In Diyala .. A demand to implement Article 140 to end crises

Shafaq News / The Deputy of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Diyala, Sherko Mirwais, confirmed on Saturday that 80 percent of the residents of the disputed areas in Diyala are demanding the revival of Article 140 and its implementation as soon as possible to get out of the worsening security and service crises.

Mirwais told Shafaq News, “Civil committees and organizations in Khanaqin previously launched extensive media and social campaigns to educate on the necessity of adopting Article 140 as the main solution to the accumulated problems in the disputed areas in Diyala and even other provinces.”

He pointed out that “the committees and organizations are determined to move through governmental and parliamentary channels and the United Nations to deliver the legitimate demands of the residents of the disputed areas who have become victims of problems and political conflicts and have become prey to armed groups amid the security weakness that prevails in their areas.”

Mirwais added that “the campaign to implement Article 140 will not stop, which is a popular demand to restore rights and liberation from the massive social tragedies that the disputed regions have been experiencing for decades.”

Mirwais affirmed that “80 percent of the residents of Khanaqin and the disputed administrative units in Diyala are calling for accelerating their implementation according to a short timetable and under UN supervision to address the collapse of service structures, widespread poverty, unemployment and lack of job opportunities as a result of the disruption of the exploitation of natural resources on national and political grounds.”

Article 140 provides for the removal of demographic policies conducted by Saddam Hussein’s regime in those areas in favor of the Arabs at the expense of the Kurds and Turkmen, and then counts the population before the last step that is to hold a referendum whereby the population determines whether they wish to join a northern region of the country or remain under the administration of the government Central in Baghdad.

The stages of implementing the article were to be completed until the end of 2007, but security and political problems prevented this, as the Kurds accused Baghdad of delaying the implementation of the article.

Shafaaq.com

Iraq faces “irreversible shocks” without urgent economic reforms

Rudaw Digital – warned Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi today, Monday (22 June 2020), in an exclusive interview with Agence France-Presse, that the Iraqi economy may face “shocks that we will not be able to deal with” unless reform measures are adopted in less than a year.

“Reform is necessary,” said Allawi (73 years), who was charged with stabilizing the Iraqi economy after the collapse of crude oil prices, which cut the state revenue by half.

He added, “If we do not adjust matters during this year, we may face shocks that we will not be able to deal with,” while expectations indicate that the Iraqi economy will face a contraction of 10 percent during the year.

Allawi, who was also finance minister during the transitional government’s period between 2005 and 2006, indicated that the situation today is “worse” because Baghdad faces an “existential economic situation”.

At that point, the price of a barrel of oil was approximately $ 35, but the number of state employees was less than a million.

Today there are more than four million employees, and many other Iraqis who are paid salaries and pensions. This means a monthly sum of between four and five billion dollars.

With one in five Iraqis receiving government aid, the bill becomes heavier for the country that depends on paying all its expenditures on oil whose prices collapsed months ago with a severe shortage of demand for it.

Empty treasury and aliens

According to Allawi, the government must pay the salaries of the months of June and July at the appointed time, by borrowing from government banks.

But he warned that these measures are possible for a short period, otherwise “they will affect the price structure and, consequently, on inflation, which will in turn affect the exchange rate and the reserve in the central bank.”

He added that in the face of the expenses that have increased over the years, the government found the treasury empty, after 17 years of the American invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime and established a new political system ravaged by corruption and cronyism, and put Iraq in high positions among the list of the most corrupt countries in the world.

“The government is supposed to have one and a half months of expenses before it faces crises,” Allawi told France Presse from his home in Baghdad.

He added, “We were supposed to have liquidity between ten to 15 trillion dinars, but the treasury contained only two trillion dinars.”

Experts today, including Allawi, believe that the entire financial system of Iraq, the second largest oil producer in OPEC, must be reviewed.

Allawi said that 40 million Iraqis will have to submit to a strict austerity policy that may last for “two years.”

In addition, the authorities will address loopholes in the spending schedule, especially with regard to multiple salaries or “aliens” as they are called, and they are registered in the payroll without working.

Oil and confidence

At the government level, long-awaited promises to diversify the economy, not to make the country’s fate dependent on global crude markets, and start discussions with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will have to be implemented.

Allawi stressed that “if the price of oil continues at this level for a year, and spending remains the same, undoubtedly we will collide with a wall. We cannot run a country, especially from the economic side, with only hope that the oil prices will rise to cover the expenses.”

The question is: Can a transitional government, formed during the most serious social crisis in the country, undertake a complete reform of the economy?

Although Allawi experienced a similar crisis in 2005, he admitted this time that the crisis of trust between citizens and the authority widened, after six months of an unprecedented popular uprising that was suppressed by force by the previous government of Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Indeed, at the beginning of the current month of June, when pensions were deducted in the first steps of the government austerity policy, the protest was unanimous against Allawi and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, even within the parliament that is usually entrusted with approving reforms, especially the fight against corruption that led to more evaporation. Of $ 450 billion in public money since 2003.

Rudaw.net

A Fatah member reveals an agreement between the three presidencies on the House of Representatives

On Wednesday, a member of the Al-Fateh coalition, Ghazanfar Al-Bateekh, considered that the three presidencies agreed on the continued obstruction of the parliament.

Watermelon told / information / that “there is a tripartite agreement between the President of the Republic, Parliament and the government to disrupt the parliament sessions,” noting that “Washington is fully aware of this agreement.”

He believed that “the decision to dissolve the House of Representatives must be taken immediately without any consensual or political consultations, as it overburdened the state with explosive budgets,” noting that “Muhammad Al-Halbousi made a very dangerous precedent when he disrupted the work of Parliament and made the attendance of sessions from one o’clock in the afternoon.”

Alliraqnews.com

Minister of Finance: 300 thousand “space” employees in Iraq

Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi reported that there are about 300,000 “space” employees in Iraq, warning that economic problems may spark a state of insecurity in the country.

And the Financial Times quoted Allawi as saying that radical reform is the only way to avoid a “catastrophe” for the oil-dependent country, noting that all that can be done is to refer to the “catastrophe” facing the country, if the path continues.

Allawi has previously studied at Harvard University, and has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The Iraqi Minister of Finance, warned of “grave security consequences” in the event that the country’s economy is not radically restructured, at a time when the crisis of the Corona Virus is struck, and its reflection on commercial activities and the damage of the collapse of oil prices to state revenues, indicating inflation spending and a monthly wage bill The value of $ 5 billion for the massive public payroll.

Concerning “space” employees, that is, those who do not exist in the state’s departments, while these influential people receive salaries, Allawi explained that the issues that were buried because of the large and growing oil revenues are now evolving, and this includes payments for an estimated 300,000 “ghost” or fictional employee ” “.

The price of crude oil has fallen to more than half compared to last year 2019, as it dealt a blow to the financial position of the second largest producer in OPEC, “Iraq”.

Allawi believed that the economy, if not radically restructured in a highly coherent and well-implemented medium-term program, could have truly severe security consequences.

According to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Iraq’s revenue from oil exports fell from 6.1 billion dollars in January, to their lowest levels at 1.4 billion dollars last April.

While the collapse of world oil prices has harmed the Iraqi economy before, Allawi says that Baghdad “can no longer” rely on prices to bounce again, arguing that this may spur reforms, confirming that there is “increasing recognition” that the country is moving to an environment with prices Oil is relatively low, and an alternative to restructuring public financial resources should be found to take into account this new normal.

The 73-year-old minister is part of a transitional government appointed to steer Iraq toward new elections, after mass protests against the institution toppled the previous government.

The country’s poverty rate is expected to rise to 31.7 percent this year, from 20 percent in 2018, as the Corona pandemic crisis pushes 4.5 million Iraqis below the poverty line, according to a new joint assessment by the government, the United Nations, the World Bank, and Oxford University.

According to the World Bank, if oil prices remain below $ 30, Iraq will shift from having a fiscal surplus to a deficit equal to more than a quarter of its gross domestic product.

Analysts said the government can take advantage of $ 68 billion in foreign reserves to cover dollar bills, such as imports and debt service, and is expected to borrow $ 18 billion locally and abroad to cover government wages for the next few months.

On the subject of the loan, Allawi said that Iraq has regular and intense discussions with the International Monetary Fund, adding that Baghdad may apply for some budget support, describing the bill of “inflated wages” is to some extent a “legacy of Iraq’s recent violent history”, and that 40 To 45 percent of public sector employees in the vast Iraqi security forces.

Rudaw.net

BGG ~ This is probably more accurately translated as “Ghost employees”, a corruption issue for a long time now and one of the big reasons no one wants to just give them money for “salaries”.

It would all go to these corrupt politicians via this sham payroll scam.

The good news – the MoF is going after them in an open, honest, legal fashion.

The Central Bank Withdraws The License Of A Brokerage Firm To Buy And Sell Currencies For “Violating The Instructions”

The bank said in a statement received by the (Independent) today that:

(1) “given the violation of the Al-Durr brokerage company for buying and selling foreign currencies, the provisions of the instructions for organizing the work of the brokerage firms and the purchase of foreign currencies, it was decided to withdraw the company’s license.”

The bank added,

(2) “It was also decided to confiscate the letter of guarantee deposited with this bank amounting to 50 million dinars,” calling on the Ministry of Commerce to “cancel the establishment certificate granted to it in addition to removing the company name from the records and providing the Central Bank with a certified liquidation letter.”
The Central Bank of Iraq was established as an independent bank under its law issued on the sixth of March of the year 2004, as an independent body, and is responsible for maintaining price stability and implementing monetary policy, and supervises 10 commercial banks, 26 private banks and 16 Islamic banks, in addition to 19 foreign banks, as well About 6 financial institutions and 31 money transfer companies.

Mustaqila.com

Parliamentary finance reassures employees about the salaries of the next three months

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Muhammad Sahib Al Daraji, confirmed on Sunday that the salaries of employees for the next three months are secured through the borrowing law, and they will be paid “without delay”.

“The Finance Committee is awaiting the economic reform paper that will be presented by the government,” Daraji said in a statement to government media.

He continued, “The Finance Committee is working to merge the legislative reform paper with the executive paper,” stressing “the importance of activating the economic reform bill.”

A well-informed source told Al-Sumaria News last Thursday that the Ministry of Finance had directed the distribution of employee salaries before Eid al-Adha.

The source indicated that “the guidance came after salaries were secured for the month of July, according to the Internal and External Borrowing Law of 2020.”

Faceiraq.org

The investigation of electricity contracts is intensifying … We will diagnose corrupt people, whoever they are

Shafaq News / The head of the investigation committee for electricity contracts, Hassan Al-Kaabi, announced today, Sunday, that the amounts spent on electricity are “very large” that are not commensurate with the suffering of the citizen during the previous years, and while he stressed that his committee “will not be like its predecessors”, he pledged to expose the entire waste of public money Corruption in this sector since 2003.

In a statement received to Shafaq News, Al-Kaabi said that the Parliamentary and Supervisory Committee charged with investigating and auditing the contracts of the Ministry of Electricity, headed by him, visited today, the headquarters of the Ministry of Electricity, indicating that they were received by Minister Majid Mahdi of the Emirate and the advance staff in the ministry.

Al-Kaabi, upon his arrival with the Investigation Committee, chaired an expanded meeting in which a full review was made of the actual investment spending of the Ministry from 2005 to 2019, energy production projects, stations rehabilitation, energy transmission and distribution projects, rehabilitation of power transmission lines and lines, and expenditures of the upstream departments, as well as the current spending of the Ministry with all the details and total Design and lost capabilities of stations implemented since 2003 until today, according to the statement.

Al-Kaabi stressed that the investigation committee will not be like its predecessors from the parliamentary committees and we will not discuss any future plans and programs for the work of the Ministry of Electricity, but rather the origin of the formation of the committee is the full scrutiny and investigation of all of the ministry’s contracts since 2003 to 2020 and the disclosure of all public money waste and corruption that accompanied them, pointing to The amounts spent on electricity, according to the tables he personally viewed today, are “very large” that are not commensurate with the size of the citizen’s suffering and his continuous tragedy during the previous years of the deterioration and lack of electric power without real knowledge of the reasons.

The committee, headed by Al-Kaabi, called on the Ministry of Electricity to officially answer a set of issues, including those related to obstetric stations and the economic feasibility of them in light of the available capabilities, and to provide them with a list of concluded contracts, their classification, their value, the duration of implementation and the companies implemented and automated in the checks, the timing of the contract, construction, qualification and type of fuel until July 2020.

Al-Kaabi noted that the committee will start hosting a number of officials inside and outside the ministry, including them in the ongoing service or outside it, according to what the committee considers and its work, and within the frameworks of the official investigation, to diagnose the deficiencies, whether in the ministry or other ministries and relevant government institutions, and the causes of corruption And his people, whoever they are and wherever they are.

The President of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Mohamed Al-Halbousi, instructed, on July 12, to form a committee to scrutinize and investigate the contracts of the Ministry of Electricity.

Faceiraq.org

Al-Kazemi stresses the need to fortify the Iraqi media network from political influences and pressures

Baghdad / news – The Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, received today, Sunday, the Chairman and members of the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network, and the media, Nabil Jassem.

During the meeting, according to a statement received by Al-Akhbaria, Al-Kazimi stressed the government’s support for a free and independent media in Iraq, as a tool for building the state and consolidating its national constants, stressing “the need to fortify the Iraqi media network from political influences and pressures, to remain a free media platform in the industry A public opinion that believes in the unity of Iraq, the integrity of the country and its foundations. ”

Al-Kazimi reiterated his support for the work of the Iraqi Media Network and the options of the Board of Trustees, calling on the members of the Council and Nabeel Jassem to present a reform working paper on developing the work of the media network, enabling it to perform its pivotal role and carry out its tasks in an optimal manner.

Faceiraq.org

A road map for solving the financial crisis

A member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Sahib al-Darraji, has proposed a road map to solve the financial crisis.

Given that the economic and financial situation in Iraq has reached the bottleneck stage, there must be solutions applicable to the near and far ranges, and through some of the professional experiences gained in the areas of government executive and parliamentary legislative work, with accumulated experience from working in the private sector and touching the economic and service situation of the Iraqis at various levels. Here I would like to present a short-term road map to contribute to solving the financial crisis and protect the economy of the country must be followed by medium and long-term measures to reform the Iraqi economy and find a clear economic doctrine for Iraq that changes the form of spending and financial resources for the country in a manner commensurate with the societal nature and global ruling conditions for energy prices and the diversity of means Production.

This plan is summarized as follows:

First: – The general budget

1 – A simple budget for construction and installation must be submitted and approved for the remainder of the year 2020 showing the ruling real revenues and expenditures and what relates to these two items only and the ways of filling the resulting deficit and without touching on any other items.

2 – Building a budget for the year 2021 on a sectoral basis and on a fixed oil price for the operational budget and a mobile for the investment budget, directing the budget for salaries, purchasing the ration and medicines, sterilizing water and the educational process only and listing items that encourage dependence on investment and the private sector to address other sectors so that these provisions govern the budget law All other laws and restrict them in favor of financing the unfunded sectors.

3 – Providing the final accounts for the past years and validating them to know the deficiencies in financing certain sectors in exchange for extravagance in other sectors in order to create an economic balance between the service and productive sectors.

Second: – The cash block

Withdraw the cash mass stored with the community and try to invest it in an investment through the following: –

1 – Raise the interest rate for cash deposits in banks even if the monetary authority is forced to support the banks.

2 – Establishing projects in which the state contributes a certain percentage and the rest is offered for subscription, especially in projects of city centers (dawn town) and major industrial projects such as petrochemicals (Nebras).

3 – Offering some of the winning companies (or that could win by changing the management tactic) for subscription, such as the air navigation company, airlines, cement, fertilizers, and others.

4- Selling oil coupons locally. At the prevailing price now and buying it a year later at the prevailing price then.

5 – Building confidence between the state and the citizen by committing to pay interest and profits.

Third: – Oil licenses

1 – Negotiating to postpone the dues of oil companies or pay them in kind outside OPEC’s share.

2 – Evaluating company spending and reducing them to a minimum.

3 – Re-negotiate in consensual ways with oil companies to improve the terms of contracts for the state when the oil prices drop.

Fourth: – Legislative measures

1 – Revoking the Coalition Provisional Authority’s decision to ban the export of raw materials and the export of some materials such as gravel, sand, and others.

2- Requiring the government to start licensing rounds to invest some mineral resources, such as phosphates, and others.

3 – Preparing a new salary scale that takes into account the economic situation and achieves social justice and encourages the employee to leave the job with a set of privileges outside the framework of the job.

4- Prepare a special bill to reduce all allocations granted under previous laws by a certain percentage.

5 – Amending some transitional justice laws and laws that have concessions that are no longer needed.

Fifth: – Governance and automation

1 – The Ministry of Finance issues the e-dinar for the purpose of collecting government revenues and fees and what distinguishes them from being non-negotiable in the market as cash and thus we have reduced corruption in this aspect as well as the state’s knowledge of the value of those imports quickly, to be issued by a government bank It is not done through private companies.

2 – Encouraging and organizing electronic payment, obligating banks and institutions to electronic payment, and encouraging sales outlets in the private sector to use electronic payment devices without commissions and ensuring that their accounts are fed by the national exchange in the Central Bank daily.

3 – The necessity of automating the ports and customs and linking them to any process of transferring the dollar or opening bank credits for the purposes of importing and controlling the border outlets and preventing militias and gangs from controlling them.

Sixth: – Monetary policy

A – The exchange rate

1 – Begin to gradually reduce the Iraqi dinar price to reach 1500 dinars against the dollar until the end of the year 2020 and review the economic situation.

2 – And then start another reduction up to 1,800 within 6 months.

3 – Then we study the possibility of deleting the zeros, so we will end with a fixed price of 2 Iraqi dinars per dollar.

B – Methods to address potential inflation and the effects of the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar so that this procedure is accompanied by the following steps: –

1 – Increasing nominal salaries for grades five to nine and increasing the salaries of the social protection network by 12% to reduce the impact of potential inflation on the
vulnerable classes .

2 – Amending the currency selling mechanism to maintain the hard currency inside the country and that the dollar and other foreign currencies are sold and traded directly in the currency markets or through the stock market in order to get a real price of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar and that the guarantor of the prices is the value of the available reserve The Central Bank of Iraq has hard currency.

3- Government projects pricing in the investment budget in dollars and financing the exchange units budget for the investment budget in dollars.

4- Setting an import platform, stopping some imports, controlling customs outlets, supporting the tax system and exempting the local product from income tax for a period of two years.

5 – The state imports commercial foodstuffs into the market and injects it into the ration program in the event of high prices.

6 – Supporting fuel for public transport, factories and irrigation projects, and giving high relative importance to the food industries.

7 – Pumping a hard currency to the exchange markets to maintain the price level of the Iraqi dinar, which prevents price fluctuation due to possible speculation.

8 – Activating the role of economic security and entering the relevant government agencies to control the cash rhythm in the currency market and the food market.

Seventh: – State property

1 – Liquidate unexploited government assets from real estate, buildings, vehicles, furniture, etc. by selling them or entering in investment partnerships

2 – Selling overdated lands for those overruns at the same price to give a justification for recovering them from those who do not pay (and vice versa it cannot be recovered and ejecting the exceeders)

Eighth: – The private sector

1 – Increasing the credit ceiling of government banks to give loans.

2 – Activating the central bank loan initiative and easing guarantees for industrial, construction and agricultural projects, while controlling payments and linking them to completion rates and opening credits to move the private sector.

3- Finding ways through joint financing or external borrowing to finance government-funded projects and completing projects with high percentages.

4- Reducing the restrictions of letters of guarantee and their expenses for ongoing unpaid advances due.

5 – Displaying productive projects for the purpose of investing them by the implementing agencies in exchange for completing them and entering the service.

6 – Moving the housing fund and real estate bank loans to move the construction sector that withdraws unemployment as it is the largest employer sector .

7- Increasing taxes on imported commercial products and reducing them from imported raw materials to encourage the national product.

Alsabaah.iq

Al-Kazemi topples four prominent officials in the ports of Basra

Shafak News / A source in the Prime Minister revealed, on Wednesday, that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi decided to fire four prominent officials in the southern Basra ports.

The source said to Shafaq News, that Al-Kazemi dismissed Hamid Hussain Ali, director of the Umm Qasr Al Shamali Center, Alaa Abdul Moneim Dawood, director of the Umm Qasr Al Janoubi Center, Abdul Jalil Subhi Jassem, director of the Umm Qasr Al Awsat Center, and Muayad Yassin Abdul Jabbar, director of the Basra Gate customs.

Al-Kazemi is expected to appoint replacements for the dismissed officials.

This decision comes within Al-Kazemi’s efforts to fulfill his pledges to fight corruption in state institutions and bring those involved to justice, as Iraq is among the most corrupt countries in the world over the past years.

The decision also comes hours after Al-Kazemi arrived in Basra with his government ministers and held a cabinet session there.

During his visit, Al-Kazemi toured the northern port of Umm Qasr, as part of an anti-corruption campaign at the border outlets, according to a statement of his office.

He directed the Prime Minister to “protect the customs sanctuary in ports by military forces and prevent any force or entity trying to enter it by force,” and directed “to reduce complex routine procedures and work to rotate employees to reduce corruption.”

Al-Kazimi vowed to be involved in corruption, saying, “Everyone is under surveillance, and we have information about the corrupt people in the ports that will be prosecuted.”

Shafaaq.com