Iraqi News Highlights and Points to Ponder Tuesday AM 2-27-24
Finance Launches Financing The Operating Budget
The first 02/27/2024 Baghdad: Al-Sabah Finance Minister Taif Sami said that the salaries of employees for the year 2024 are fully insured, and that the ministry has launched the operational budget, and has also conditional the release of the salaries of the region’s employees for the current month on submitting lists of their names. Sami stated, during her meeting with the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, yesterday, Monday, that “the employees’ salaries for the year 2024 are fully insured,” stressing that “the release of the salaries of the region’s employees for the current month is subject to the submission of lists of names, and we have stipulated nationalization in order to disburse them during the coming months.”
She added, “The Ministry has begun launching funding for the operational budget,” noting that “the 2024 budget schedules will soon be sent to the Council of Ministers for approval and sending them to Parliament.”
For his part, Chairman of the Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, said: “It was agreed with the Minister of Finance to keep the paragraphs of the 2023 budget related to appointments and contracts active and implement them during 2024.”
The Parliamentary Finance Committee announced, earlier yesterday, Monday, the hosting of Finance Minister Taif Sami to discuss the financing file and other important files.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Ministry of Planning, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, said: “Work is continuing to complete the 2024 budget schedules in coordination with the Ministries of Finance and Oil and the relevant authorities, so that they will be discussed soon by the government and then sent to the House of Representatives.”
He explained, “The budget tables include the volume of revenues for the year 2024 and the volume of expenditures in their operational and investment aspects.” https://alsabaah.iq/92515-.html
Finance announces the imminent sending of the 2024 budget schedules to Parliament and pledges the release of Kurdistan salaries on one condition
02-27-2024 By Sotaliraq Finance Minister Taif Sami announced on Monday that the 2024 budget schedules will soon be sent to Parliament. This came while hosting Sami in the Finance Committee.
The minister stated that “employees’ salaries for the year 2024 are fully insured,” noting that “the release of employees’ salaries in the Kurdistan Region during the current month is subject to submitting lists of names, and we have stipulated nationalization to disburse them during the coming months.”
She continued, “We have begun launching financing for the operational budget,” adding, “Soon we will send the 2024 budget schedules to the Council of Ministers for approval and sending them to Parliament.”
For his part, Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mustafa Sanad, said, “The Parliamentary Finance Committee hosted Finance Minister Taif Sami to discuss a number of topics, including financing the operational budget for the year 2024.”
Sanad explained, “The Minister informed the members of the committee that there is no interruption in funding the budget regarding operations and salaries of employees.”
Sanad continued, “With regard to the salaries of employees in the Kurdistan Region, and after the Federal Court’s decision, this month’s salaries will be financed in the usual manner in place through direct transfers. As for March salaries, the salaries of the region’s employees will be financed through the localization of salaries.”
He concluded by saying, “Funding the salaries of employees in the region will be through the governorates, meaning that the governorate that submits its data directly before the other will localize the salaries of its employees faster.”
Yesterday, Sunday, the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament revealed that it will host the Minister of Finance tomorrow, Monday, to discuss the localization of the salaries of Kurdistan Region employees and the delay in distributing salaries throughout the country.
This comes after the Iraqi Ministry of Finance confirmed that it has taken measures and procedures to secure salary funding on an ongoing basis according to the 2024-2025 budget, denying at the same time political statements that indicated the lack of “financial liquidity.”
It is noteworthy that the Federal Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq) decided, on February 21, to oblige the Federal Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government to settle the salaries of employees and workers in the public sector in the region with federal banks.
The court also decided to oblige the submission of the monthly budget for the region’s employees to the Federal Ministry of Finance, while requiring the region’s Council of Ministers to hand over all oil and non-oil revenues to the federal government.
The ruling stressed that the decision to localize the salaries of the region’s employees is final and binding.
Diversifying Iraq’s Economy And Combating Corruption Is A Path Towards Sustainable Economic Growth
Posted On 02-27-2024 By Sotaliraq Translated by / Hamed Ahmed A report by Frontier Post, the economic website, pointed out that the elements for the prosperity and growth of Iraq’s economy in a sustainable manner lie in several main factors, the most important of which is diversifying the sources of the economy, combating corruption, enhancing confidence in attracting investments, and strengthening the private sector, which helps the country reduce its dependence on oil towards a more prosperous economic future.
The report indicated that the Iraqi Parliament, in its drive towards achieving development in the country, voted last year on a record budget for a period of three years from 2023 to 2025, with a total value of approximately 198.9 trillion Iraqi dinars ($153 billion), which will provide funding for important infrastructure projects.
Long years of neglect and lack of investment have called for an urgent need to rebuild dilapidated infrastructure and repair and modernize necessary service facilities such as roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.
The report states that by giving priority to the development and development of infrastructure, the country is preparing a launching pad towards economic prosperity and providing room for the private sector that would provide job opportunities that contribute to the process of economic growth.
Another important aspect that the report pointed out is the government’s strict approach towards an anti-corruption campaign, as the corruption factor hinders development and weakens confidence in state institutions. It leads to the depletion of public funds, which hinders the financing of important service projects, and at the same time constitutes a frustration factor for investors, creating an unencouraging business environment for them.
Therefore, anti-corruption efforts are a fundamental pillar of good management, as strengthening accounting, accountability and transparency is a factor that attracts foreign investments that enhance the country’s economic growth.
Another important factor in promoting sustainable economic growth in Iraq is to focus on the need to achieve economic diversification of the country’s resources, and this was represented by ambitious initiatives to attract foreign investments and form international and regional economic partnerships. Among these initiatives is the Development Road Project, which would enhance the importance of the diversification of the Iraqi economy, and it represents a vital step in Iraq’s journey towards economic diversification and communication with the economy of the outside world.
This project has two benefits: reducing the country’s dependence on oil revenues and enhancing, at the same time, Iraq’s position as an important station for international and regional trade.
The fact that Iraq occupies an important geographical location linking the Gulf, Asia and Europe, thus provides an important corridor for transporting goods through this project between Europe and Asia, which constitutes an important factor towards a prosperous economic future.
By developing modern transportation infrastructure and logistical support networks, the country’s ambition for this project includes the flow of commercial lines, reducing expenses, enhancing efficiency, and thus attracting investments that promote sustainable economic growth.
The report indicates that partnerships with global economic powers and investment companies indicate the country’s direction towards strengthening international cooperation that is beneficial to both parties, and through this Iraq can transfer expertise, resources and advanced external technological technologies that contribute to enhancing its goals in economic development. ‘
The report states that as Iraq seeks to enter into joint infrastructure projects and investments and exchange technology, it will reap multiple benefits that go beyond abstract economic benefits. The country can obtain the latest technology and the best solutions, thus enhancing Iraq’s capabilities towards achieving sustainable development and achieving external economic competition.
Other benefits of this economic cooperation are the transfer of knowledge, the enhancement of local skills, and the development of human resources, which in turn strengthens Iraq’s economy and builds more sustainable economic components that can withstand future challenges.
The report stressed that by giving priority to development, fighting corruption, and promoting foreign investment, Iraq is setting a road map for sustainable growth and a prosperous economy. The more the country seeks in its efforts to carry out economic reforms and renewal, this is considered a pillar of hope for a strong economy. ‘
The Iraqi government’s officials, economists, and economic advisors have expressed their concern about the future of the country’s economy, focusing on the need to achieve diversification in the sources of Iraq’s economy in order to confront any future shocks related to the fluctuation of oil prices and the possibility of their decline, and to have sustainable sources of financing other than oil resources. LINK
The Volume Of Trade Exchange Between Iraq And Syria Exceeds One Billion Dollars
Economy 02-27-2024 | Al-Sumaria News – Economy The head of the Iraqi-Syrian Business Council, Hassan Sheikh Zaini, revealed that the volume of trade exchange between Iraq and Syria has exceeded the billion-dollar barrier, while pointing out the existence of a mechanism to adopt currencies other than the dollar in this exchange.
Sheikh Zaini said, “The joint committees between the two countries are looking for a mechanism for trade exchange away from the dollar, since Syria currently exchanges in the European currency (the euro),” according to the official Al-Sabah newspaper.
He added, “There are other platforms and currencies that Syria exchanges with other countries, and Iraq may benefit from them in the event of trade with them, especially with the volume of exchange between the two countries reaching more than a billion dollars annually.”
He stated that “the two countries may use the Russian ruble, the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan, the Emirati dirham, or other currencies to sustain trade exchange between them,” calling for “the establishment of banks for commercial exchanges to enable the possibility of abandoning the dollar and creating another platform in this regard.”
He pointed out that “the use of other currencies in trade exchange between Iraq and Syria reveals the two countries’ need for each other, by benefiting from products of various types, industrial and agricultural.”
He explained, “There are joint Iraqi-Syrian committees at most levels, such as agriculture, industry, trade, transportation, customs, and everything related to food and medicine. They supervise the entry routes for goods and seek to overcome many obstacles that may hinder joint trade between the two countries.” LINK
Provoking Points To Ponder on Change and Transience:
All things must change to something new, to something strange. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem. – Eric Hoffer
I see gr-reat changes takin’ place ivry day, but no change at all ivry fifty years. – Finley Peter Dunne
‘Change’ is scientific, ‘progress’ is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy. – Bertrand Russell
Turbulence is life force. It is opportunity. Let’s love turbulence and use it for change. – Ramsay Clark
Would that life were like the shadow cast by a wall or a tree, but it is like the shadow of a bird in flight. – The Talmud
http://famousquotesandauthors.com/topics/change_and_transience_quotes.html