Finance Committee: The Iraqi economy needs to “restructure” … to achieve additional resources possible with these mechanisms

Baghdad today – The Finance Committee of the Iraqi Parliament, Ahmed Al-Saffar, believed today, Thursday, that the Iraqi economy needs to be completely restructured, noting that the measures of the government and parliament are temporary solutions.
The decision of the Finance Committee Ahmed Al-Saffar told (Baghdad today), “The solutions proposed by the Ministry of Finance, the government and even Parliament, regarding internal and external borrowing, are immediate solutions that solve the crisis for a month or two,” noting that “Iraq needs a complete restructuring of the Iraqi economy and policies Financial and economic. ”

He added, “We must get rid of the rentier economy unilaterally, meaning that the sources of the economy are diversified and the productive sectors that are producing goods and services are energized, to raise from the gross domestic product: the sectors of agriculture, industry, trade, tourism, transport, transportation, and infrastructure.”

He pointed out, “We must use the agricultural sector correctly and scientifically, and with all the requirements of a sound agricultural sector in Iraq from fertile land, water suitable for cultivation and manpower, we need a plan.”

He pointed out that “in the year 2003 the exploited agricultural areas were up to 48 million dunums, and Iraq had almost reached a level of semi-self-sufficiency, now the cultivated areas currently range from 12 to 14 million dunums only,” stressing, “and as a result of that reliance was placed on import In everything in Iraq. ”

He explained that “the import turn leads to a deficit in the Iraqi trade balance and the exit of the hard currency from Iraq while there are alternatives to import.”

He added that “the agricultural sector is the other in Iraq is weak, so we need a sector that depends on agriculture, and also resort to food industries, led to the consumption of large amounts of Iraqi hard currency and go abroad.”

He stressed that “the adoption of simple technology with simple capital, through which we can build medium-sized factories (medium industry), which is called the economy, link the two sectors together, the industry benefits agriculture and agriculture benefits the industry and leads to an integrated production that covers the Iraqi market and exports them abroad.”

And that “the issue needs a comprehensive economic plan, from allocating funds to move all economic sectors and all the requirements that exist, and we only lack the factor of management and regulation.”

He added that “the money that comes out because of the import is large, as the central bank sometimes sells an average of 200 million dollars a day in exchange for imports.”
He continued, “Import leads to the loss of hard currency abroad and the deficit of the trade balance, and the realization of benefit to the countries from which it is imported, increasing the unemployment rate and weakening the national product.”

And the Central Bank of Iraq decided, on Tuesday (30 June 2020), to reduce the interest of loans in order to support the economic and productive sectors, in light of the outbreak of the Corona virus.

The media office of the bank stated in a statement received (Baghdad today), that “with the continued economic repercussions caused by the Corona pandemic and the restrictions imposed by it that curbed economic activity in most of the productive and service sectors, and the decline in oil revenues, the Central Bank of Iraq decided to enhance the liquidity of existing projects, which were Funding it from the (one trillion) initiative in the amount of (5) million dinars for those who wish to do so, with the guarantees of the same project in exchange for administrative commissions and without interest.

The statement added, “The central bank directed banks and guarantor companies to reduce interest from (4.8%) to (3.5%) for borrowers within the 1-20 million dinar segment and reduce bank loan interest from the 21 million to 1 billion dinar segment after it was (6.3%) ) To become (4%). ”

He pointed out that “the central bank also directed banks, taking into account projects related to the tourism, hotels and restaurants sectors whose recovery may be prolonged by studying postponing their premiums for a longer period until they recover from the pandemic crisis.”

Baghdadtoday.news

Mr. Al-Kazemi: Restoring consideration to Mr. Sinan al-Shabibi

I do not know Mr. Sinan al-Shabibi and I have never met him, but I have heard like the rest of the citizens that he is excluded from the central bank because he refused to obey the orders of corrupt heads and implement what they ask of him and accused him of false accusations, and this corrupt elements have vandalized him by the vile methods to topple the national and clean elements and the man is known on a global level Mrs. Magda Al-Tamimi made a statement in an interview during Al Sharqiya TV channel in the past days that the currency auction takes advantage of one-fourth of the corrupt in the Central Bank, so what is required is to take Mrs. Al-Tamimi’s claim seriously, open an extensive investigation in this regard, restore consideration to Mr. Sinan Al-Shabibi and return him to his position as governor of the Central Bank and benefit From his experience and sincerity

(This is a brief summary from the free encyclopedia)

Sinan Muhammad Raza al-Shabibi “Sinan al-Shabibi” was born (July 1, 1941, Baghdad) economist and governor of the Central Bank of Iraq from September 2003 to October 2012. It is the first governor of the Central Bank after the occupation of Iraq by the coalition forces.

His upbringing and education

Al-Shabibi was born in Baghdad on July 1, 1941, and his father, Muhammad Reza al-Shabibi, is a prominent Iraqi poet, thinker, and politician. Al-Shabibi attended the College of Economics and Political Science at the University of Baghdad and graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, and also obtained a diploma in Graduate Studies in Development and Economics, Masters degree in Economics from the University of Manchester in Manchester, United Kingdom (1970-1971) . He also obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Bristol in Bristol, UK in 1975.

The beginning of his career

From May 1975 until March 1977, Sinan al-Shabibi was the head of the Import and Marketing Department of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, and from April 1977 until December 1980, al-Shabibi was the head of the Planning and Coordination Department of the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.

After the Iraq-Iran war erupted, al-Shabibi moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he stayed from December 1980 to October 2001 and worked as an economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq

Since assuming the position of governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, he has introduced modern accounting and payment systems for the financial institution, replaced manual printers and computers with modern computer systems, and accounting tools as currency auctions, and replaced the pre-2003 currency with the new currency between October 2003 and January 2004. He also With the participation of the Iraqi Central Bank in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in addition to the Paris Club negotiations where 19 countries agreed to forgive Iraq from 80% of pre-2003 debts to help Iraq recover from the post-war era that was led by the United States in 2003.

Despite local and regional instability in the region, Al-Shabibi managed to maintain the Iraqi dinar exchange rate against the US dollar at 1190 dinars per 1 US dollar (while the exchange rate was 2214 dinars per 1 dollar in 2002), and reduced the inflation rate (from 64% in 2006, to 5.2% in 2012), and doubled the gold reserves to 32 tons, and remained a strong advocate for the independence of the Central Bank. His use of these policies and the rise in oil revenues helped raise foreign exchange reserves to approximately $ 67 billion (in September 2)) over December 2002 $ 2.7 billion 2012)

We hope that the right man is in the right place.

Kitabat.com

Journey to search for ‘smuggled money’ … the Integrity Committee talks about a ‘tight plan’!

On Sunday, the Parliamentary Integrity Committee confirmed the completion of a plan to return the smuggled money outside the country.

Member of the Integrity Committee, MP Youssef Al-Kalabi, said in an interview with the official agency, and it was followed by “NAS” (June 14, 2020). And executive. ”

Al-Kalabi pointed out that “the best solution to get out of the crisis is by recovering the stolen money, especially since there is public, institutional and judicial support for recovering it.”

The Recovery Department of the Integrity Commission announced earlier that coordination with the Public Prosecution, the Iraqi Interpol and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice had achieved positive results in recovering contraband funds, seizing other funds, and instituting cases outside Iraq to recover contraband funds

Nasnews.com

Iraq informs America of completing preparations for the strategic dialogue

Baghdad – Mawazine News, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fouad Hussein, confirmed on Monday that completing preparations for a strategic dialogue between Iraq and the United States of America.

In a statement, Mawazine News / received a copy of, the Information Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the latter “met with the United States Ambassador to Baghdad Matthew Toller.”

He added: “At the beginning of the meeting, the American ambassador expressed his congratulations to the minister on the assumption of his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq.”

The foreign minister stressed, according to the statement, “the completion of preparations for the run of the strategic dialogue with America,” usually that it “represents an important station that will frame the priorities of Baghdad and Washington.”

He stressed “the necessity to continue the positive development of the various distinct
aspects of bilateral cooperation.” Ended 29 / A 43

Mawazin.net

Iraq: Al-Kazemi opens the file of governors to diagnose corruption

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi opened the file of corruption in the service departments in the Iraqi governorates and a complete review of the performance of the governors in those governorates that suffer from corruption, mismanagement and poor public services.

Al-Kazemi’s media office said that the prime minister directed the formation of a ministerial team to review the performance of governors and service departments in the governorates.

He explained that Al-Kazemi defined the tasks of the ministerial team by examining the reasons for failure to provide services to citizens and reviewing the performance of governors and service departments, in addition to giving a task to the team by taking firm measures to diagnose corruption and address its cases.

A statement to Al-Kazemi’s media office stated that “According to the directive, the team will be headed by Interior Minister Othman Al-Ghanmi and membership of a number of ministers and specialists,” noting that the ministerial team will “follow up in coordination with the relevant parliamentary committees, and will also coordinate closely with local popular and union activities in the governorates, and present His final report and recommendations to the Prime Minister.

It is not known to what extent Al-Kazemi’s ability to open the file of corruption within the service departments in the governorates and also to evaluate the performance of the conservatives, most of whom were appointed with the direct support of the militias and strong and pro-Iranian groups inside Iraq. These groups have worked during the past years to obtain the largest possible number of executive positions in Baghdad and other provinces to consolidate their influence and enhance the sources of their protection and take advantage of the capabilities of the large state to expand its workspace.

The file of the conservatives in Iraq has turned into a sensitive subject, especially with the outbreak of a wave of massive protests against corruption and the authority that has existed in the country since 2003 due to poor services, poor security and widespread poverty and unemployment, which are attributable in large part to the corruption of local governments, especially the conservatives with whom they are concerned. Frequent on the theft of financial allocations to the provinces and involvement in major fraud and even crimes such as turning a blind eye to smuggling and drug-trafficking networks.

In February 2018, the former governor of Najaf, Louay al-Yasiri, affiliated with the Dawa Party, faced a thunderous scandal because of the arrest of his son, in flagrante delicto, with a gang dealing in drugs in the capital, Baghdad.

In January 2019, the Karbala Governorate Council in southern Iraq, which includes some of the holiest sites in the Shiite community, voted to dismiss Aqeel Al-Tarhi from his position and belonging to the Dawa Party, due to financial and administrative violations in the implementation of service projects.

In accordance with Iraqi law, the governor is responsible for chairing the Supreme Security Committee in the governorate, in addition to direct supervision of the referral and implementation of all service projects, and supervising the work of government institutions within the administrative boundaries of the governorate.

East today

Rawabetcenter.com

Parliamentary finance places a condition on Al-Kazemi in return for passing the borrowing bill

Baghdad / The Parliamentary Finance Committee set a condition before the government of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, in exchange for passing the draft borrowing law.

“The Finance Committee is determined not to pass the borrowing bill unless the government sends the economic reform project side by side,” said committee member MP Hama Rashid in a tweet on Twitter.

“The government cannot be empowered to overburden the state with loans unless it is matched by austerity with unnecessary expenditures and an end to the constant waste of public money,” he added.

Ikhnews.com

Al-Kazemi’s first comment after parliament voted to complete the cabinet

Tweet for the Prime Minister

Completing the ministerial cabinet with the House of Representatives voting on the names we presented is an additional motive for implementing the ministerial curriculum, fulfilling the stage entitlements and abiding by our promises before our people who await actions, not words.

I thank the House of Representatives for renewing confidence in the government, a new line of action that we cut firmly and consistently.

Continued . . .

Baghdadtoday.news

Al-Ansari’s candidacy as a substitute for Al-Amiri, who submitted a formal request to resign from Parliament

Baghdad today – A source inside the parliament said, on Saturday (06 June 2020), that the head of the Al-Fateh coalition, Representative Hadi al-Amiri, has submitted his resignation to the Iraqi parliament.

The source said in an interview with (Baghdad Today), that “the head of the Al-Fateh Alliance Hadi al-Amiri submitted an official request to resign from the Iraqi parliament,” without revealing the reasons.

He added, “The person who will be a substitute for Al-Amiri in the membership of the Iraqi parliament is Abdul Karim Younis Al-Ansari.”

Baghdadtoday.news

After Coming Under Heavy Criticism … The Central Bank Stops The Currency Auction

An informed source confirmed that the Central Bank of Iraq management has finally decided to stop the auction of foreign currencies after the Iraqi economy was subjected to severe setbacks due to the Corona pandemic and the drop in oil prices to record levels, and the Central Bank followed a failed monetary policy.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said to Al-Mustaqila that the central bank governor has been subjected to great pressure in the past few days by many political blocs, the media and economists because of his unjustified insistence to proceed with the foreign currency auction window despite all the losses and risks incurred by the economy Iraqi.

The data published on the website of the Central Bank indicates that the last date for which a currency auction was held was on Thursday, 21/5/2020, when more than $ 180 million was purchased with the participation of more than 30 banks at the auction.

https://t.co/bxSY6d40GS

Below is the link for the results of the foreign currency sale window

https://t.co/JaxdDMBVjJ

Reduce the Iraqi dinar exchange rate … punish people!!

Iraq is going through extremely sensitive conditions, as the Iraqi economy faces a real challenge after the catastrophic failure to find alternatives to selling crude oil. I confirm here the sale of crude oil and not the oil refining industry and the petrochemical industry.

Iraq is one of the largest oil reserves in the world, as it has 147.2 billion Barrel according to explorations in 2018, or 8.5% of the balance’s global reserves – – and yet he annually imports 3.3 trillion Iraqi dinars in oil products – the annual report of importing Iraq 2018, the Central Statistical Organization 2019 – and he imports energy worth 7 trillion Iraqi dinars – the 2019 budget Iraqi facts: Issue 4529 on 11/11/2019 – all of which can be produced in Iraq, as well as other resources such as agriculture, various industries, trade, tourism, etc.,

With no Sovereign Wealth Fund that provides additional imports and a portfolio to protect the future of generations, especially in times of crisis, Iraq today Asking for aid to pay the salaries of employees and retirees is that what enters the treasury is not equal to a quarter of what Iraq needs to cover salaries only.

The financial budget for the year 2019 was allocated to the salaries of retired civilians and the military (9,316,652,417,000) Iraqi dinars, and the salaries of employees equal (43,404,629,267,000) Iraqi dinars For the year 2019, the amount is (52,721,281,684,000) Iraqi dinars, which means that Iraq needs monthly (4,393,440,140,000) Iraqi dinars, and if we take into consideration that the Iraqi dinar exchange is 1,200 dinars per dollar, it means that Iraq needs monthly to (3,660,000,000) approximately one dollar, while the GDP of Iraq is approximately (1,100,000,000) dollars for the month of March and (1,200,000,000) dollars approximately for the coming months, as Iraq needs (2.5) billion dollars approximately per month to cover monthly salary expenses only, this is regardless of other needs,

And to address This catastrophic failure began to raise some voices in order to reduce the Iraqi dinar exchange rate against the US dollar in order to increase the budget number and reduce the deficit in it, and I find it necessary to clarify some of the terms, so the reader may be surprised by the ignorance of many of those who speak in this field, and perhaps they are among those in important positions of responsibility.

(1) Floating Exchange Rate:

A floating currency is the rate of currency that has floated so that it has become fully liberalized, so the government or the central bank does not interfere in determining it directly, but it is automatically generated in the currency market through the Supply And Demand mechanism that allows By setting the exchange rate of the national currency against foreign currencies, this term corresponds to the fixed price of the currency exchange

(2) Fixed Exchange Rate:

A specific price will be set against a major global currency (usually the US dollar, but also other major currencies such as the euro, yen, or basket of currencies), in order to maintain On the local exchange rate, the central bank buys and sells its own currency on the foreign exchange market for the currency in which it is linked.

(3) Devaluation:

is the devaluation of the official exchange rate of this currency against an international reference currency (the US dollar or the euro, for example), so that the number of units of foreign currency that can be obtained against one unit of the national currency is low, and it is correct to talk about devaluation when it is The exchange rate is subject to the direct management of the government or the central bank, which determines this price through a government decision,

(4) and according to the same logic, it is possible to talk about raising the price of the currency Revaluation in exchange for reducing it, and this is when the exchange rate is subject to the direct management of the government or the central bank as well, and we note that the reduction The price of the currency and its elevation are within one framework which is the fixed exchange of the currency,

(5) but when the exchange rate is subject to the forces of supply and demand (floating the currency) and there is a decline in the value of this currency, depreciation of the currency, the decline is an automatic result of the free interaction between supply and demand in the foreign exchange market without interference Direct from the government or the central bank, according to For the same logic, we can talk about the rise in the value of the currency Appreciation versus its decline, and we note that the rise and fall of the currency price within the currency float.

(6) Since Iraq works within the fixed fixed rate system, we can talk about reducing and raising the exchange rate of the currency, and here I do not want to differentiate between the two systems, each of them has its conditions despite the market economy and its idea that the state should not interfere in economic activities and let the market control itself

It operates a system of floating the currency and its price depends on the iron principle of supply and demand, but the actual conditions of Iraq do not allow for reasons that are too long to be explained.

Countries with a fixed exchange rate resort to reducing the currency exchange rate for economic reasons to improve their balance of trade mainly due to an increase in domestic production versus the importer. The currency reduction makes the difference between the outside and the inside and reduces the importer in front of the exporter, and this assumes that there is internal production It covers the local need and wants to preserve it and export it abroad, but in the Iraqi case, unfortunately, there is no industry, no agriculture, no internal production, it covers the local need as well as being an exporter, as Iraq has nothing to export other than Crude Oil, and I speak here As for the reality of what is there and not what I am calling for, the total imports for the year 2018 for commodities and petroleum products amounted to (37) billion dollars, equivalent to (43.8) trillion Iraqi dinars, and the total imports for the year 2018 for the non-oil commodities (34.1 dollars), i.e. Equivalent (40.5) One trillion Iraqi dinars, and

(7) Iraq has no need to reduce the exchange rate, but it is sufficient for it to prevent the import of any material that can be dispensed with.

(8) BIG ONE …. PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ONE!!!

As for the real effect of the devaluation, it is the direct punishment for the Iraqi people, if we know that 6 million Iraqis receive a salary or aid from the Iraqi government and the number of individuals The Iraqi family is 5 people, we are talking about about 30 million Iraqis who live on what they receive from salaries or aid from the Iraqi government, all of these will be affected by this procedure, because inflation occurs.

(9) Inflation in prices is due to the low purchasing power of the Iraqi dinar, so the family that could have lived in a million dinars An Iraqi after the currency devaluation has become worth 500 thousand dinars, and if she receives a number that is a million, therefore she will live in great distress due to this reduction,

(10) the other affected are the owners of internal debts in the local currency, which amount to about 40 trillion dinars, which represent treasury transfers and debits with banks The government and the central bank for companies, contractors, and merchants, and if they are a number, it will remain that the Iraqi government owes them to 40 trillion, but after the devaluation they will owe 20 trillion on the assumption that it has been cut in half.

(11) As for the external debtor, it remains the same because in foreign currency the dollar or the like.

Another issue remains here is the confidence of investors and companies in the currency after the devaluation is much less because the stability of the currency is one of the factors that encourage investment and entry in projects as well as problems related to economic feasibility after the devaluation, which is the basis of the intervention of the government or the central bank in fixing the exchange rate or only for work The principle of floating currency from the beginning.

(12) ANOTHER “BIG ONE”

Hence, we believe that those who seek to actually depreciate the currency are punishing the Iraqi people because of the wrong policies and economic failure that brought the country to this situation, as the people in this bear the mistakes of politicians and are punished instead of them.

Al-iraqinews.com