Iraqi News Highlights Friday Evening 6-23-23
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
Petroleum products: Karbala refinery will start producing high-octane gasoline in early July
Economy 06-22-2023, Baghdad – Conscious – Hassan Al-Fawwaz Today, Thursday, the Petroleum Products Distribution Company affiliated with the Ministry of Oil confirmed that the Karbala refinery will start producing high-octane gasoline early next July and will contribute to reducing two-thirds of the country’s imports, while it indicated the government’s plan to reduce the need for imports by completing refinery projects in the center and south and providing sufficient storage.
The general manager of the company, Hussein Talib, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The existing storage is reassuring, and the country does not witness any fuel scarcity, and the national refineries have increased their production capacities, and the Karbala refinery has entered work to provide oil derivatives within the national refineries plan, and we have a plan in the ministry to complete what Our refineries remain, whether in the south, center or north, and other units will enter service.
Talib added, “All of this is reassuring about the path of depleting hard currency to import oil derivatives, and the state now subsidizes oil derivatives to a large extent.
Gasoline, which is sold at a price of 450 dinars, costs around (960-1000) dinars per liter, and we were able to fill the local need for oil.” gas, and we only import five million liters per day during the summer, to fill the deficit in the electric power plants.”
And he continued, “White oil is available, and we are securing stocks for the coming winter, and we also import high-octane gasoline (95); for the purpose of mixing with the production of refineries to improve quality and equip citizens with it,”
noting that “the Karbala refinery will start producing high-octane gasoline early next July, To reduce two-thirds of the country’s imports, to gradually decrease by entering the units prepared within the Ministry’s plans in refineries, as shown in the south, center and north. https://www.ina.iq/188039–.html
Advisor To The Prime Minister Determines The Tasks Of The Center For Finance And Business In Iraq
Economy Baghdad – Conscious – Nassar Al-Hajj Today, Friday, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, revealed the most important tasks of the Finance and Business Center in Iraq, while confirming that it will be a place for the activities of selling and trading governmental and private securities, similar to what exists in the world.
Saleh said, to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that “the importance of establishing the financial center in Iraq announced by the Central Bank of Iraq lies within the scope of the country’s financial and banking development strategy and
a new start in the importance of establishing and building a spatial or geographical location in which the financial operations in which a spectrum contributes are concentrated.
A wide range of institutions participating in financial activity in our country, in which their business is integrated and interconnected in their inputs and outputs, specifically banking business and management of various assets and financial assets, and non-banking financial sector business such as insurance and reinsurance companies, financial investment funds, hedges and various logistical businesses that support the activity of the financial market, i.e. its two parts (banking and non-banking), supported at the same time by various financial intermediation businesses that will use ultra-modern financial technologies.
He added, “The aforementioned center will be a place for the activities of selling and trading governmental and private securities, whether stocks as property instruments or bonds as debt instruments, whether those are listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange and not, in addition to various clearing operations and the general activities of the primary and secondary financial markets as issuing and trading bodies.” Securities.
And Saleh continued, “The financial center includes consulting offices such as the offices of accounting and auditing companies, related legal offices, and credit rating agencies,” noting that
“in this way, the financial center is an integrated complex of services and a geographical spot that enables dealers to have direct access to large capital pools.”
At the forefront of which are local and international banks, insurance companies, investment funds and the capital market.
And he indicated that “the financial center is an important site in conducting transactions related to modern financial engineering, such as (financial securitization) operations and other management of financial derivatives and their modern tools, in addition to tax regulation work for them.”
He stressed, “The financial instruments approved in the world’s financial markets will find their correct and legal birth in the financial center of Iraq,
similar to the financial centers in the world such as Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, and many of them in international cities in London, Frankfurt, New York, and others.”
https://www.ina.iq/188096–.html
The Dollar Escapes From The Grip Of The Government… And The Citizen Is A Victim Of “Failure”
economy |Baghdad Today – Reports The exchange rate of the dollar in the black parallel markets in Iraq has risen again, as the markets record 1470 dinars for one dollar, although the Central Bank of Iraq sells it for 1320 dinars, a difference of more than 15 thousand dinars per cent of dollars.
It seems that the measures taken by the government and the Central Bank of Iraq to control the exchange rate have failed in front of “brokers” selling the currency and their arbitration over prices, which puts citizens and traders at their mercy.
Economists rule out that the exchange rate will be affected by the approval of the financial budget law, which set the exchange rate at the official rate due to the increased demand for it locally with the fluctuation of the Central Bank’s daily sales of foreign currency.
With the government’s efforts to control prices in the parallel markets, the commercial markets witnessed a decline in the exchange rate in the past weeks, but it has recently risen again, which indicates an economic problem that is still present in the country.
And Iraq had witnessed during the last three years a great fluctuation in the exchange rate of the dollar after the previous government raised the exchange rate from 1180 dinars to the dollar to 1450 in December 2020,
while the parallel markets witnessed a record high exchange rate after the central bank began using the electronic platform. and compliance with SWIFT standards last November.
As a result, the government resorted to a plan to impose dealings in Iraqi dinars in markets and retail stores in various governorates, as the concerned
security services began to take written undertakings from merchants and owners of car showrooms to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of dollars.
The security services have warned that failure to comply with this will expose merchants to legal accountability, which can be considered a precedent in Iraq since 2003, which may cause security and economic problems, given that the
majority of merchants refuse to deal in dinars due to the large difference between the official and parallel exchange rates, according to observers..
Commenting on the procedures of the Ministry of Interior and the prevention of dealing in dollars, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Major General Khaled Al-Muhanna, indicates that
there are directives from the government to stop dealing in dollars in government and private outlets due to the lack of justification for dealing in other than the national currency.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Interior undertook to follow up on the implementation of these measures through two phases.
The first is to educate and educate the public about the need to deal in dinars only to limit speculation and the rise in prices of consumer goods, provided that
the next phase includes security campaigns to control violators.
This rise in the exchange rate was reflected in many economic sectors in Iraq, including
construction materials whose markets and building materials suffer from a great stagnation, with a
sharp decline in purchasing power and a
lack of investment projects, in addition to a significant
increase in prices due to the dollar crisis and
speculation operations that take place in the local market and the
inability to Obtaining US currency at the official rate, which forces them to resort to the black market at a price ranging between 1460 and 1490 dinars per dollar, while the official price is 1302.
Iron traders also complained about the great recession in the Iraqi markets and the complete halt of the selling movement for many days, due to political differences that led to the delay of many investment projects in the Iraqi governorates, in addition to the government’s inability to control the exchange rates of the dollar.
Some of them said that:
“Obtaining the dollar is very difficult in light of the influencers’ control over the currency market and the outlets for buying it from the currency sale window at the Central Bank of Iraq,
which forces them to buy dollars from the parallel market at prices that finally reached 148 thousand dinars per 100 dollars, while The official price set by the state is 132,000 dinars.
Others criticized the government’s performance in dealing with local economic files and commercial movement in the markets, indicating that more than 75 percent of construction material sales are related to investment projects, which are still suspended due to the delay in starting work on the budget and its entry into force.
They stressed that the biggest damage from this recession is directly reflected on the citizen, because there are large numbers of workers and small traders who depend on working in this field, and the continuation of the recession causes great economic damage.
And the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, contradicts all “hearsay” about the exchange of the dollar and expects it to decline soon, saying in a press statement on June 10 to the official agency that
“commitment to firm instructions for financing foreign currencies will contribute to a significant decrease in the exchange rate of the dollar in the coming days,” denying “the existence of what necessitates launching Urgent new packages at present. And he believed that
“the situation is moving towards stability and there is no need to take additional measures,” warning that the insistence of some merchants to buy dollars from the parallel market will expose them to legal accountability,” noting that
“there is coordination to monitor the decision to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of dollars by investment companies and sell Housing units”.
For his part, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, economic advisor to the Prime Minister, said that the monetary policy of the Central Bank under Law No. 56 of 2004 is to preserve the purchasing power of the Iraqi dinar, and that dealing locally in any currency other than the Iraqi dinar leads to striking centers of economic stability.
The Central Bank’s procedures require limiting dealings in dinars, according to Saleh, who confirms that the aim of this campaign is to reduce the turmoil in the local market, pointing out that the dual currency is one of the most dangerous aspects facing countries.
From a legal point of view, legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi indicates that the penalty for speculation that leads to influencing the exchange rate of the local currency was stipulated in Article 44 of the Money Laundering Law No. 39 of 2015, where the article punished speculators with imprisonment for a period of one year and a fine of one million dinars (about 760 dollars).
As for the penalty for those accused of smuggling money to other countries and laundering it, it reaches 15 years in prison, according to Articles 36, 37 and 38 of the same law.
Al-Tamimi pointed out that the Iraqi government’s tendency to prevent dealings locally in dollars aims to control the currency rate and consumer prices and prevent inflation through the application of consumer protection laws and preventing monopoly.
The economic researcher, Hamza Al-Hardan, attributed the significant rise in all imported goods and materials in price levels, due to the exchange rate difference and currency speculation, which created a state of price imbalance.
Al-Hardan confirmed in a press statement that there is a real economic stagnation in the local markets, and a state of despair afflicted most of the merchants with the existence of manipulation in the price situation, which generated a state of great fears among consumers.
Al-Hardan concluded his speech by saying that limiting the rise in prices is linked to preserving the value of the Iraqi dinar against foreign currencies, the stability of the exchange rate, the elimination of currency speculation, and the reduction of crises that drain the Iraqi economy and cause a lot of money to leave the country.
Citizens and merchants alike are anticipating the impact of approving the financial budget on moving the commercial and economic market and its reflection on the exchange of the dollar and the decline in prices to get out of the current state of recession the country is going through.
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