Iraq Economic News and Points To Ponder Late Wednesday Evening 8-21-24

Saleh Explains The Reason For The Rise In Foreign Dollar Remittances And Its Impact On The National Economy

2024/08/21 Read: 2,925 times  {Economic: Al Furat News} The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained the reason for the increase in sales of foreign currency remittances {dollars}.

Saleh told Al Furat News Agency, "The phenomenon of increasing sales of foreign currency transfers is due to the results of the important change that occurred in the policy of the Central Bank of Iraq in dealing with foreign transfers and intervening in the monetary market through the transformation of the mechanisms for financing foreign trade for the private sector from the compliance platform to new mechanisms represented by strengthening the accounts of correspondents of Iraqi banks abroad in foreign currency at studied and sufficient levels that are consistent with the requirements for financing foreign trade for the private sector in foreign currency."

He added, "After the compliance platform had previously rejected nearly 85% of foreign transfer requests during the past months, the policy of strengthening the accounts of Iraqi banks with their correspondents from solid international banks, as an alternative policy, has become so easy, simple and flexible that it has made the implementation of daily foreign transfer requests available and achieved through foreign correspondent banks directly without going through the platform, at a high rate of nearly 85% of the total demand for these daily foreign transfers."

Saleh explained that "this high change in the flexibility of transfers has been reflected positively on the national economy, especially in the stability of the functions of supply and demand within the national economy in two directions, the first of which is {the supply side} and is represented by the availability of a wide supply of goods and services in the local market through flexible imports financed by the fixed official exchange rate of 1320 dinars per dollar."

He explained that "the other direction is {the demand side}, which refers to the process of exchanging the Iraqi dinar for the dollar for the purposes of financing foreign trade through the transfers mentioned above, which means that meeting the demand for the dollar represents a direct meeting of the demand for (foreign goods, services and benefits) for the benefit of the local market."

He pointed out that "meeting the demand for foreign currency represents an important pillar of the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Iraq, and achieving its operational objectives in confronting the levels of local liquidity surplus from the dinar and controlling them, which constitute what is called {surplus demand}, as this control over local liquidity represents a positive intervention by the Central Bank's monetary policy in the money market and controlling the levels of that liquidity."

Saleh continued, "This control leaves positive effects in achieving a balance between the real flow in the overall economy of goods, services and benefits and the monetary flow within the economy itself," indicating that "such a balance between supply and demand achieves stability in the general level of prices and welds growth levels in inflation rates, which is positively reflected in the stability of the purchasing power of the dinar and the general monetary income."  LINK

Nearly $300 Million In Sales From The Central Bank Of Iraq At Today's Auction

2024/08/21 Read: 728 times   {Economic: Al Furat News} The Central Bank of Iraq’s dollar sales, on Wednesday, amounted to more than $283 million in the currency auction.

The bank sold in its auction today 283 million, 616 thousand, and 416 dollars, covering it at a basic exchange rate of 1310 dinars per dollar for documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards, at a rate of 1310 dinars per dollar for foreign transfers, and at a rate of 1305 dinars per dollar in cash.

Most of the dollar sales went to boost balances abroad in the form of transfers and credits, which amounted to $268 million, 66 thousand, and 416, an increase of 94% over cash sales of $15 million, 550 thousand.

The number of banks that purchased cash dollars was two, while the number of banks that met requests to enhance balances abroad was 17 banks, and the total number of exchange companies participating in the auction was 13 companies   LINK

Al-Mandlawi: The Budget Tables Voted On By The House Of Representatives Are The Same As Those Sent By The Council Of Ministers

Wednesday 21 August 2024 19:50 | Politics Number of readings: 227

Baghdad/ NINA / Acting Speaker of the Council of Representatives Mohsen Al-Mandalawi confirmed that the budget law tables that were approved by the Council of Representatives in its approval session are the same ones that the Council of Ministers sent to the Council of Representatives without any amendment, and that the aforementioned tables are the same ones that were sent to the government after approval, noting that the Council Presidency has formed a higher committee to examine the circumstances raised regarding the subject and determine its truth.

Al-Mandlawi said in a statement today, Wednesday, regarding what was recently raised by some media outlets regarding the existence of additions to the budget tables for the year 2024, that the House of Representatives, in its session numbered (27) held on June 3, 2024, approved the estimates of the tables of the Federal General Budget Law for the year 2024 and its attachments, tables (A, B, C, D, E, F) and the deficit financing table as received from the Council of Ministers without any amendment or additions, with the latter being authorized to transfer allocations of an amount of (2) trillion Iraqi dinars to the governorates not organized in a region and distributed according to population and poverty rates, and this is confirmed by our parliamentary decision No. (64) for the year 2024, a copy of which is attached.

He added that in order to confirm that no amended version was adopted, we reissued a letter from the House of Representatives / Office of the President No. (616) on 7/21/2024, a copy of which is attached, and sent to the Council of Ministers / Office of the President, which clearly indicated (approval of the estimates of the budget law tables and its attachments from the above-mentioned tables with the aforementioned deficit financing table as well as the right to transfer with the same proven amount, which is (2) trillion, referring to a paragraph included in the same book that clearly confirms (that the parliamentary decision included the adoption of the tables sent by the Council of Ministers, which were approved in the session held without any additions).

Al-Mandlawi confirmed his follow-up to all inaccurate talks published and broadcast by some media outlets, and any party that tries to mislead public opinion by concealing the facts and dishonestly transmitting the facts, to achieve illegitimate goals far from the honesty of neutral transmission and objectivity that it should possess, will be subject to legal accountability. / End 5

https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1149054

Commerce Holds Virtual Meeting With WTO To Discuss Ways Of Cooperation And Joint Coordination

Wednesday 21 August 2024 09:51 | Economic Number of readings: 232   Baghdad / NINA / The Department of Economic Relations at the Ministry of Trade held a virtual meeting with the Secretariat and the Accession Department of the World Trade Organization, in the presence of the competent employee from (the Ministry's Permanent Representative) in Geneva to discuss prospects for cooperation and joint coordination in light of the outcomes of the third working group meeting held last July in Geneva, and to complete the requirements for Iraq's accession to the World Organization.

The ministry stated in a statement that "the meeting witnessed a discussion of the work plan for the next stage, which includes updating technical files, such as the legislative plan file, the memorandum of the foreign trade system, and the agricultural file, as well as discussing the files of accession of goods and services to the Iraqi market in accordance with the standards and agreements of the World Trade Organization."

The statement indicated that "the meeting shed light on the mechanism of coordination and cooperation between the Department of Foreign Economic Relations and the World Trade Organization, in addition to international organizations supporting Iraq's accession."

He explained: "This cooperation aims to provide the necessary support and technical assistance to complete the requirements for accession, Iraq's full membership in the organization, and the efforts of the Ministry of Trade to enhance Iraq's position at the international and economic levels." / End 11 https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1148935

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