Friday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 5-26-23

Warning Against Tampering With The “Quota”...The Budget Session Is Threatened With A “Boycott”

 Today, Thursday, the Kurdistan Democratic Party warned against tampering with the share of the Kurdistan region in the budget, indicating that any tampering will lead to obstruction of the session of passing the budget law.

The leader of the party, Wafaa Muhammad Karim, said, in a press interview seen by “Takadum”, that “determining the percentage of the Kurdistan region from the budget law according to (12.67%) was done in accordance with the political agreement between the forces of the State Administration Coalition and the governments of Baghdad and Erbil,” noting that “Any manipulation of this percentage is unacceptable, and this contradicts the agreements that took place during the last period.”

And Karim said, “There are those who want to manipulate this percentage and the paragraphs of the Kurdistan region within the budget law, and this manipulation will impede the passage of the budget,” stressing that “any manipulation of the paragraphs of the region will lead to a boycott of the voting session by the Kurdish and Sunni political forces, and for this one must be careful who wants to obstruct the passage of the budget.” budget.”

Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi had set next Saturday as a date for voting on the budget, which has been under discussion by the Parliamentary Finance Committee for a month, amid a dispute over some of the last paragraphs of the budget.  https://takadum-news.com/archives/166218

Parliamentary Finance Provokes Barzani's Block And Forces It To Withdraw

Policy   2023/05/26 10:09   Number of readings: 171   Baghdad-Iraq today:  A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mustafa Sanad, announced that the committee would vote on the budget materials related to the share of the Kurdistan region.

Sanad said in a statement, “The Finance Committee voted to amend the paragraphs related to the region and oblige it to hand over oil to (SOMO) for export or to deliver it locally in the event of the inability to export it, as well as opening the account exclusively by the Minister of Finance, and the conditions for disbursement of dues are subject to by commitment.”

Sanad pointed out, "The representatives of the Kurdistan Democratic Party block with drew from the meeting."   LINK

Will The Budget Hit The Political Agreement Between Baghdad And Erbil?

Economy  |Baghdad today - follow-up  Today, Friday, economic expert Nabil Al-Marsoumi revealed the most important amendments to the 2023 budget with regard to the Kurdistan region.

Al-Marsoumi said, in a clarification received by (Baghdad Today), that "the Parliamentary Finance Committee voted on several amendments related to Kurdistan, including:

First: Article 13, secondly, has been amended, as Kurdistan is committed, according to the government version of the budget, to export no less than 400,000 barrels per day, while this paragraph, after the amendment, provides for the region’s delivery of crude oil produced in its fields at a rate of not less than 400,000 barrels per day to the Ministry Oil to be exported through SOMO or used locally in Iraqi refineries. This amendment has added a kind of complication to the relationship between the center and the region because of the technical difficulties related to the delivery of the region's oil to the center on the one hand, and because of the stripping of the center of the authority to export oil on the other hand.

Second: Paragraph C of the same article was amended, which stipulated the commitment of the Ministry of Finance to pay the region’s dues monthly and to make accounting settlements on a quarterly basis, meaning that the region was receiving its dues in the 2023 budget before the oil was delivered, but in the new amendment, the region was obligated to pay its oil and other revenues oil before receiving its share of the budget.

Third: Article 14 was amended first, which stipulated that the total revenues of the region's oil be deposited in one bank account, and after the amendment, the region became obligated to deposit oil revenues in a bank account opened in the Central Bank of Iraq in Jin. The region was seeking to open the account in Citibank.

Fourth: Preventing the region from extracting oil from the fields of Kirkuk and Nineveh, which are currently under the control of the Kurdistan government, which currently constitutes more than a third of the region's production of crude oil.   LINK

Will Iraq Be Able To Overcome Dependence On The Rentier Economy?

Information / Baghdad.. The researcher on economic affairs, Hisham Al-Baydani, explained that Iraq has the ability to overcome dependence on the rentier economy represented by oil exports, pointing to the importance of the development path in creating many job opportunities and linking Iraq with European countries.

Al-Baydani told Al-Maalouma, "The development road represents one of the projects that will make Iraq a large economic station, linking the Gulf countries and including ten regional countries to connect them to Turkey."

He added, "The project is supposed to pass through nine provinces from Basra in the south to Mosul Governorate at Fishkhabour point, and it represents the beginning of openness to the continent of Europe, and thus provides tens of thousands of job opportunities for Iraqis, and rapidly develops Iraq's relationship with the countries of the world."

And he indicated that "the project can unite Iraqi security and stability, but it needs a preliminary awareness and media campaign, especially that Iraq is trying to escape from the rentier economy towards diversifying sources." ended 25 n   LINK

Tehran: We Are Working To Strengthen Iranian Gas Pipelines To Iraq

Today, Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian called on his Iraqi counterpart, Fuad Hussein, to strengthen banking cooperation between the two countries.

And IRNA reported, this Friday morning, that Abdullahian’s statements came during a phone call with Fouad Hussein, where they discussed the latest developments in relations between the two countries, and an emphasis on implementing the security agreement signed between the two sides.

Among other issues discussed by the foreign ministers of the two countries was the need to strengthen Iranian gas transportation lines to Iraq and regional cooperation, at a time when the Iranian foreign minister expressed his gratitude for the financial and banking transfer related to the travel of pilgrims from Iran's credits via Iraq.

In the same context, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced, last Tuesday, that Iran had reduced gas supplies to Iraq by about 20 million cubic meters during the past two days.

According to the Iraqi News Agency, the ministry’s spokesman, Ahmed Al-Abadi, said, “The Iranian side has reduced the quantities of gas flowing to Iraq by about 20 million cubic meters during the past two days,” adding that “the payment of money to buy gas from Iran does not involve any delay and there are no debts.” Al-Abadi said that a delegation headed by the Minister of Electricity will visit Iran next week to overcome the obstacles, pointing out that Iraqi officials will inform the Iranian side that Iraq is on the verge of entering peak loads due to high temperatures.

And he continued, “The Ministry of Electricity has put in its plan to reach the production of 24 thousand megawatts per day,” noting that “it is possible that the demand will rise to 35 thousand megawatts, and at that time the citizens will be affected because the volume of production will not reach the volume of demand at that time.”

A spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity also confirmed that "work is continuing to improve the system and expand networks."   https://takadum-news.com/archives/166255

The Influencer In Approving The Political Budget, Not The Economy.. A Researcher Warns That The Iraqi Economy Will Be Affected By An American Crisis

Baghdad today – Baghdad   The researcher in political affairs, Nawal Al-Moussawi, revealed that there are challenges and objections based on political rather than economic grounds to the federal general budget.

Al-Moussawi said in a televised interview, followed by (Baghdad Today), that "the type of challenges and objections are (political) and not economic, which stands as an obstacle to passing the federal general budget."

Al-Moussawi added, "The influencers in passing the budget items are not economists, but politicians, who live in a critical state of challenge." she said.

Al-Moussawi confirmed, "Iraqi bonds in the US treasury increased last month to nearly (40) billion dollars," warning economists to "the debt ceiling crisis that the United States is going through, which is likely to affect the Iraqi economic reality."

Political parties had warned against the continued obstruction of approving the country's financial budget for the year 2023 and its effects on the country's interests, stressing that political differences prevent the possibility of passing it, amid calls to overcome the crisis and move towards approving important laws.

And the Council of Ministers approved, on the 13th of last March, the largest financial budget in the history of the country, which exceeded 197 trillion and 828 billion Iraqi dinars (about 152.2 billion dollars), with a total deficit of 63 trillion Iraqi dinars, taking advantage of the rise in oil prices globally, Which constitutes more than 95% of the country's financial revenues, amid objections from financial and legal experts regarding the budget items, but it has not yet been approved due to disagreements. LINK

With Documents.. Amending The Paragraphs Related To The Region's Dues In The Budget, And The Patriotic Union Confirms: A Historic Victory For The Kurds And A Blow To The Corrupt

Political |  05/25/2023   Baghdad - Mawazine News   The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan confirmed that amendments were made to the paragraphs related to the dues of the Kurdistan region in the budget, while it considered these amendments as a historic victory for the Kurdish people and a blow to the corrupt.

The leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Faiq Yazidi, said in an interview with Mawazine News, "The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, by working jointly with our partners in the political process in the Parliament, managed to achieve victory for the people of the Kurdistan region and for the citizens and employees of the region by amending Paragraphs 13 and 14 related to the region's dues." Kurdistan in the budget.

He added, "What happened in the Finance Committee is, in fact, a historic victory for the Kurds in the political process since 2003. Yes, there have been amendments and these amendments have been fair and will be fair to the people of Kurdistan with regard to the export of oil and its revenues and with regard to resolving the salary crisis, and there is the issue of saved salaries and the amendments confirm the payment of 10 % per month of saved salaries, and the amendments also confirm the need for the Kurdistan Regional Government to commit itself to distributing what it receives from Baghdad from salary funds equally between the provinces, and in the event that the regional government does not meet with any province, the federal government will deal directly with it.

He continued: "Today is the real consolidation of the partnership between the Kurds and the Arabs, and what happened in the Finance Committee is a fatal blow to the corruption and the corrupt who have been controlling the oil file in the Kurdistan region for years and who plunder the salaries of the employees of the Kurdistan region once under the name of saving and once under the name of deduction, and this was evident with the withdrawal of the party's representatives." Kurdistan Democratic Party from the meeting of the Finance Committee.

He pointed out, "The Democratic Party wanted, through the budget law, to legitimize its corruption and legitimize its looting of oil wealth and salaries, as well as the terror and persecution of Kurdish citizens by delaying and saving salaries and introducing the Kurdistan region to economic crises since 2014."

And he went on, saying: "Yes, what happened is certainly a victory and part of the promises that we made to the people of Kurdistan to establish the rights of the Kurds in federal laws, on top of which is the budget and always defend the rights of the people of Kurdistan and in the interest of the citizens of the Kurdistan region and the rest of the Iraqi people."

He pointed out, "If the budget passed in this way, it represents the pinnacle of justice for the Kurds and the rest of the components, and a painful blow to corruption and to those who support corruption in the Kurdistan region."    https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=227695