A banking expert: a fabricated political fuss trying to hit the Iraqi currency and economy

Economy News Baghdad: Criticized the banking expert, Abdul-Hussein al-Mundhari, the big uproar that got the issuance of the Central Bank of Iraq new edition of the dinar currency, stressing that it is a fabricated political sensation aimed at hitting the national currency and the national economy, considering the time of issuance clever to coincide with high oil prices and avoid any problem that may affect the economy Iraq.

Al-Manzahri said in an exclusive interview with Al-Iktissad News that “some people unfortunately focused on the existence of the name of the governor in the currency, which is normal in most countries and did not focus on the strength of the currency in the face of fraud and poor employment conditions.” Got about the name of the governor fabricated and purely political issue came at the time of forming the government. ”

He stressed that “it is regrettable that some target the national currency, which gives the strength of the national economy and any impact that may affect the lives of people so it requires the removal of the subject of currency for any political conflict,” explaining that “the Central Bank of Iraq is the only party responsible for issuing currency The currency is recognized and people will treat it normally away from the current fuss. ”

He pointed out that “the time of issuing the currency by the Central Bank is very smart because it accompanied high oil prices and avoid any problem that may affect the Iraqi economy, which depends on oil in its revenues.”

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Can a new president and prime minister solve Iraq’s broken politics?

For the first time in its history, the Iraqi parliament voted freely for the country’s next president, with Barham Salih winning by a landslide vote of 219 to 22 over his competitor last week. In the past, the parliamentary vote served mainly as a rubber stamp.

Though elements of the old backroom politics remain, this vote marks a departure. After last summer’s election shake-up, some two-thirds of the members of parliament are new to the job. A growing protest movement has exposed citizen disillusionment with the political process, increasing pressure on the parliament. My conversations with many of these new MPs show how fragmentation of political blocs is challenging Iraq’s ethno-sectarian power-sharing agreement in place since 2003.

What remains the same in Iraqi politics

Immediately after Salih was sworn in as president, he named Adel Abdul Mahdi as prime minister and tasked him with forming the next cabinet. Abdul Mahdi is the first prime minister not to come from the Islamic Dawa Party, which has dominated post-invasion Iraqi politics.

And while the presidential vote was a departure from Iraqi politics as usual, the Abdul Mahdi nomination was a more typical backroom deal among elite. Abdul Mahdi has long been part of the establishment, serving as vice president from 2005 to 2011 and later oil minister from 2014 to 2016. As a compromise candidate, and despite widespread optimism, Abdul Mahdi will probably remain at the behest of the political parties that put him in power.

To become president, Salih, too, had to play politics as usual, by returning to his old political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The power of the parties in the political process drove Salih to return, as he probably could not become president otherwise.

Despite these continuities, the process of selecting both Salih and Abdul Mahdi offers insights into the fragmentation of Iraq’s political scene.

Forming a government as traditional blocs fragment

Since 2003, mass blocs based on ethno-sectarian identities were largely unified during government formation. In Iraq’s first election in 2005, the major players were Shiite political actors led by the United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurds, united under the Kurdistan Alliance. With such internally cohesive blocs, each leader could negotiate on behalf of his bloc. During government formation, most negotiations were completed behind closed doors, and parliament served as a rubber stamp to enact elite bargains.

Typically, the largest bloc would choose the prime minister. In the past, this has always been the united Shiite Islamist bloc with eventual accommodation of the Kurds. Even in the most turbulent times, the Shiite groups were able to unite, at least during government formation. In 2010, only a few years after waging a brutal internal war, Moqtada al-Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki came together to form a united bloc.

That was hardly the case with the selection of Abdul Mahdi. This year’s divisive government formation process began to expose the artificiality of these ethno-sectarian bloc constructs. The opening parliamentary session ended with confusion, as the Binaa bloc, headed by Hadi al-Amiri, and the Islah bloc, led by Sadrist leaders, fragmented any single Shiite-led bloc. They offered contradictory numbers in their claim to have formed the largest bloc. Following the deterioration of the situation in Basra, Amiri and Sadr did reach an understanding. They agreed on Abdul Mahdi. On the day of Abdul Mahdi’s appointment, Sadr hinted at the irrelevance of the largest bloc by tweeting, “Iraq is larger than the largest bloc.”

The presidential selection revealed similar fragmentation. For the first time, the Kurds could not agree on a single candidate for the post. The Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) challenged the PUK’s hold on the position and offered their own candidate, Fuad Hussein.

The major blocs remained divided, while leaders struggled to get their own newly elected MPs to toe a party line. Within the Binaa bloc, the head of one party expressed his preference for Salih, while another voiced support for Hussein.

Why Salih’s election is significant

Many MPs told me that they made their own choice based on qualifications rather than party affiliation. Hussein had never held a high office position, whereas Salih had served as deputy prime minister of Iraq and prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Many new MPs criticized previous president Fuad Masum — a product of a backroom deal — as weak and ineffective because of his inexperience.

In negotiations for his presidential bid, some Iraqis argued that Hussein looked similarly weak, often sitting behind his party leader Nechirvan Barzani, who did the talking. In contrast, Salih sat at the head of negotiations, with his party officials behind him.

MPs from across coalitions repeatedly expressed to me that the next president must advocate for the country’s unity and not its dismemberment. This point was particularly sensitive coming one year after the Kurdish Region independence referendum. Although both Hussein and Salih voted in the referendum, Hussein had played an active role in the bid for secession while Salih had remained on the outskirts. And less than a month after the vote, Salih publicly admitted that the referendum had been a bad idea.

Ultimately, the political process in Iraq is slowly moving away from the post-2003 ethno-sectarian dealings. On this occasion, MPs chose their president based on their perceptions of competency and ideology — and not as prescribed by their bloc leader.

The road ahead

Tensions with the post-2003 ethno-sectarian system will shape the next government and define its mandate. So far, the government formation process has revealed that the once seemingly unified ethno-sectarian-based blocs are fragmented, complicating the usual backroom dealings. Leaders are less able to rely on identity to legitimately speak on behalf of groups of people, and MPs can diverge from their party line.

Even as a rubber stamp, parliament has considerable influence on the political process. In the past, bloc leaders have impeached opponents or enacted favorable bills, such as the law that legitimized the Popular Mobilization Units. As the gap between citizens and their elite widens across Iraq, this parliament could be an institution to relay the people’s voice rather than a political tool for the elite.

The elite and the traditional political parties remain stronger than state institutions, so the new president and prime minister will have an uphill battle translating recent developments into structural changes that make last week’s events a turning point rather than an anomaly.

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Peace and unity for revitalized Iraq, is message out of Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s new leadership are pledging a government committed to rebuilding the country and serving the people with a peaceful transition to a revitalized administration.

Newly-elected President Barham Salih met with Prime Minister-designate Adil Abdul-Mahdi and outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday, tweeting that their message is “Peaceful transition of power and cooperation to serve the people of Iraq.”

Mohammed al-Halbousi, who as speaker of the parliament holds the third presidency, told reporters during a trip to Egypt on Thursday, “We are adamant on injecting new, young blood to serve Iraq and erase the traditional picture of state administration.”

This government will face monumental challenges of rebuilding the war-shattered country, rooting out corruption, and restoring the people’s faith in institutions and politicians.

An economist, Abdul-Mahdi has 30 days to put together a cabinet. He told America’s top diplomat that rebuilding the country will be a priority of his government.

He “reiterated that his government will prioritize rebuilding the country, providing services to citizens, bolstering foreign relations with the international community,” read a statement from his office after a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iraqi state TV reported.

Strengthening security will also be a focus, he added.

Pompeo said Washington is looking forward to working closely with Baghdad in his Thursday phone call with Abdul-Mahdi and a Wednesday phone call with Salih.

The new leaders in Baghdad are also making it publicly clear that Iraq values its sovereignty and will not take part in regional or international rivalries.

Halbousi said they “reject external intervention in our domestic affairs,” and will not allow Iraq to “become the field of settling scores.”

Iraqis, who shed blood together in the fight against ISIS, have proved to the world that they are united, he said.

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Dr. Barham, good for Iraq, trouble for Barzani

New Iraqi President Barham Salih has the capability and experience to manage both the political games in Baghdad and the outcomes of the ill-fated KRG independence referendum

If you want an honest politician who will act with common sense and sophistication and will strive to enhance his country then Dr. Barham Salih is the best choice for the post of president of Iraq.

He is a Kurd and once the right-hand man of the late Mam Jalal (Talabani) who did wonderful work to help Suleimaniyah prosper and meet the challenges of the post-Saddam era. He saw the future of the Kurdish region of Suleimaniyah in the education of the youth and thus encouraged university education by building student dormitories that would host the students during their education. He also realized that he had to attract businessmen and foreigners to Suleimaniyah and thus had an airport built – with the strong backing of Mam Jalal – despite the objections of the Erbil administration run by the Barzanis and the Americans who were in charge of Baghdad.

He later became the deputy prime minister of Iraq, which showed he was a man of statesmanlike qualities.

Dr. Barham had one fault. He did not like corruption, backdoor dealings and irregularities. He had the Suleimaniyah Airport built for only $43 million, while the facility in fact was worth $80 million. Some British and American companies offered to build the airport for $100 million.

This quality did not earn him friends. He did not like the way the political atmosphere in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) area was developing so he established his own party but had to fight an uphill battle. But when the need arose Mam Jalal’s beloved Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) called him for duty and Dr. Barham obliged. He became the PUK’s presidential candidate and won the elections in the Iraqi Parliament thrashing Masoud Barzani’s candidate Dr. Fuad Hussein with more than 100 votes. This caused uproar in the Barzani camp and deepened the divide between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Masoud Barzani and PUK.

The PUK and other political groups from Suleimaniyah had blocked the election of Masoud Barzani as the head of the KRG, which created a blood feud. The long-standing agreement between Talabani and Barzani was that the head of the KRG region would be from the KDP and the post of president of Iraq would go to PUK. Now with the PUK coup in Baghdad, the Barzanis are further humiliated and are hopping mad.

This means the old divide where the KDP runs Duhok and the Erbil provinces, while PUK and allies run Suleimaniyah will return. In fact, this was also the case even when there was supposed to be a united KRG administration. The Kurds of Suleimaniyah may even apply to Baghdad to demand that the Iraqi government pay them their share of the monthly funds earmarked for the KRG region directly and not through Erbil.

Dr. Barham has to cope with this intricate situation where he has to find ways of mending fences between Suleimaniyah and Erbil, which is hard and will take time. If Dr. Barham was left alone with Nechirvan Barzani the task would have been much easier but with the hawks in Erbil he will have difficulties.

Dr. Barham also has to cope with the adverse effects of the ill-fated independence referendum of September 2017 ordered by Barzani… It is clear that one of the reasons why the Shiite Arab majority in the Iraqi Parliament voted against Barzani’s presidential candidate on Oct. 2 was an act of revenge for the independence referendum.

Dr. Barham has the qualities of Mam Jalal to cope with the intricate political game in Baghdad and has the ability to get the Sunni Arabs on board, while appeasing the Arab Shiites. Since Mam Jalal’s departure from Baghdad after a bout of illness, Baghdad politics has been left without the golden touch of Mam Jalal, who mediated between the antagonistic sides and came up with solutions. Dr. Barham has those qualities.
Dr. Barham has always appreciated the importance of Turkey and has cherished the friendship of Ankara. Now we have a good ally in Baghdad just like Mam Jalal.

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The Central Bank of Iraq launches a new category of dinars

After the advisory opinion of the highest authority … The Central Bank of Iraq launches a new category of dinars without surah Al – loyalty.

Asarar Media The Central Bank of Iraq, on Thursday, the quantities of small currency categories to the market with changes, including the absence of the category of a thousand dinars of Surah Al-Ikhlas. A statement by the central bank, […]
Secrets of Media

The Central Bank of Iraq launched on Thursday small quantities of currencies to the market with changes, including the absence of the category of a thousand dinars of Al-Ikhlas.

A statement issued by the Central Bank said that “small amounts of small denominations were launched with a slight change in the form of these categories of 1000 dinars, 500 dinars and 250 dinars.”

“The deal will continue to trade with the new and previous issues in daily trading,” he said.

The new edition of the category of the thousand dinars of surah al-Ikhlas that existed in all other editions.

The Supreme Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has confirmed in a previous fatwa that it is not permissible to touch the Iraqi currency of the category of one thousand dinars and the previous one dinar category, without light, because it contains surah al-Ikhlas.

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FRESH OUT THE OVEN…

The Central Bank raises large amounts of the new form of the category of “1000” dinars

Information / Baghdad … The Central Bank announced on Thursday the release of large quantities of the new format of the category “1000” dinars soon.

“The central bank will launch large quantities of small categories to meet the need for daily transactions, and the quality of the material used has been improved, as well as a slight change in the new format that will be put forward for trading next week,” the bank said in a statement.
He added that “dealing will be new and old form together without discrimination.” Ending / 25

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The central bank decides to put large quantities of small groups in a new way

Al-Sumerian News / Baghdad – The Central Bank of Iraq announced on Thursday the release of large amounts of currency for small groups next week, adding that the groups will include a change in form.

The bank said in a statement received by Alsumaria News a copy of it, “it will subtract large quantities of small categories to meet the need for daily transactions and the quality of the material has been improved.”

The bank added that “a simple change will be made in the new form that will be put forward for trading next week, knowing that the deal will be in the old and new form together without discrimination.”

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