ISIS oil sales: $50 million per month
$20 a day per person for food? Sounds like a lot. Maybe that helps them recruit. I spend about that (max) on a family of 4. Hope my son doesn’t find out.
I’ve been seeing several news articles on this subject in the last few days, as other governments are starting to focus on strategies to throttle ISIS finances. One source of their financing that was mentioned several times was outright bank robbery, which was noted to be a non-sustainable “one-time” source.
ETA: Googling for a cite, I find this not-so-recent article from June 12, 2014:
ISIS just stole $425 million, Iraqi governor says, and became the ‘world’s richest terrorist group’, Washington Post.
More ETA: OTOH, I’m seeing a few other headlines disputing whether that ever really happened.
Then there is the 400 million they stole from a Mosul bank. As someone else mentioned.
I can’t recall where I heard it now, but it seems they control a very large agricultural area too, so they sell all the food and make a good chunk on it.
I don’t know about the rest, but $ 20/day for food is widly exagerrated. I can feed myself for one week with that if money is tight, and I neither buy in bulk nor buy it at develloping country prices (nor can I just seize food from nearby farmers).