Iraq Economic News and Points to Ponder Monday AM 10-9-23

 “Dealing With Dinars Is Much Better.”

The dollar transfer will not be withdrawn in cash after today.. A financial expert explains the chaos in Baghdad’s banks

Baghdad – 964  Iraqi financial expert Mahmoud Dagher explained to the 964 Network the chaos that banks in Baghdad witnessed today, Sunday, after depositors were unable to receive their money in dollars. He said that amounts deposited in cash can be withdrawn in cash, but this never applies to remittances.   https://964media.com/230683/

The Dollar Exceeds The Barrier Of 160 Thousand Dinars In Baghdad Markets And Money Exchangers

Economy |Today  Baghdad today – Baghdad  Today, Monday (October 9, 2023), dollar prices recorded a significant jump in the markets and exchange offices of the capital, Baghdad, to record a record exceeding 160,000 per hundred dollars.

The "Baghdad Today" correspondent said, "Selling prices in money exchange shops in the capital, Baghdad, amounted to 160,500 Iraqi dinars for every 100 US dollars, while purchasing prices recorded 159,500 Iraqi dinars for every 100 US dollars."

Private banks are accused of taking over the largest part of the currency selling window, especially for the cash dollar, which has become extremely difficult for travelers to obtain, which forces them to buy the dollar from the parallel market, while the travelers’ share of the dollar in these banks goes for the purpose of speculation.   Kink-   LINK

Parliamentary Finance Warns The Government Of An Economic Disaster Due To The Adoption Of The Dollar

Economy   LINK

Speculation And Lack Of Supply Contribute To Raising The Price Of The Dollar

Economical  10/09/2023    Baghdad: Al-Sabah    The dollar exchange rates have disturbed the atmosphere of the economic steps that various government agencies continue to achieve, especially the implementation of various service projects in Baghdad and the governorates, which have witnessed remarkable progress in completion rates, while the “green currency” recorded an exchange rate of approximately 158,500 thousand dinars for every 100 dollars, An economic expert expressed his fear that the dollar would continue to rise as a result of speculation, lack of supply, and the delay in meeting the needs of travelers.

Amid this, the Central Bank continued its efforts aimed at undermining the price of the dollar and limiting its rise, as its sales in the foreign currency sales window amounted to more than 195.5 million dollars.

According to the Central Bank’s dollar sales schedule, according to a statement issued yesterday, it included the participation of 25 banks and 47 exchange companies, while the amounts covering foreign transfer requests amounted to $156 million, and cash requests more than $39 million.

The Central Bank of Iraq sells the dollar for documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards at a price of 1,305 dinars per dollar, and at a price of 1,310 dinars per dollar for external transfers and cash sales.

In addition, economic affairs specialist Fouad Al-Hasani believes that the exchange rate is the price of the monetary value of one currency against another currency, as that price is determined against the dollar and estimated by the global foreign exchange market and economic factors, indicating that there are a number of factors that affect the exchange rate, including: supply. And demand: If the demand for the dollar increases compared to the other currency, its value will rise, and if the supply of the dollar increases compared to the other currency, its value will decrease.

Al-Hasani pointed out that the other factor that affects the exchange rate is “the main interest,” as interest rates vary between countries. The higher the interest is in a particular country, this may attract more foreign investments and thus increase the demand for its currency, indicating at the same time “Political and economic stability” represents the most important factors for the stability of the exchange rate, as political or economic turmoil can affect investor confidence and lead to fluctuations in the exchange rate of its currency.

In turn, economic affairs specialist, Ahmed Maklaf, expressed his fear that the dollar exchange rate will continue to rise in the coming periods, attributing this to the expanding demand for the green currency to finance trade with some countries not included in the central bank’s financial transfers.

Maklaf pointed out that the increase in demand for the dollar is also due to the delay in financing the needs of travelers, many of whom are forced to buy the dollar from parallel markets due to the failure of banks and specialized exchange offices to meet their requests, which has directly contributed to raising its value against the dinar, stressing that “ The speculative market is still active despite the strict measures taken by various government agencies to limit the effects of that market.  https://alsabaah.iq/85154-.html

Replacing The Dinar With The Dollar

Economical  10/09/2023  Muhammad Sharif Abu Maysam   Finally, the Central Bank of Iraq announced in a statement last week that “the coming year will witness the restriction of all internal commercial and other transactions to the Iraqi dinar instead of the dollar, except for those delivered to travelers.”

Financing foreign trade will be directly for merchants dealing in remittances outside the electronic platform, through licensed banks that will deal with correspondent banks in foreign transfer operations and in the local currency of the country from which the merchant wants to import. Then the dollar auction will be gradually dispensed with and the central bank will intervene to control the exchange rate through a shift in its tools.

Cash, which will be more effective in achieving monetary stability, due to the expected decline of the so-called black market and the emergence of a real parallel market that will effectively contribute to financing the total demand for foreign currencies after the local currencies of the trading countries are traded within the parallel market following the opening of transfer channels for those currencies in a way Official.

Thus, we will witness a new phase in which exchange rates will be more stable than the phases witnessed in previous years if dollar smuggling operations are controlled, which is expected to decline automatically with the decline of the dollar supply on the black market.

At that time, the country will witness the real beginning of an attractive investment environment, as the confusion in the dollar exchange rate was often an element that repelled investors due to their inability to delve into the area of ​​expectations in which the exchange rate was fluctuating, which makes financial feasibility studies more difficult in calculating construction and operating costs and recovery periods. Total costs and profit calculations.

This is in addition to other repulsive factors, which were the confusion of the security situation, the incompleteness of legislation related to the investment environment and the regulation of market relations, the failure to activate the package of economic laws that had been legislated, and the spread of corruption and bureaucracy.

However, there is a problem linking the exchange rate and the costs of production in neighboring countries compared to the costs of production inside Iraq. The lower the exchange rates of neighboring countries’ currencies are against other currencies, such as in Turkey, Iran, and Syria, compared to the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar, the lower the cost of producing goods in those countries.

The cost of production is comparable to that in Iraq, which makes the investment environment unattractive at the level of production of traditional goods produced in neighboring countries unless borders are controlled to protect the local product in addition to protecting exchange rates from currency smuggling. https://alsabaah.iq/85152-.html

Pepsi Baghdad Achieved Revenues Of More Than 566 Billion Dinars During The Past 9 Months

Market  Economy News – Baghdad  The revenues of the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company, known as "Pepsi Baghdad", grew by 12.38% during the first nine months of the year 2023 compared to the same period of the year 2022. According to the financial statements during the third quarter of the current year, the company's revenues amounted to 566.4 billion dinars, while it was In the same period last year, 504 billion dinars.

The company's profits increased by 139%, achieving 97.2 billion dinars, while in the same period last year they amounted to 40.7 billion dinars. The increase is due to reducing the company's expenses and increasing transfer revenues.   Views 11  10/09/2023 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=36874

Securities Traded 19 Billion Shares Last September

Economical  10/09/2023    Baghdad: Al-Sabah    The Iraq Stock Exchange revealed that more than 19 billion shares were traded during the month of September, with a total value exceeding 24 billion dinars, during 17 sessions last month.

Executive Director of the market, Taha Ahmed Abdel Salam, said: Last September witnessed the trading of shares of (69) joint stock companies out of (103) joint stock companies, and the number of shares traded reached 19,361,720,452 shares, with a total value amounting to 24,825,124,986 dinars, pointing out that the number of transactions executed It reached 12,933 transactions.

He added that the ISX60 traded stock price index closed in the last session of the month at 835.53 points, an increase of 3% from the August 2023 close of (809.8) points.

Regarding foreign trading, Abdul Salam indicated that the number of shares purchased by foreigners reached 783 million shares, with a value exceeding 2.921 billion dinars, through the implementation of 628 contracts on the shares of 12 companies, while the number of shares sold by foreigners reached 458 million shares, with a value exceeding 1.050 billion dinars. During the implementation of 397 contracts on shares of 11 companies.

He pointed out that in the month of August, the Iraq Stock Exchange held 17 trading sessions to deal in the shares of Iraqi joint stock companies listed for sale and purchase by shareholders and investors. The market did not organize trading sessions on 9/6, 9/7, and 9/27 because they coincided with an official holiday and Fridays and Saturdays. Every week, the shares of (28) joint stock companies were not traded due to differences in bid and ask prices, in addition to the presence of (9) joint stock companies suspended from trading due to lack of disclosure based on the decisions of the Securities Commission.

The Securities Commission decided to extend the period for submitting financial statements for the fiscal year 2022 and grant an additional period of one year to (14) joint-stock companies, provided that the company continues to follow up with the Financial Supervision Bureau to complete audit procedures and issue the financial statements in their final form before the end of the period.

He stated that the Board of Governors of the Iraq Stock Exchange held its ninth session on September 30, 2023, and among the most important decisions taken was the study and discussion of trading indicators for the previous month and the discussion of the technical procedures of the electronic systems department implemented for the technical updates approved by the Council and the oversight and inspection reports.

He warned that the market will begin implementing clearing and settlements according to the T+2 specifications that are compatible with the requirements of the custodian’s activity, instead of T+0 that has been applied since 2009, based on the decisions of the Securities Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.    Conservatives.    https://alsabaah.iq/85153-.html

Oil Exports Will Exceed 5 Million Barrels Per Day In 2025 

Baghdad: Saad Al-Sammak    Basra Oil Company expected that export capacity during the year 2025 would exceed 5 million barrels per day.

The expectations came after the Council of Ministers approved last July to allocate $416.9 million to establish the third marine export pipeline and transfer it to the Basra Oil Company.

The Basra Oil Company contracted with the Dutch company Royal Boskalis to build the pipeline, which has an operational capacity of two million barrels per day, and an implementation period of 400 minutes.  day.

 The Director General of the Basra Oil Company, Bassem Abdul Karim Al-Shamkhani, told Al-Sabah: “The new third sea export project will strengthen Iraq’s leadership position in the global market,” expecting that “the export capacity of Iraqi oil will reach more than 5 million barrels per day within the year 2025.” ".

He added that his company plans to gradually double and develop crude oil production in licensing fields and government efforts in 2024, noting that the rate of crude oil export through Basra oil ports has reached more than 3 million and 500 thousand barrels per day.

In the latest statistics published by the Ministry of Oil, “the total quantities of crude oil exported for the month of September from the oil fields in central and southern Iraq amounted to about 102 million barrels, while the quantities exported to Jordan amounted to about 450 thousand barrels, while exports from the Qayyarah field were 473 thousand.” barrel".  Edited by: Abdul Rahman Ibrahim   https://alsabaah.iq/85168-.html

Israel Asks America To Provide It With “Iron Dome” Missiles

09/10/2023   1780  Earth News/ An American newspaper reported, citing sources, that the Israeli authorities asked the United States to renew its arsenal of interceptor missiles for the “Iron Dome” missile defense system and other ammunition.

The newspaper said, citing sources: “Israeli officials submitted several specific requests to Washington... including the renewal of Iron Dome interceptor missiles, small-diameter bombs, and machine gun ammunition.”

The Washington Post continued: “Israel called for increased cooperation in exchanging intelligence information related to potential military activity in southern Lebanon.”

Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington is studying Israeli requests for military assistance for the operation in the Gaza Strip, he said.

Yesterday, Sunday, the White House announced that US President Joe Biden had directed additional support to Israel. “The President ordered additional support to be provided to Israel in the face of this unprecedented terrorist attack launched by Hamas,” the statement said.  https://earthiq.news/archives/286543#hathalyoum

A Former MP Criticizes Al-Halbousi: He Sits With Erdogan And His Forces Are Bombing His Country

Information / Baghdad...On Monday, the former representative of Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Ghaleb Muhammad, criticized the positions of many politicians from the ruling class and their sitting with the Turkish President at a time when his forces are bombing Iraqi lands and cutting off water.

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Muhammad told Al-Maalouma, “Many politicians from the ruling class are sitting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the rest of his entourage, making understandings and exchanging conversations at a time when Turkish forces are bombing Sulaymaniyah and other areas.”

He added, "It is shameful that the Turkish bombing continues without taking any deterrent measures, or at least expelling the Turkish ambassador from the country. If there is a fear of such a step in anticipation of cutting off the water, then Turkey has already cut off the water to the country."

He stated that "Iraq today lives on rainwater that is stored in dams and released into the rivers, after Turkey worked to besiege Iraq through water and also stopped the export of oil in the past days." LINK

The Palestinian Resistance Captures A New Group Of Zionist Soldiers

International    Information/Baghdad... The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas) announced on Monday the capture of a new group of Zionist soldiers.

Palestinian media reported, "Al-Qassam Brigades captured a new group of Israeli soldiers."

He pointed out that "the Palestinian resistance is now engaged in violent clashes inside the cover settlements."   LINK

Points to Ponder on Hope:

In prosperity prepare for a change; in adversity hope for one. -- James Burgh

For he who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything. -- Owen Arthur

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.-- Samuel Smiles

Hope... is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes has within him the gift of miracles.  -- Samuel Smiles