The Triple Alliance is preparing to hold an upcoming meeting in Erbil to discuss forming the next government

Baghdad / Obelisk: The Kurdistan Democratic Party revealed, on Sunday, February 20, 2022, that a meeting will be held between the Triple Alliance in Erbil to discuss passing the presidents of the republic and the ministers in one basket.

A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Mahdi Abdul Karim, said in an interview with a local satellite channel, which was followed by the obelisk, that what is issued by the Federal Court regarding the consideration of the case filed about opening the door for candidacy for the position of the presidency is respectable, pointing out that opening the nomination for the presidency for the second time is within the powers of the House of Representatives.

He added that the parliament session will be held next week or the next, indicating that the project to form a majority government is past and may join at the last moments part of the coordination framework with the Sadrist bloc.

He pointed out that the contact that took place between the leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Massoud Barzani, through which it was agreed to hold a meeting of the Triple Alliance in Erbil during the coming days, explaining that according to the data, the meeting will be held to discuss the outcomes of the previous meetings and to determine the future mechanisms of action. Especially for the first session and preparing for it, given that there are entitlements to elect the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister in one basket.

Al-Sadr, whose current led the elections that took place last October, refused to enter into an alliance with parties in the framework to form the largest bloc.

Al-Sadr seeks to form a national majority government, unlike the rest of the coordination framework forces, which demand a consensual government in which all political forces within Parliament participate, similar to previous sessions.

Observers believe that the Sadrist movement has no choice but to agree with the coordinating framework in whole or in part to proceed with the project of forming a government.

Almasalah.com

USD closes lower in Baghdad’s markets

Shafaq News / The U.S. dollar (USD) exchange rates against the Iraqi dinar (IQD) closed lower in the markets of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, today, Sunday.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that the dollar closed at 144300 IQD for every 100 USD in al-Kifah and al-Harithiya Central Exchanges.

The buying and selling rates of the USD in Baghdad’s local market stood at 143500 and 145500 IQD for every 100, respectively.

Almasalah.com

The Central Bank of Iraq breaks its silence and reveals details regarding the dollar exchange rate

Shafaq News / The Central Bank of Iraq considered, on Sunday, that positive results were achieved from the exchange rate of the US dollar against the dinar, warning of an “economic stagnation” in the event of its repeated change within short times without studying.

An authorized source in the Central Bank of Iraq issued a statement this evening, which was reported to Shafak News Agency, that the current exchange rate has achieved many positive results, the most prominent of which was reducing the state budget deficit to achieving a surplus at the end of 2021, and giving local producers and investors an important competitive advantage. With imported goods.

The source said that the repetition of changing the exchange rate within short times without a study from the concerned authorities leads to an economic recession, confuses the work of local markets, increases speculation on foreign currency, and squanders the gains made by the current exchange rate.

The source stressed that despite the rise in global oil prices of an unstable nature, there is no connection between this rise and the objectives and results of changing the exchange rate, indicating that the current rise in oil prices will enable the Iraqi government to rebuild the Iraqi economy correctly, and build financial buffers. Sufficient to face any future fluctuations in international oil prices.

On the other hand, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mustafa Ghaleb Mokhif, praised the results of his meeting with members of Parliament yesterday, Saturday.

In a separate statement to the Central Bank, which was received by Shafak News Agency, the Governor of the Bank provided a full explanation of the Central Bank’s tasks, the mechanisms for buying and selling foreign currency, and the supervision of the banking sector.

The governor also presented, according to the statement, the justifications that necessitated the adjustment of the foreign currency exchange rate and the results that have been achieved and will be achieved in the medium and long term, indicating that the Central Bank is studying the issue of the exchange rate from its various aspects, and public financial institutions must perform their tasks in a complete manner to achieve all the objectives of the decision.

Earlier today, Sunday, the owners of banking offices in Baghdad demanded that the Central Bank determine its position on the process of changing the price of the dollar.

The exchange rates of the dollar (yesterday and today) witnessed a continuous decline amid political statements calling for the reduction of dollar prices with the improvement and rise in oil prices, and the owners of exchange offices worked hard in selling the dollar and the lack of clarity about the government’s direction to reduce the dollar price or not.

And yesterday, Saturday, the Iraqi Council of Representatives held a meeting headed by Hakim Al-Zamili, the first deputy speaker of the Council, to discuss the reality of the dollar exchange rate against the local currency.

The Governor of the Central Bank, Mustafa Ghaleb Mokhif, his deputy and a number of officials in the bank attended the meeting, while Finance Minister Ali Allawi and his ministry boycotted the meeting.

In his speech during the start of the meeting, Al-Zamili promised the Minister of Finance to question him under the dome of Parliament, and to issue a decision banning him from traveling outside Iraq.

It is noteworthy that the Central Bank of Iraq, on December 19, 2020, officially announced the amendment of the foreign exchange rate (the US dollar) to be 145,000 dinars for every $100, according to the state’s general budget for the year 2021 approved by the House of Representatives.

As a result, according to specialists, the annual inflation in Iraq rose significantly, so that the prices of all materials and commodities in the Iraqi market rose significantly, which sparked a wave of strong resentment among the popular circles, as well as the objections of some interested in economic affairs.

Shafaq.com

The dollar continues to decline against the dinar.. the continued depreciation of the exchange rate in Baghdad

Shafaq News / Hours after the opening of the Baghdad market declined on Sunday, the exchange rates of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar continued to decline, on the main stock exchange in the capital, Baghdad.

Shafak News Agency correspondent said that the Central Kifah and Al-Harithiya Stock Exchange in Baghdad registered at 3 pm this evening 144,300 Iraqi dinars, compared to 100 US dollars.

While the dollar exchange rates recorded this morning in Baghdad 145,400 Iraqi dinars, compared to 100 US dollars.

Our correspondent indicated that buying and selling prices decreased in banking shops in the local markets in Baghdad, where the selling price amounted to 143500 Iraqi dinars per 100 US dollars, while the purchase prices amounted to 145500 Iraqi dinars per 100 US dollars.

The owners of the exchange offices in Baghdad confirmed earlier today, Sunday, that they had expanded the difference between buying and selling to ten figures, and while they demanded the Central Bank to determine its position on the process of changing the price of the dollar, an economist considered that the fluctuation in the price of the dollar led to a recession in markets.

Shafaq.com

The Dollar exchange rate will be reduced gradually if approved

Almasalah.com

Al-Sadr informs Iran and the leaders of the framework: either a government without al-Maliki or the opposition

Shafaq News / A leader in the Sadrist movement revealed today, Sunday, that the leader of the movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, delivered a message to Iran and the leaders of the coordination framework, regarding the formation of the next Iraqi government.

The leader, who asked not to be named, told Shafak News Agency, “Al-Sadr sent a message to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leaders of the coordination framework, that the decision to prevent the leader of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, from participating in the new government, does not retreat from it, whatever pressures and threats against him.”

And he indicated that “Al-Sadr confirmed in his message that the Sadrist bloc is ready to go to the opposition, not to participate in a government that brings together the Sadrist movement with Maliki,” explaining that “at the same time, Iran and the framework do not want Al-Sadr to go to the opposition, they realize that this matter will not make the government age.” The new one lasts more than one year, which is why they want a consensual government that brings the current and the framework together,” as he put it.

The dispute is intensifying between the Sadrist bloc and the forces of the coordination framework, especially with the State of Law coalition and its leader, Nuri al-Maliki, as internal and regional mediations have failed to restore relations between the parties due to al-Sadr’s insistence on excluding al-Maliki from the political process.

Shafaq.com

An economist expects different scenarios for the dollar crisis

Today, the economist Nabil Al-Marsoumi predicted that people would dispense with their “dollar” savings and transfer them to the Iraqi dinar.

“It is expected that after the unexpected response from the Minister of Finance and the accompanying turmoil in the currency market, most people will give up their dollar savings and convert them to the Iraqi dinar,” Al-Marsoumi said in a clarification followed by NRT Arabia.

He explained that, “in light of the lack of confidence in the Iraqi banking system, the demand for land, real estate and gold is expected to rise because they are a store of value, which will lead to an increase in their prices or people hoarding some of their savings in Iraqi dinars, as well as the expectation that the Central Bank of Iraq’s sales will decline in the coming days due to the increase in the dollar supply.” in the local market.

Yesterday, Friday, the Minister of Finance, Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi, responded to a request to be summoned by the First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakim Al-Zamili under the dome of Parliament, considering it an outrageous and unacceptable interference that should not be tolerated, while confirming that he would seek a vote of confidence in him from the House of Representatives.

Allawi mentioned in a letter he addressed to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, which included 21 points, the following:

1- I received a summons from the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to appear before him to discuss the exchange rate. This came as soon as Muqtada al-Sadr tweeted, asking me to appear before Parliament to discuss the exchange rate.

2- The summoning of the Deputy Speaker of Parliament came as a result of the tweet of Mr. Muqtada, the leader of the Sadrist movement, to which the Deputy Speaker of Parliament belongs.

3- The entire process is not acceptable and should not be tolerated, whether for the dignity of the government, my dignity as a minister, or my personal dignity and the dignity of my family.

4- First. This government is not accountable to any political party. It is only answerable to the Iraqi people through its elected parliament.

5- If, as a government, we do not reject these nefarious interferences in the function of government by political parties, we may cede the independence of the government as the executive arm of the state. Here comes the question of determining the role of the government, whether it represents the people or an executive arm of political parties.

6- I categorically reject the summons of the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, because they are outside his powers. I also completely reject government running through tweets from political leaders.

7- I am a minister in a sovereign ministry. I worked in very difficult circumstances for nearly two years. I believe I have succeeded in managing the finances of the country, nurturing the economy towards a degree of safety.

8- I had to make many difficult decisions, including my strong call for an exchange rate adjustment. The decision was supported by the international community, the Council of Ministers, the Central Bank of Iraq and political parties in two separate meetings with their leadership, which was approved by the House of Representatives in February 2021. I made it clear that the costs of adjusting the currency would be immediate; But the benefits will appear in the medium and long term.

9- In order to protect the poor, a huge increase for the poor and vulnerable has been included in the 2021 budget, amounting to nearly 3 trillion Iraqi dinars to be disbursed through the Ministry of Labor. This unfortunately was curtailed by the House of Representatives in the final budget.

10- After a year we can evaluate the benefits of the exchange rate adjustment, which are very real. But the politicization of the exchange rate, making it responsible for high prices.

11- (High prices) This is a deliberate lie and the people should be aware of it. International prices for all goods and freight have risen dramatically in the past year.

12- Wheat, cooking oil, sugar and fertilizer multiplied many times over. This is about the collapse of the global supply chain and not anything about exchange rate adjustment. Instead of focusing on the real reason for the price hike, people are being fed nonsense about the exchange rate as the source of the cost of living increase we have seen over the past year.

13- I am ready to defend my position and my economic and financial policy before the House of Representatives as a whole and not in front of a particular parliamentary faction.

14- I demand the exercise of my rights under the Iraqi constitution, and I seek a vote of confidence in me by the House of Representatives. I have this right under Article 61/8 of the Constitution. “It is not permissible to raise the issue of confidence in a minister except upon his request or upon a request signed by fifty members….”

15- I will write to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and ask him to take this vote of confidence early. I will also ask him to give me one hour to explain my policies to the House before the vote takes place.

16- Since I was in the government, I have been subjected to a barrage of attacks and personal slanders both in social media and by politicians and some who call themselves analysts and media commentators. I have ignored all this harm because it is based on lies, slander or ignorance.

17- When the leader of a great political party treats me lightly as one of his followers, I must reject it outright. I know that the Sadrists voted for me when I was first nominated for the position of Minister of Finance, and they have stood by me through many crises including defending the exchange rate adjustment.

I freely admit this, but this does not give them the right to address me as a servant at their request and invitation.

18- Attacks continue my family. I don’t brag about my family lineage. But my family has given so much to this country. We have been citizens of Baghdad for hundreds of years. As the Allawi family, we have provided more ministers to Iraqi governments since independence than any other family. Six ministers and one prime minister. If we include the families close to us, Chalabi, the number will rise with four more ministers and one deputy prime minister. My great uncle Hussein Allawi signed a petition to bring Faisal I to Iraq.

19- Our family is completely Iraqi. We do not differentiate between Shiites and Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis. We do not differentiate between an Arab, a Kurd or a Turkmen. In my personal entourage, I am guarded by the Kurds, my personal secretary is among the Sunni brothers, and my personal office in the ministry is headed by a Shiite woman of high religious principles. We are not talking about diversity.

20- We have been supporters of the reference for centuries, and we respect the great religious families with the highest degree of esteem, and no member of my family has been contaminated with corruption or wrongdoing. They were motivated by real service with no concern for reward or benefit. I hope I have continued in this long approach.

21- We will not abandon this country in the face of bullying, pressure or threats. We have always stood against tyranny in any form or kind, and we will continue to do so.”

Earlier on Thursday, the First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakim Al-Zamili, sent a request to summon the Minister of Finance, Ali Allawi, and the Governor of the Central Bank, Mustafa Ghaleb, after a tweet by the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, that included proposals regarding the dollar exchange rate, including summoning the director of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance. Parliament has a date next Saturday to meet with them to discuss the dollar exchange rate.

Nrttv.com

Former Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi sentenced to two years in prison

Shafaq News / A judicial source reported on Sunday that the Karkh Investigation Court in the capital, Baghdad, issued a suspended sentence of two years in prison against former Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi.

The source told Shafaq News that the ruling against Al-Issawi related to a case related to one of the previous cases related to integrity when he was serving as Minister of Finance.

And the Supreme Judicial Council announced in June of the year 2020, the release of former Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi on bail, after the absence of evidence against him according to terrorism.

And the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq announced, in 2020, the arrest of the accused, Rafi Al-Issawi, the former Iraqi Minister of Finance, to be investigated for the crimes he is accused of.

Al-Issawi, who belongs to the Union of Iraqi National Forces (Sunni Alliance) bloc, held the position of Finance Minister in the Iraqi government between 2008-2014 when Nuri al-Maliki was prime minister, and al-Issawi resigned from his position before the end of his duties after being accused of supporting terrorism.

Shafaq.com

The currency market in Sulaymaniyah to the population: Do not sell your dollars cheaply
sell dollars

Shafaq News / The currency market in the city of Sulaymaniyah on Friday urged residents not to sell the hard currency, the dollar, in their possession at a cheap price.

The market sent a message to the residents, saying, “It is better to take caution and not sell your dollars at a cheap price until the morning of the next day of the Iraqi parliament meeting to see what will happen.”

According to the letter, “the market is unstable and prices are unreasonable.”
On Thursday, the Presidency of the Iraqi Parliament announced that it had summoned Finance Minister Ali Allawi and Central Bank Governor Mustafa Ghalib to come to the parliament building “immediately” tomorrow, Saturday.

The Presidency stated, in a brief statement, that the summoning of financial officials came as a “response” to the directives of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr.
On Thursday, Al-Sadr presented six proposals regarding the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, including summoning the Minister of Finance, Ali Allawi, and the governor of the Central Bank, Mustafa Ghaleb, immediately.

Al-Sadr’s proposals included, “strongly stopping currency smuggling, looking into the matter of some banks such as (Middle East, Al-Qabd, and Al-Ansari) belonging to some people who control the currency, and other private banks, and dealing firmly with banks belonging to some of the parties controlling the country and people.”

In addition, Al-Sadr urged “to organize the Iraqi currency market centrally and in a correct manner, by enacting some laws that increase the value of the dinar exchange rate.”
It is noteworthy that the annual inflation in Iraq rose significantly after raising the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar in the 2021 budget, to equal every 100 dollars 145 thousand dinars, after it was 121 thousand.

It is worth noting that all the prices of materials and commodities in the Iraqi market witnessed a significant increase, in conjunction with the devaluation of the dinar, which sparked a wave of strong resentment among the popular circles, as well as the objections of some interested in economic affairs.

Shafaq.com

Deputy on the need to reduce the exchange rate of the dollar: It is not enough and the government must compensate the people

Baghdad – Mawazine News, MP from the State of Law coalition, Alia Nassif, renewed, on Friday, her demand to restore the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar to what it was in the past, while the government called on the government to compensate the people for the damage they sustained due to the increase in the exchange rate, before the month of Ramadan .

Nassif said in a statement, “We demanded through dozens of statements and press statements to reduce the dollar exchange rate, and the Ministry of Finance did not respond, and we are used to seeing the concerned authorities, each of them throwing the ball into the other’s court, and thus the responsibility is lost, and the citizen pays the price.”

She added that “the State of Law coalition was the first to warn of the repercussions of raising the dollar exchange rate and its effects on people with limited income, and for this reason it was rejecting this measure, and indeed our expectations were correct and people were harmed, especially the poor class,” noting that “it was better for the government to fight corruption in The currency market and some banks owned by corruption whales and backed by political parties instead of harming the simple citizen and fighting him for his livelihood.”

Nassif continued, “The increase in oil prices formed a reserve cash block for the country, and despite that, the borrowing is still going on, unfortunately, in addition to the continuation of financial corruption, which is a major cause of the people’s suffering,” stressing that “lowering the dollar exchange rate will not be enough, but we demand the government to compensate the people.” For the damage he sustained during that period, especially since we are approaching the month of Ramadan.”

Mawazin.net