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Tishwash:  Iraq finalizes strategic agreement with major global oil company

Baker Hughes, the global energy technology company, revealed on Sunday that it is discussing with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil the final touches to a strategic framework agreement, as well as signing a memorandum of understanding in the gas sector, stressing its commitment to the government and its desire to invest in Iraq.

A statement by the media office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, received by Shafaq News Agency, stated that the latter received today in Baghdad the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Baker Hughes, a company specializing in oil and gas, and its CEO Lorenzo Simonelli and his accompanying delegation.

Al-Sudani stressed that Baker Hughes is one of the four largest companies in the world specializing in energy and oil services, pointing out that “the government is keen on the company’s presence in Iraq, which was invited to expand investment in it, through cooperation with the government or with the private sector in the field of oil and gas.”

He noted that "the Iraqi market has become a promising market, and that the government is planning major projects, especially integrated projects in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors."

Al-Sudani pointed to the development path that includes oil and gas transport projects, stressing the importance of completing the projects that the company is working on in Iraq, especially the Nasiriyah oil field in which the company is investing to extract associated gas, with a capacity of 200 million standard cubic feet, which is hoped to be completed in 2026.

For its part, the Baker Hughes delegation confirmed their commitment to the government and their desire to invest in Iraq in the oil or gas sectors, and that they came to put the final touches on signing a strategic framework agreement with the Ministry of Oil, as well as signing a memorandum of understanding in the field of gas, and investing in the gas platform that will be established in the Grand Faw Port, expressing their desire to finance some projects in Iraq.  link

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Tishwash:  Al-Sudani's advisor settles the controversy over the agreement with Washington to withdraw US forces - Urgent

Subhan Mulla Jiyad, political advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, said today, Monday (September 9, 2024), the controversy over the Baghdad-Washington agreement to expel American forces.

In an interview with Baghdad Today, Mulla Jiyad said, "Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbasi's statement yesterday was clear and explicit about the results of what the joint military committees reached after a series of meetings that led to Washington's understanding of the Iraqi position and agreement on a timetable for the withdrawal of forces, which is supposed to end in 2026."

He added, "The agreement was made, but it did not turn into a joint statement to be signed in a final manner by the political leaderships, noting that the Supreme Military Committee concerned with this file submitted its decisions and the results of the meetings to the political parties of both countries, referring to Iraq and America, and is awaiting its signature."

Baghdad and Washington have reached an agreement on the withdrawal of international coalition forces from Iraq, according to a plan to be implemented in stages over the next two years.

Sources told Reuters that the plan includes the withdrawal of hundreds of US-led coalition forces by September 2025 and the rest by the end of 2026.

The plan has been largely agreed upon and is awaiting final approval from both countries and a date for its announcement. A senior US official said, "We have reached an agreement, and right now it's just a matter of when it will be announced."

The two countries are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could allow some US forces to remain in Iraq after the withdrawal.

The sources said that the official announcement was initially scheduled to be issued weeks ago, but was postponed due to the regional escalation linked to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, and to settle some remaining details.

Reuters was told by these sources that the announcement of the agreement could happen this month. Farhad Alaa al-Din, the Iraqi prime minister’s foreign relations adviser, said that technical talks with Washington on the withdrawal have ended.

"We are about to take the relationship between Iraq and the members of the international coalition to a new level that focuses on bilateral relations in the military, security, economic and cultural fields," he added.

A State Department spokesman and a defense official said that US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani confirmed in a joint statement in April that they would review several factors to determine when and how the coalition mission in Iraq would end and transition to permanent bilateral security partnerships.

Al-Sudani said earlier that US forces - despite his appreciation for the assistance they provide - have become a magnet for instability, as they are frequently targeted and usually respond with attacks without coordination with the Iraqi government.

The agreement, when announced, is likely to represent a political victory for the Iraqi prime minister, who is seeking to balance Baghdad's position as an ally of both Washington and Tehran, which are on opposite sides of the Middle East.

The United States has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria, as part of a coalition formed in 2014 to fight ISIS after it overran vast areas of both countries  link

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Tishwash:  2024 Budget: A Sloping Path to Rolling Hopes

The draft general budget law is “the legislative authority’s approval of the general budget, i.e. its approval of the government’s expectations for public expenditures and revenues for the coming year and its approval thereof in a manner that authorizes the government to disburse appropriations within the specified limits in terms of quantity, purpose, and time period, in accordance with the financial procedures and accounting principles established in this regard.”

In 2023, the Iraqi government approved a three-year federal general budget called the (2023, 2024 and 2025) budget. It received very large objections, and we had pointed out the problems that hindered its implementation. 

 At the time, but the insistence is great, citing one reason, which is not to delay the approval of the budget for the coming years, meaning the years 2024 and 2025.

Among the reasons that may lead to a delay in approving the general budget:

1- Iraq's total dependence on oil revenues because oil revenues are unstable and difficult to predict.

2 - Delay in the government’s procedures for preparing the draft general budget law and the large number of discussions, objections and proposals.

3- Political differences between the forces that form governments.

4 - Marathon negotiations between the federal government and the region to determine the quotas and volume of exported oil.

Did the three-year budget achieve its objectives?

Here, what is the appropriate action to take if the approval of the general budget is delayed and the delay continues for several months without it being approved? To answer this question, we say: The Iraqi legislator addressed this matter in accordance with Paragraph (3) of Article (13) of the Federal Financial Administration Law No. (4) of 2020, as amended, as it stated that in the event that the draft federal general budget law for a specific fiscal year is not approved, the final financial statements actually disbursed are considered the basis for the financial statements for the year in which the budget was not approved and are submitted to the Council of Representatives for the purpose of ratification. That is, the government spends on

The basis of the previous year’s budget and within the limits of the amounts and spending rates that occurred in the past, i.e. the old budget is used until the new budget is approved.

This means that spending on operational matters is continuing at the same level as last year, but the problem is realizing in new investment projects that were not previously included in the three-year budget (2023-2024-2025), as these projects require new approval from Parliament and because they are financed from the investment budget, the wheel of development has therefore been delayed for another year as well. 

Knowing that the impact of the delay in approving the budget is not very harmful to the implementation of the budget, especially since the operating budget has been approved and its basic paragraph related to salaries, wages, social protection and retirees, in addition to governing expenses such as the ration card, purchasing wheat and medicines, as well as interest and installments of the public debt, are all valid and payable, even if the schedules have not been approved, as happened in the years 2020 and 2022.”

The Iraqi parliament voted on the 2023 budget in June and it was published, but it did not enter into force due to a lawsuit against it in the Federal Court. As for the 2024 budget tables, they were also in June, i.e. after a full year had passed, but they were not published in the Iraqi Gazette due to differences in them. 

According to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the 2024 budget is 211 trillion dinars, and employee salaries for the year 2024 are 62 trillion dinars, while the 2023 budget was 199 trillion dinars and employee salaries were 59 trillion dinars.

The deficit in the two budgets is approximately 64 trillion for the two years. The revenues of the 2024 budget are estimated at 144 trillion and 336 billion dinars, while the expenditures amount to 210 trillion and 936 billion dinars, while the deficit is 63 trillion and 599 billion dinars.

The existence of a deficit of more than 60 trillion dinars is a cause for concern. This deficit will depend on the increase in oil prices to be compensated for in one way or another, or it will be compensated for by the state taking measures to contain it, or the state will default on its commitment.

Conclusion: The government failed to overcome the approval of the federal general budgets on time by approving the three-year general budget (2023, 2024 and 2025). Rather, the crises that accompanied this budget (2023) are almost worse than others, which is the existence of a difference in the tables between the one sent by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the one that came approved by the House of Representatives.

The solution is not to re-legislate the three-year budget because it did not achieve its goals, and to re-sign the tables that were sent by the Prime Minister’s Office.  link

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