Is Abadi looking to return to prime minister’s post?

Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi has resigned from the Islamic Dawa Party, raising questions about his possible return to the premiership.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced May 31 his resignation from all his positions in the Islamic Dawa Party, whose politburo he headed. His move raised questions about his potential plans to return to the prime minister’s post.

Abadi also met with Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad on June 11; the former prime minister discussed the bilateral relationship between the two countries and also expressed his support for Iran against the sanctions imposed by the United States. The meeting, which was the first of its kind since his departure as prime minister, was read as an attempt to improve his relationship with Iran, which has a big influence in Iraqi politics.

Abadi also met with the new-appointed US ambassador, Matthew Tueller in Jun. 13. They discussed the overall political situation in Iraq and the region.

Abadi’s political career began in and developed through Dawa. The party was formed in 1957, and it monopolized the prime minister’s post from 2005 until 2018, when Abadi stepped down in favor of independent political candidate Adel Abdul Mahdi, who was the consensus choice of the two largest parliamentary blocs. These two blocs are Al-Islah, which includes the Abadi-led Victory Alliance and the Sairoon Alliance led by Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Construction Bloc led by Hadi al-Amiri, which includes political wings from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) and factions that are strongly tied to Iran.

Read more: Al-monitor.com

Abdul-Mahdi at stake .. Suron calls for his hosting in Parliament

On Saturday, Masson asked for the addition of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi in parliament.

The bloc said in a statement that this ‘orientation comes not to provide something tangible within 6 months’, indicating that ‘hosting comes because of the apparent failure in the performance of the government and this is contrary to promises’, stressing the need ‘to file files of corruption and 40 corrupt immediately’

“We reject the government based on political quotas, and we will have a clear opinion if we do not believe the answers provided.”

Dijlah.tv

The House of Representatives raises its meeting to next Saturday

BAGHDAD / Al-Ghad Press: The Presidency of the Council of Representatives decided on Saturday to adjourn the meeting of the Council to Saturday.

The correspondent “Al-Ghad Press”, “The House of Representatives decided to raise its meeting to Saturday 22-6 at 11 am.”

He added that “the agenda of the upcoming meetings will include voting on the completion of the ministerial cabin and the termination of the Agency and special grades until the end of the legislative term.”

Alghadpress.com

The corruption of the Central Bank and the money smuggled

Baghdad – The adviser of the Center for Strategic Studies, Ghazi Faisal, recalled the suspicions of corruption in the work of the Central Bank and the money smuggled out of it.

Faisal said in a statement to the “News”, “The President of the National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi before his death, revealed many facts about the smuggling of funds through the Central Bank, and revealed that the bank, wasted $ 320 billion could have been a very important reserve of the economy Iraqi “.

He explained that “a member of the Integrity Committee in Parliament, Adel Nuri, revealed in an official report, that during the period of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, spent 600 billion dollars without receipts and this is not in any country in the world,” noting that “no one knows Where did these 600 billion dollars go? ”

He pointed out that “the former central bank governor Sinan Shabibi, revealed corruption in the bank through the smuggling of 800 billion dollars in specific years, even if these billions spent on building Iraq, Iraq would be one of the best in the world.”

With regard to the subject of contracts, Faisal said, “220 billion dollars, spent on fictitious contracts and companies and banks for more than 90 thousand imaginary projects.”

Ikhnews.com

THE THREE PRESIDENCIES ARE MOVING TO COMPLETE THE GOVERNMENT OF ABDUL MAHDI AND UNITE THE IRAQI DISCOURSE

The three presidencies held Sunday evening at the Peace Palace in Baghdad, a meeting in the presence of President Barham Saleh, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and Speaker of the House of Representatives Mohammed Halbusi.

The meeting discussed the political, economic, security and legislative situation in the country, and the issue of completing the formation of the ministerial cabin and discuss the implementation of the government program and the importance of achieving it to achieve the aspirations of citizens, according to a statement to the presidency.

He added that the meeting also discussed the situation in Kirkuk and Diyala where it was stressed the necessity of concerted efforts to promote security and stability through adopting a constructive dialogue method and spreading the spirit of peaceful coexistence between their components and involving everyone in their administration.

With regard to foreign policy, the meeting agreed on the need for coordination between the three presidencies in order to unify the official discourse and adopt the moderate course in Iraq’s relations.

The meeting reviewed the latest political developments at the regional and international levels, and discussed ways to spare the country and the region crises and conflicts. He also mentioned Iraq’s participation in the Arab and Islamic emergency conferences held in Mecca and Iraq’s position on the current crisis and stressing that it is like the position of the Iraqi state Translated its supreme interests, and at the same level expressed an Iraqi consensus on foreign policy.

Shafaaq.com

IMF Staff Completes 2019 Article IV Mission on Iraq

“End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision”.

• Near-term vulnerabilities subsided in 2018, with the budget in surplus and a build-up in central bank reserves. Post-war reconstruction has been limited so far.
• Fiscal deficits are projected to rise over the medium term, absent policy changes, and it will be hard to sustain capital spending. Growth is likely to slow markedly.
• Tight control over current spending, particularly wages, and phased measures to boost non-oil revenue would make space for scaling up public investment and building fiscal buffers.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Gavin Gray visited Amman from April 26 to May 2, to hold discussions with the Iraqi authorities in the context of the 2019 Article IV Consultation. At the end of the visit, Mr. Gray made the following statement:

“The end of the war with ISIS and a rebound in oil prices provide an opportunity to rebuild the country and address long-standing socio-economic needs. However, the challenges to achieving these objectives are formidable. The economic recovery has been sluggish, post-war reconstruction is limited, and large current spending increases risk placing the public finances and central bank reserves on an unsustainable path. Moreover, combatting corruption is critical to promote the effectiveness of public institutions and to support private-sector investment and job creation.

“Near-term vulnerabilities subsided in 2018, with the budget in surplus and a build-up in central bank reserves. Non-oil growth is expected to increase to 5.4 percent in 2019 on the back of higher investment spending. However, fiscal deficits are projected to rise over the medium term, requiring financing that may crowd out the private sector or erode central bank reserves. In these circumstances, it would be hard to sustain capital spending, and growth would slow markedly.

“Policy changes and structural reforms—including to improve governance—are therefore essential to maintain medium-term sustainability and lay the foundations for inclusive growth.

“Fiscal policy should aim to scale up public investment gradually while building fiscal buffers. To make space for this, staff recommends budgetary savings of around 9 percent of GDP over the medium term through tight control of current spending, particularly public-sector wages, and phased measures to boost non-oil revenue. Setting ceilings on current expenditure in the 2020 budget onwards would strengthen the fiscal framework’s capacity to support higher capital spending and to adapt to oil price shocks. Key reforms should include:

• Containing public-sector wages. Spending pressures could be dampened in the short run through compensation measures such as capping allowances, bonuses and other non‑base wage payments, and by not fully replacing retirees. Structural measures will be required over the medium term, based on a functional workforce review as well as deeper civil service reform once new HR management and information systems are in place.
• Electricity reforms are key to addressing the weak quality of service and reducing the high budgetary costs, due to modest tariff rates, chronic non-payment of electricity bills, poor maintenance and over-reliance on expensive generation sources, coupled with losses throughout the generation, transmission, and distribution process. It would be important to ensure that the poor and most vulnerable are protected throughout this reform.
• Bolstering public financial management. Enhancing the legal framework and improving commitment and other control systems are key to minimizing misuse of public resources and restoring budgetary discipline.

“In the financial sector, a robust plan to restructure the large public banks coupled with enhanced supervision is essential to secure financial stability and will help promote financial development and inclusion. Strengthening anti-money laundering and countering financing terrorism (AML/CFT) controls and oversight will help prevent Iraq’s financial sector from being misused for the laundering of criminal proceeds and terrorist financing.

“Addressing governance weaknesses and corruption vulnerabilities is critical to achieving the described policy objectives. As a first step, the authorities need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the corruption risks present in Iraq and then implement policies to tackle these risks in a coherent and coordinated manner. The legislative framework needs to be strengthened to effectively prevent officials from abusing their position or misusing state resources. To this end, laws strengthening the asset declaration regime and criminalizing illicit gains should be rapidly adopted. Furthermore, the independence and integrity of bodies involved in combatting corruption should be ensured and the AML/CFT regime should be mobilized to support anti-corruption efforts.

“The team will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the IMF’s Executive Board in July 2019.

“The IMF team would like to thank the authorities for the candid and constructive discussions during this visit.”

Imf.org

Exclusive: US, Iran plan ‘oil for goods’ deal to ease sanctions

BAGHDAD: Iranian and US officials are in the early stages of negotiating an agreement to allow Tehran to sell limited quantities of oil in exchange for goods, Iraqi sources have told Arab News.

Iraq will be the transit point for both the oil exports and the import of goods, according to officials in Baghdad familiar with the talks.

Washington’s stated policy is for sanctions to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero, and US government sources denied to Arab News that there was a deal to permit limited sales. However, a senior Iraqi official familiar with what he described as “ongoing talks” said the deal was “a goodwill gesture offered by the Americans to calm the escalation between the two countries, although it is still in its preliminary stages.”

Iran arms, equips and controls dozens of armed factions in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, whose activities are a serious threat to the US and its allies in the region. One of the aims of US economic sanctions is to prevent Tehran from funding these groups.

“The main goal that the Americans are looking to achieve is preventing the Iranians from obtaining any cash,” a second Iraqi official familiar with the talks told Arab News.

“The deal will allow the Americans to monitor and control everything, the amount of Iranian crude oil exported and the kind of goods imported, and be sure that no cash is paid.

“This will paralyze the Iranians and force them to abandon the armed factions they fund and will keep them busy dealing with the internal Iranian situation.”

The initial deal is thought to have been concluded by Bijan Zanganeh, the Iranian minister of oil, on an unannounced visit to Iraq a month ago. It is not yet final because details such as the amount of oil to be sold, the main buyer and the kind of goods to be imported are still under discussion.

“The Iranians suggested one of the European countries as a key buyer for the oil but the Americans refused,” a source familiar with the talks told Arab News.

“The confirmed thing so far is that Iraq will be the transit area for the exchange operations, so the US can closely monitor the commitment of the Iranians.”

Oil for goods

The agreement is based on the UN oil-for-food program implemented in Iraq in 1995 to ease the impact of sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The program allowed Iraq to sell oil in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs under UN supervision without obtaining funds to boost its military.

“The targeted shape of the suggested deal is almost a copy of the oil-for-food program, but Iraq will replace the UN as the supervisor of procurement and receipt and disbursement of funds,” a prominent Shiite leader and a member of Iraq’s oil and power parliamentary committee familiar with the talks told Arab News.

“The proposal is to open a bank account in the Iraqi Central Bank in favor of Iran to deposit the money obtained from the sale of Iranian oil, and then for Iraq to pay for Iranian purchases later, using this money.

Monitoring

“This mechanism will enable the Americans to follow the money closely and monitor Iran’s disbursements.”

Another member of the oil and power parliamentary committee said: “The opening of the bank account, the receipt of the oil money and the payment of the invoices for Iran’s purchases are among the points agreed upon.”

A prominent Shiite leader familiar with the deal told Arab News it also included maintaining all the pre-sanctions contracts that Iran signed with European, Chinese and other Asian companies to provide medical supplies and spare parts for the oil industry. Iraq will financially cover these contracts from the money in the proposed Iranian account.

The deal would also solve another issue. Iraq imported 1,100MW of electricity per day from Iran for many years, in addition to 28 million cubic meters of gas that generates a further 4,000MW.

Supplies ceased last summer because Iraq was unable to pay as a result of US financial sanctions on Iran. The subsequent power shortages led to violent demonstrations in the Shiite-dominated provinces in southern Iraq. At least 17 people were killed, including members of the security forces, and government and party offices, including the Iranian Consulate, were burned.

Arabnews.com

SUROUN REVEALS THE NEXT GOAL OF ABDUL MAHDI

BAGHDAD – Mawazine News – Revealed the alliance of Souron, on Thursday, the reality of the intention of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to resign from his post, in the coming days.

The leader of the coalition MP Raed Fahmi said in a statement received, “Mawazine News,” a copy of it, “The news that spoke about the intention of Abdul-Mahdi to resign from his post, is incorrect, but he aspires to complete his government program, according to the time allotted to him.”

He pointed out that “the publication of such false news, or rumors, behind the Iraqi political parties, and may be behind the outside parties, have certain goals, to broadcast such rumors, there is no truth on the ground.”

Mawazin.net

A PARLIAMENTARY MOVEMENT IS ON THE BRINK OF OUSTING MINISTERS IN THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT

The alliance of the conquest, led by Hadi al-Amiri on Wednesday that there is a parliamentary movement to dismiss four ministers in the current federal government headed by Adel Abdul Mahdi.

“After the completion of the ministerial cabin, there will be a proposal to dismiss some ministers in the government because of the existence of files on them from accountability and justice and criminal restrictions,” MP Ahmad al-Kanani told Ashqaf News.

Kanani said that “the House of Representatives is going to do this thing very soon, and these ministers, who will be told, do not exceed the number of four,” without mentioning their names.

The parliamentary legal committee has recently announced the receipt of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, the request for the dismissal of four ministers for violating the conditions of “Istuzar.”

Shafaaq.com

WILL ABDUL MAHDI RESIGN AFTER EID? .. A CLOSE SOURCE REVEALS THE TRUTH

Special – balance News – revealed a source close to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Thursday, about the fact that the news published by the media about the recent intention to resign after the Eid al – Fitr that.

The source said in an interview with “Al-Mawazin News” that “some media published a report to an Arab newspaper, the intention of Abdul-Mahdi to submit his resignation to the House of Representatives after Eid al-Fitr, because of political differences.”

He added that “this information is nude for health,” noting that “Abdel-Mahdi aspires to continue the implementation of the government program, which was announced, either the issue of completing the formation of the government, it will be after the blessed Eid.”
Iraqi media published a report on Abdulmahdi’s intention to resign due to his failure to complete the government as a result of political differences over the candidates.

Mawazin.net