Parliamentary Finance: The budget will be ready for voting next Monday

The Parliamentary Finance Committee clarified, today, Friday, that all the difficulties that went through auditing the country’s general budget, except for the share of Kurdistan, have been overcome, pointing out that next Monday’s session in which the budget will be ready for voting, especially after a meeting that will be held tomorrow between the leaders of the political blocs and the committee.

“The budget is currently in its recent negotiations, and most of the financial allocations have been agreed upon, with the exception of the share of the Kurdistan region,” said a member of the committee, Representative Jamal Cougar, in a statement to “Tigris” .

He added that “the next meetings of the committee will discuss non-oil revenues such as collection and income taxes such as taxes for mobile phones and others . ”

Cougar stressed that “next Monday’s session in which the budget will be ready for voting pending the completion of the meeting of the leaders of political blocs with the Finance Committee in order to agree to pass it and determine the proportion of the Kurdistan region in it . ”

The Finance Committee had confirmed to the “Tigris”, yesterday, Thursday, that it authorized its head, MP Haitham al-Jubouri, to negotiate with the leaders of political blocs in the terms of the budget. The meeting of the two parties will be held tomorrow, Saturday.

Dijlah.tv

The central bank’s dollar sales record a noticeable decline

BAGHDAD – Mawazine News.. The Central Bank of Iraq’s hard currency sales fell, on Thursday, by 7 percent, compared to Wednesday’s sales.

According to central bank, through the daily published, said sales fell during the auction sale and purchase of foreign currencies today, up to $ 103 million and 982 thousand dollars. ”

He added that” covered the sales price based on the exchange rate was 1460 dinars per dollar. ”

He said the bank, that “The sales that went to boost assets abroad in the form of remittances with credits amounting to 103 million and 982 thousand, while $ 100 thousand were purchased in cash.”

He pointed out, “18 banks and one exchange company have met requests to enhance assets abroad, while one bank By satisfying the requests to purchase dollars in cash. ”
It is reported that the Central Bank’s sales of hard currency, on Wednesday, amounted to 111 million and 266 thousand dollars. Ended 29 / P4

Mawazin.net

The International Development Bank announces its joining the “Bani” platform

Economy News – Baghdad.. The International Development Bank announced that it has joined the Bani platform for clearing and settling Arab payments.

The bank said in a statement seen by “Al-Eqtisad News”, “with unremitting and promising efforts and on the occasion of launching and operating the” Buna Buna “platform for clearing and settling Arab payments owned by the Arab Monetary Fund and starting to implement the business of sending and receiving money in various currencies and after the platform’s success in conducting financial transfers in every From Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, as a first stage. ”

The statement added that “the International Development Bank, as the first Iraqi bank to start its work on this platform, which will allow its customers to send money between Arab countries and in all currencies and to the various markets of the Arab region and abroad with very low commissions, which will include more than 120 Arab banks to its network in order to expand the list of Arab and international currencies.” “.

The bank emphasized that “work is underway to introduce the Iraqi dinar currency on this platform soon to encourage the use of Arab currencies in financial and investment transactions in accordance with international standards and after the International Development Bank fulfills all operating requirements, which reflects the bright image of Iraqi banks and their competition with Arab banks in applying all modern banking standards.” And her signature of the sharing agreement. ”

Economy-news.net

A high-ranking delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government arrives in Baghdad

A high-ranking delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government arrived on Sunday in the capital, Baghdad, for a new round of talks in order to secure the region’s share in the federal financial budget for the year 2021.

The delegation includes: Minister of Finance Awat Sheikh Janab, Minister of Planning Dara Rashid, Minister of the Region Khaled Shawani, and Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of the region Omid Sabah.

Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, usually headed the delegation that visited Baghdad several times, but his infection with the new Corona virus prevented that.

The Finance Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives has been conducting, for more than two weeks, a series of meetings in the parliament building with the aim of collecting observations and making the necessary amendments to the draft budget law. According to the available information, the committee will hold a meeting with the regional government delegation this evening to discuss Kurdistan’s share of the budget.

Parliamentarians and politicians say that the budget needs political consensus, so a political delegation from the region will visit Baghdad later this week with the aim of reaching an agreement with the blocs not to block the passage of Kurdistan’s share in the budget.

Shafaq.com

Iraq: parliament refers corruption files to judiciary

The head of the Parliamentary Investigative Committee in Iraq revealed on Wednesday that it has referred 46 corruption files related to the electricity sector to the Court of Integrity, Iraq News agency has reported.

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hassan Karim Al-Kaabi, stressed that the committee takes into account “impartiality and transparency and checks all information… Corruption files are now subject to Iraqi Judicial Authority investigations.”

Last July, the Iraqi parliament formed a committee to investigate the contracts signed by the Ministry of Electricity during the period 2005 to 2010, following the decline in electricity production in the country. Five months later, the parliament said that the total spending by the ministry on contracts during this period was around $81 billion.

Iraq produces 19,000 megawatts of electricity, but it needs more than 30,000.

Middleeastmonitor.com

Parliament will issue recommendations regarding the exchange rate of the dollar in the 2021 budget

The information / Baghdad .. The Parliamentary Economic and Investment Committee confirmed, on Saturday, that Parliament will issue recommendations regarding the exchange rate of the dollar in the 2021 budget, noting that determining the exchange rate is a governmental matter and it is its exclusive powers.

Committee member Mazen Al-Faily said in a statement to / Al-Maalouma /, that “the House of Representatives will submit recommendations in the budget regarding the exchange rate of the dollar.”

Al-Faily added, “It is up to the government to adhere to the recommendations or not,” noting that “the powers of the central bank to draw fiscal and monetary policy and determine the exchange rate.”

He pointed out that “discussions are still continuing on the high price of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, which affected many segments of Iraqi society.”

The deputy of the coalition of Iraqis, Hassan Khatti, confirmed in a previous statement that the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar will not remain constant, according to what was set in the 2021 budget. Ended

Almaalomah.com

Adjusting the exchange of the dollar between national product support and the dream of economic recovery

Dr. Yahya Kamal al-Bayati, director of the Center for Market Research and Consumer Protection, said that the government faces a strong and significant challenge in the face of the current economic crisis, which made it put forward the white paper reform, asking: Is the white paper able alone to address economic and social problems, and did the budget include solutions to improve the reality of the development of the existing infrastructure to revive the Iraqi economy, in light of the decision of the Central Bank to adjust the exchange rate?

National product support

“This decision was supposed to be preceded by the support of the national product, which is witnessing a clear absence in the market, as well as the support of the private sector to take its role properly, while not neglecting the importance, for the purpose of success of the economic reform process,” al-Bayati said.

“The exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar needs to be revised because it has negatively affected commodity prices in the markets and made them rise by 20 percent from their pre-central rate adjustments, which are supposed to revive the Iraqi economy with deliberate steps,” he said.

Consumer Protection Act

“The Consumer Protection Act No. 1 of 2010 needs to activate and adopt the mechanisms for its application on the ground, as well as the Consumer Protection Council, which includes a number of ministries, to the citizen” he said.

“The intended integration lacks follow-up, and every process taken by the government needs to be monitored and monitored to activate it,” he said, calling on those in charge of the Iraqi consumer protection file to activate the Iraqi consumer protection law to preserve the hard currency and the capital cycle domestically, and to reduce the depletion of our resources on imports only without real development.

Al-Bayati stressed that the central bank’s decision late last year contributed to the adjustment of the exchange rate of the dollar in the market, where our local markets faced a new problem that requires the government to put in place appropriate mechanisms in how to control it and reduce manipulation in it. It’s real.”

Al-Bayati stressed “the need to support the local product in a focused way because it deals in national currency and not in dollars, which may make a difference that citizens feel when buying it from the markets after it is provided.”

Alsabaah.iq

Deleting zeros or printing a new category? .. The Iraqi government’s options to save the dinar from collapse

A new storm hit Iraq this time with the local currency depreciating against the US dollar after political, security and health storms preceded it with the outbreak of the Corona virus, the decline in oil prices, the government reaching the stage of deficit in paying its employees’ salaries, and the House of Representatives having to vote on the internal borrowing law to fill the deficit.

The government started with the initial steps to implement the provisions of the White Paper that it launched and talked about a lot over the past months to support its economy by raising the price of the dollar against the local currency from 1184 dinars to 1450 dinars to the dollar at the selling prices approved by the Ministry of Finance of the Central Bank, and this step was negatively reflected on the prices of goods, commodities and daily needs. For a citizen, with rates not less than 25%.

The crises were exacerbated by this step economically and preceded by health after it was limited to the political and security sides, and all this came at a time when Iraq is considered a rentier country that depends 95% on oil to cover state expenditures, especially salaries.

The Central Bank against a new issuance of the dinar at the present time (Al-Jazeera)

Loss of currency difference.

Economic studies and research conducted by institutions concerned with economic affairs indicated that the Central Bank’s sales for the years 2004-2020 amounted to about $ 582 billion, with a loss estimated at 20.7 billion, as a result of the difference between the official dollar and its black market price.

The decision to reduce the local currency – which came into effect a month ago – provides about 10 trillion dinars (6.9 billion dollars), targeting the segment of employees who were greatly affected by the decision and lost about 30% of their income due to the high prices of basic commodities that are imported from abroad, including mainly food. Followed by medications.

Rescue alternatives

Some opinions saw the necessity of finding alternatives to save the dinar and prevent its deterioration further against the dollar, and to overcome this problem came back to talk about some solutions, specifically canceling zeros or printing a higher cash denomination such as 100,000 dinars, but the two possibilities seem to be outside the government’s reform measures and the central bank, because there are many Another obstacle is the lack of logistical supplies.

This comes at a time when the volume of cash transactions is very large in Iraq, and the vast majority of daily transactions are in cash without banking transactions. Note that less than 25% of Iraqis have bank accounts, and after the devaluation of the dinar against the dollar by about 23%, the exchange value increased by about 25% because most of the goods on the market are imported from abroad and in dollars.

Money smuggling

Economic expert Aqeel Al-Ansari believes that the last procedure does not take into account the reality and future of the Iraqi economy, nor other risks, especially in printing a new currency denomination with a value of 100 thousand, stressing to Al-Jazeera Net that large groups facilitate the process of smuggling and laundering of money to increase its value and reduce its size and thus facilitate smuggling or taking it out.

Al-Ansari cites – for the above reasons – what the European Central Bank did to cancel the € 500 denomination in 2019.

As for deleting zeros, it is the goal closest to the ambition of the citizen – according to Al-Ansari – as well as the dealer, because of its great facilities, especially in banking and account transactions, which reduces arithmetic errors and facilitates daily dealings of the citizen and the merchant.

But he warns at the same time that any change at the present time is added to the changes that have occurred and are expected to happen after the approval of the 2021 budget and the entry into force of the white paper, which will increase the confusion in the markets and the Iraqi economy, which is looking for stability.

For this, the economist proposes a two-year process plan based on the seriousness of relying on electronic banking transactions, and reducing the need for cash because of its great benefits, including “saving the costs of printing currency, controlling the movement of money, controlling the market, reducing money laundering operations and knowing the volume. The real income of the individual and companies and the provision of security for the dealer, in addition to transparency, and after two years the market and the citizen are ready for the process of deleting zeros.

As for the present time, neither the Iraqi economy nor the markets are ready for such a change, especially after the confusion that occurred after the devaluation of the dinar against the dollar, according to his opinion.

In turn, the central bank does not agree with making any change to the local currency or adding, whether it is deleting zeros or printing the 100 thousand denomination in the current stage because of the lack of logistical supplies and the need for a long period of time, but it supports at the same time the second option more than the first in the case of a comparison The best of them – says a bank official, attributing the reason to the impossibility of collecting all these quantities of the local currency within a short period in addition to the need for a long period to print the new currency.

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, supported the difficulty of printing a new currency, at a time when the decision was made to reduce the dinar against the dollar.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Cougar ruled out the Central Bank going to at least one of the two options, the current stage to restore the dinar to its previous state against the dollar, while continuing to print the 50 thousand denomination below 100 thousand, a trend that has nothing to do with the devaluation of the dinar.

The government was forced – as Cougar asserts – to go to the decision to reduce the dinar against the dollar to fill its deficit on the one hand and to support local production, which has declined significantly in recent years, in addition to relieving many of its burdens on the other hand

Aljazeera.net

Iraqi banks undertake overdue reforms

Iraqi banks have undertaken reforms, coinciding with the Iraqi government’s measures to reform the economy.

The Central Bank of Iraq announced in a statement Dec. 19 the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar to 1,450 to help reduce the country’s fiscal deficit in the state budget for 2021 from 70 trillion to nearly 30 trillion dinars.

Simultaneously, Iraqi banks have undertaken additional measures to optimize the Iraqi economy. In the past weeks, government banks intensified calls for citizens to deposit their money in their bank branches instead of hoarding it at home.

Local media published calls by Rasheed Bank and Rafidain Bank along with the interest rates they pay for deposited money.

In less than a week, state-owned Rafidain Bank raised the interest rate on deposited money from 4% to 5% so as to encourage people to deposit funds in Iraqi branches.

Rasheed Bank, however, is paying a 7% interest rate on fixed deposits for 2.5 years.

Rasheed Bank’s offer involves individuals, businesses, associations and other sectors.

According to the Central Bank, funds citizens have hoarded at home are estimated at 77% of those circulating in the local market.

Rasheed Bank, established in 1988, and Rafidain Bank, which opened in 1942, are the largest government banks in Iraq and have branches in most of the 18 Iraqi governorates.

The two banks, among others, have faced financial pressure due to government borrowing as a means to meet the large financial deficit the country has suffered since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in oil prices, which is Iraq’s main source of revenue.

Rasheed Bank spokesperson Amal Shuwaili told Al-Monitor, “Our bank is trying to raise awareness among citizens about the importance of depositing money in banks.”

Shuwaili does not have stats on deposits after the call was made, but she pointed out that the bank is increasingly opening new accounts and more and more funds are being deposited.

She explained that “the interest rates are withdrawn on a monthly, not a yearly basis” and “the funds will be protected at all times.”

The Iraqi banking system is underdeveloped, as Iraqis still pay most of their daily financial transactions in cash.

Salary domiciliation for ministry and state institution employees started a few years ago; banks provided them with debit cards, enabling them to withdraw cash.

Shuwaili stated that “as soon as the salary is deposited in the account, the bank sends an SMS notifying the employer that the salary has been deposited in the account.”

Amer Abd Ali, an employee at the Interior Ministry, noted that he only believes in cash and withdraws his entire salary as soon as it enters the account.

He explained to Al-Monitor, “I can only use the card in specific places. … To be honest, I do not trust the banks with my money.”

Citizens’ lack of trust in banks is the main reason behind hoarding money, but it is not the only reason.

Bureaucracy prevails over the banking system, especially government banks, when it comes to opening new accounts and depositing funds. Add to that the interest rate depositors receive.

Shuwaili affirmed that, on the contrary, “… We have started to reduce this bureaucracy, and things have become easier now.” Depositing funds “has become an easy task … but money withdrawal may seem a complicated process for clients. This process is designed to protect the money. Is it a kind of bureaucracy to ask for the client’s ID?” she added.

Shuwaili attributed Rasheed Bank’s call to its ambitious plan to increase loans and encourage investments. “That is why Rasheed Bank is encouraging clients to deposit their hoarded funds.”

Shuwaili’s remarks did not seem to be in line with the international data on the Iraqi government banks’ participation in boosting investments and the economy.

According to the World Bank, only 5% of small- and medium-sized enterprises obtained loans from local Iraqi banks, while businessmen and investors borrowed from family and friends to bridge their financial deficits or expand their businesses.

Iraq was ranked 172 out of 190 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, followed by poor countries devastated by war, such as Syria and Afghanistan.

Nabil al-Marsoumi, professor of economics at the University of Basra, said that “the banks’ calls on citizens does not seem more than a prelude to a new round of government borrowing from these banks.”

Marsoumi, who has written research papers on the defects of the Iraqi economy, identified major defects in the banking system including bureaucracy, underdeveloped e-systems and the fear that these banks could collapse at any moment due to the stifling financial crisis that Iraq is going through. He indicated to Al-Monitor, however, that “Iraqis deposit their money in neighboring countries due to the interest rates — in Turkey and Iran, for example, which are higher than those in the Iraqi banks.”

Annual interest rates in Turkish and Iranian banks hit 20% on fixed deposits.

Read more: Al-monitor.com

The Finance Committee revealed, the fact that the Central Bank intends to change the exchange rate of the dollar again.

Baghdad – Al Furat News: Committee member Jamal Cougar told {Al Furat News} that “it is not possible for the central bank to re-price the dollar again,” stressing that “do not retreat from the new exchange rate and it is unrealistic for the monetary authority to circumvent itself.”

Cougar added, “There will be no retreat from changing the exchange rate and no new rate may be adopted because it will confuse the entire market,” noting that “we need two weeks to overcome the crisis of changing the price so that citizens adapt to the new price.”

Raghad Daham

Alforatnews.com