Iraq Economic News and Points to Ponder Sunday AM 10-15-23
Sudanese Advisor: America Gives Us Instructions And Does Not Impose Pressure On The Dollar Issue[
Politics 10/15/2023 Number of readings: 189 Baghdad – Iraq Today: Muhammad al-Najjar, advisor to the Prime Minister for Investment Affairs, stressed that the method of cash in Iraq must be electronic, noting that the US Federal Reserve’s instructions to Iraqi banks were years ago, but previous governments “ignored” them.”
Regarding the impact of the dollar exchange rate on internal investment in Iraq, Al-Najjar said in a press interview that this problem produced confusion in the market at the beginning of its appearance, due to the presence of contracts signed in dollars, but now it has “adjusted” because most of the contracts, especially the executive ones, were signed in Iraqi dinars, indicating that the issue The effect will decrease until the old contracts signed in US currency expire.
He pointed out that countries around the world approve contracts in local currency, with exceptions, according to the type of project.
Regarding the possibility of controlling the dollar exchange rate or not, he commented that this is “related to the transfer of a culture, from paper to electronic, and this process takes time,” stressing the need for the method of cash in Iraq to be electronic and not as is prevalent through paper currency.
The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Investment Affairs pointed out that “some are trying to exploit this stage,” pointing out that the process of transferring from cash to data “is in the interest of the Iraqi state to control and track funds, especially in light of the existing financial corruption.”
Regarding the US Federal Reserve’s pressure on Iraq, Muhammad al-Najjar considered it “instructions, not pressures,” adding that the US government has the right to set controls on the use of its currency.
He continued: “The US Federal Reserve had requested these demands from Iraq several years ago, and previous governments had constantly ignored them, but now it has become unhealthy for these practices to continue, which have led to a large scale of financial corruption because the amounts cannot be tracked.”
Regarding the Iraqi government’s vision in the field of investment, he revealed that the Board of Directors of the Iraq Fund for Development will approve it in the next session of the Council of Ministers, after approving the bylaws, noting that the delay came due to the delay in approving the budget.
He added: “After the Board of Directors is approved, the executive director of the fund will be appointed to launch investment projects, the results of which we will see at the beginning of next year.”
The Iraq Fund for Development promised that it would serve as “a middle ground between ministries and provide funding to individual innovators and grant loans to young people to start new projects.”
He explained that the government is working on several programs to reach a strategic plan on how to activate and employ graduates annually, in order to train them professionally in preparation for new specializations that the government will need in the future, such as information technology, adding that the final plan for the total absorption of graduates does not yet exist. LINK
Does Selling Iraqi Oil At A High Price Lead To Reducing The Budget Deficit? Financial Oversight Answers
Time: 10/15/2023 Read: 819 times {Economic: Al-Furat News} Former head of the Financial Supervision Bureau, Salah Nouri, explained today, Sunday, that selling Iraqi oil prices at a high price leads to reducing the budget deficit.
Nouri told {Al-Furat News}: “The issue of the rise in oil prices globally, and its impact on reducing the fiscal deficit in the budget, the budget law is clear on this issue. If Iraqi oil is sold at high prices and the amounts are received, it leads to reducing the budget deficit.” From: Raghad Dahham LINK
Barzani’s Party Moves To Amend The Budget Law: We Want To Take Our Full Share Without Delay!!
Economy 10/15/2023 09:50 Number of readings: 291 Baghdad – Iraq Today: The Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, announced its intention to amend the budget law, while indicating that the amendment includes sending the entire share of the Kurdistan region.
The head of the Democratic Party parliamentary bloc, Vian Sabri, said in a statement, “The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government agreed with the Federal Prime Minister to pay three months’ salaries, and Baghdad must pay the remaining two months.”
Sabri added, “Now Kurdistan’s share of 12.67% is paid from Iraq’s actual spending. We want the region’s share to be paid from Iraq’s total revenues, not from the actual agreement, so this item in the budget must be amended.”
She stated, “We are working to amend the budget law so that the Kurdistan region’s share will be sent in full. If employee salaries are funded for three months, they will remain two months, and the Iraqi government must pay the salaries of these two months, provided that the final accounts are settled at the end of the current year.” LINK
After The Dollar Jumped, Experts Explain The Reasons And Solutions That May Reduce It To 1,300 Dinars
Posted On2023-10-15 By Sotaliraq Ali Al-Hamdani Experts in the Iraqi economy expect that the crisis of the rise in the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar will continue for several reasons, most notably commercial dealings with sanctioned countries, the evasion of taxes and customs by speculators and small traders, and the obstacles surrounding the relationship between banks and customers, including merchants, importers, and others, calling for a package to be taken. Measures, including those that may contribute to reducing the exchange rate to 1,300 dinars.
On Thursday, the dollar exchange rates on the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges recorded 160,400 dinars for 100 dollars, while in exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad, the selling price reached 161,500 Iraqi dinars, while the purchasing price reached 159,500 dinars for every 100 dollars.
In Erbil, the selling price in banking shops was 160,400 dinars for 100 dollars, and the purchase price was 160,300 dinars for 100 dollars.
Causes of the dollar crisis
Researcher and writer, Halim Salman, attributes the dollar crisis and the exchange rate difference to “international restrictions imposed on trade with some neighboring countries, which causes pressure on the parallel market, and other reasons related to speculators and small merchants who escape taxes, customs, etc.”
Salman adds to (Al Mada), “In addition to the obstacles surrounding the relationship between banks and customers, merchants and importers, which result in difficulties in opening accounts, forcing some of them to go to the parallel market to obtain dollars for ease.”
He continues, “In addition to the behavior of the Iraqi individual to keep the dollar due to weak confidence in his national currency, this is the result of weak confidence in the banking system, and the problems of the blockade and conflicts that arose previously, which cast a shadow on the citizen’s confidence in his national currency.”
Solutions to the dollar problem
For his part, the financial and economic expert, Mahmoud Dagher, rules out solving the dollar problem “except by controlling the borders, completing the unified customs wall for all of Iraq, and ending the existence of two customs and two border crossings, one of which belongs to Baghdad and the other to the region.”
Dagher confirms to (Al Mada), “After the platform and compliance with the rules of international transfer, the dollar crisis cannot be ended as long as there are sanctioned entities that the country deals with, which requires stopping trade with these entities or at least establishing a customs wall with them, otherwise the crisis will continue.”
In turn, the economic researcher, Dr. Ali Daadush, explains that “the solution to prevent the crisis from escalating is through concerted efforts between the Central Bank and the government, and by meeting the former with his Iranian counterpart and determining dealing in the two countries’ currencies (the dinar and the toman), and setting a fixed exchange rate for commercial transactions that amount to approximately 11 billion dollars annually.” That is, about (14.5) trillion Iraqi dinars.
Speaking to Al Mada, Daadoush stressed the importance of “controlling border crossings and placing a customs wall linked electronically to the government treasury, accompanied by the operation of factories and laboratories to produce local goods and services in accordance with international market standards.” For his part, economic researcher, Abdul Salam Hassan Hussein, says, “The dollar continues to rise because it has become a trade, not to mention it is smuggled openly to neighboring countries, and the events that took place in Palestine will also affect it.”
Hussein believes, while speaking to (Al Mada), that “the central bank is unable to address this problem, and its danger lies in the fact that money exchange offices are buying large amounts of dollars.” At the conclusion of his speech, he confirms that “the exchange rate can be reduced to 130 thousand dinars through a program to fight the dollar,” indicating that “the program includes a secret numbering to control the pumping of money and the distribution of the dollar,” expressing his readiness to “present it to the Prime Minister for fear of revealing it and he will benefit from it.” The powerful and the corrupt,” he said. LINK
Points to Ponder From Aristotle:
Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.
He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.
Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.