TNT:

Tishwash: Urgent Baghdad and Washington agree on a plan for the withdrawal of international coalition forces

Reuters news agency reported that the United States and Iraq agree on a plan for the withdrawal of international coalition forces from Iraq.

Reuters said, "The understanding between America and Iraq will witness the departure of hundreds of soldiers by September 2025."

She pointed out that "the understanding between America and Iraq stipulates the withdrawal of all forces in 2026." link

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Tishwash: Approval of a plan to introduce solar energy systems to homes in Iraq

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani chaired a meeting on the electricity sector today, Thursday (September 5, 2024), during which a plan was approved to introduce solar energy systems to homes in Iraq.

The Prime Minister's media office said in a statement received by "Baghdad Today" that "Al-Sudani chaired a special meeting to improve the electricity situation, in which the plans, programs and treatments prepared by the Ministry of Electricity and the authorities concerned with this sector were discussed."

He added, "During the meeting, a plan was approved to introduce the solar energy system to homes, through contracting with solid companies to reduce the loads on the electrical grid system. The Ministry of Electricity's plan for generation, transmission and distribution in the long term was also discussed, in addition to its plan for next summer, for which the necessary allocations were approved, and its implementation will begin now."

He stressed that "during the meeting, the economic model for purchasing electricity was approved, which came after several meetings and the follow-up of the Prime Minister and his guidance with the participation of the (KBR) company, which represents the advisory body to the government, in order to study it and submit recommendations regarding it." link

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Tishwash: Three times more... Investment Authority announces increase in investment volume to $69 billion

Chairman of the National Investment Commission, Haider Makiya, announced today, Friday, an increase in the volume of investments achieved during a year and a half, while indicating that the amount reached 69 billion dollars, and explained the details of the largest environmentally friendly city in Baghdad.

"The volume of investments achieved by the Authority since the beginning of 2023 until mid-2024 amounted to $69 billion," Makiya told the Iraqi News Agency (INA), noting that "this number is the largest achieved by the Authority since its establishment until the beginning of 2023, which did not exceed $25 billion, achieving an increase of three times this amount."

He added that "the Authority is working continuously and seriously to consolidate the idea of (productive investment), which represents a purposeful message to achieve in various economic sectors instead of merely setting a specific vision and seeking to provide the necessary implementation tools for it, which gives the Authority greater flexibility in controlling the type of investments, the extent of the need for them, and their feasibility," noting that "there are a number of successful investment models that the Authority is currently working on, including the (Sustainable Baghdad Forests) project, which is implemented on an area estimated at 700 dunums, and qualifies it to be one of the largest environmentally friendly cities and the largest residential cities in Baghdad, with an investment volume of up to one and a half billion dollars." link

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Tishwash: Saleh: 70% of the market and the private sector are {gray} and evade paying taxes

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, revealed the existence of a “grey market” that accounts for nearly 70% of the market or private sector activity, “indicating that this percentage evades paying legal taxes.”

Saleh said in a press statement, "Taxes constitute in total about (25) percent of the gross domestic product in developed countries, while in Iraq they do not exceed (4) percent due to tax evasion, as the gray market, which is not known to the tax authorities, constitutes a percentage close to (70) percent of the market or private sector activity."

He added, "While negative taxes, which are cash income subsidies paid to the poor class, constitute (5) percent of the annual gross domestic product, and this constitutes the tax defect that compensates for the difference between the type of tax with the revenues of oil rents." link

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Mot: Happy International Dog Day!