Iraq Economic News and Points to Ponder Thursday AM 10-5-23

Floating The Dinar.. Specialist: A Disastrous Step And Monetary Policy Must Be Reconsidered

Amid the failure of the Central Bank of Iraq to control the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar and the continued smuggling of hard currency out of the country, calls are appearing here and there to float the Iraqi dinar.

In this regard, Hammam Al-Shamaa, professor of economics at the University of Baghdad, says, “If the Iraqi dinar is floated, it is possible that the price of one dollar will reach more than 10 thousand dinars, and this price will not serve the Iraqi economy and will burden the citizens.”

Al-Shamaa added in a press interview seen by “Taqaddam” that “Iraq is considered one of the ranks of the Gulf countries as it is an oil country and has great potential for hard currency, and therefore flotation does not serve the Iraqi economy,” indicating that “flotation serves the economies of poor countries.”

Al-Shamaa warned that “taking such a step will lead to the death of the Iraqi people from hunger, especially since Iraq is a country that, despite its enormous natural wealth, is an unproductive country,” pointing out that “the agricultural sector is declining and the industry is backward, as there are no productive sectors that can provide food.” “For the people.”

He pointed out that “the government has begun to take measures that lead to an increase in the dinar’s exchange rate, including a delay in government spending,” calling for “a reconsideration of monetary policy in Iraq and assigning the task to those who lead it efficiently, professionally, and with knowledge, and not by bidding and searching for wealth creation and fundraising.” .

https://takadum-news.com/archives/186352#hathalyoum

Experts Call For Strict Measures Against {Dollar Smuggling}

The first  10/05/2023   Baghdad: Huda Al-Azzawi    Specialists in financial and economic affairs have warned that the issue of dollar smuggling carries a political connotation, in addition to the economic dimension, and that influential parties stand behind its continuation.

The government must be serious and have a strong will to stand up to the apparent smuggling of dollars, indicating that despite the Federal Integrity Commission’s ability to One month after recovering approximately 219 billion Iraqi dinars, the smuggling of dollars abroad has reached levels exceeding ($600 billion) since 2003.

Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Finance Committee for the fourth session, Dr. Ahmed Al-Saffar, stated in an interview with “Al-Sabah”: “The funds smuggled outside Iraq are very large, and what was recovered is perhaps less than 1% of the volume of funds accumulated outside Iraq, which belong to influential parties and were invested in Giant projects from which the host countries have benefited,”

stressing that “this matter requires a strong will on the part of the Iraqi government and a policy, organization, and committees through which coordination can be made with those countries that must cooperate to recover these funds, which are, in most cases, benefiting from their presence.” Therefore, the recovery process is difficult.”

Regarding dollar smuggling, Al-Saffar said:“The process of smuggling the dollar is a political, economic and financial process, and the main factor that prevents the recovery of the price of the dinar is the political factor.

Iraq has become an arena for conflicts, interests and political conflict, between countries that form entities that agree with American interests and others that are punished and economically prohibited from trading the dollar, because that A sovereign process for Washington, and there is a conflict between America and these regional countries that have a commercial, economic, political and social relationship with Iraq,” indicating that “if the political solution is achieved, the official dollar exchange rate can be restored,

and the other factor for dollar smuggling is the structural imbalance of the Iraqi economy.” In light of the lack of a real domestic product, and the country’s reliance on importing all its needs by 95%, which are paid in dollars, he explained that “a large percentage of this money goes to smuggling, so whenever Iraq is able to restructure economically and address the structural imbalance, and is able to revitalize The real economic sectors (agriculture, industry and trade), and rely on real output and reduce imports, this problem will be solved.”

He stated that “the last and important factor - which the government must pay attention to - is the presence of a chaotic financial policy, and we can say that there is no clear financial policy by extrapolating the budgets that were legislated and implemented in Iraq after 2003 until now, especially since the largest percentage of funds It goes to the consumer operational budget,” stressing,

“Today we need radical solutions to control the smuggled dollar, as I mentioned earlier.”

For his part, the head of the Regional Center for Studies, Ali Al-Sahib, indicated in an interview with Al-Sabah: “Although the Federal Integrity Commission was able, within one month, to recover approximately (219) billion Iraqi dinars, the smuggling of dollars abroad has reached Levels exceeding ($600 billion) since 2003, according to statements, after the Federal Integrity Commission rolled up its sleeves with real solutions to the files of rampant corruption in the body of the Iraqi state, which turned from a state to a phenomenon, then to a rule, and has now become a pandemic.

He pointed out that “the Integrity Commission, with its new administration, was able to manage the file with good steps and recovered to the Iraqi treasury about 300 billion Iraqi dinars from corruption files at home, but what remains important, even more important, is the amount of money looted and smuggled abroad, which figures indicate that it is around (600 billion). Dollars),

we also have convoys of corrupt people and plunderers of public money abroad who are still enjoying this huge amount of money and no lawsuits have been filed against them, even though Iraq is one of the countries that has agreements and cooperation with (Interpol).”

 Edited by: Muhammad Al-Ansari   https://alsabaah.iq/85023-.html

Decrease In Dollar Exchange Rates In Iraqi Markets...This List

Economy  2023-10-05 | 7,001 views  Alsumaria News – Economy  Alsumaria News publishes the exchange rates of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar in Iraqi local markets for Thursday, October 5, 2023.

The price of the dollar decreased slightly with the opening of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, recording 156,600 dinars for 100 dollars. As for the selling prices in the exchange shops in the local markets inBaghdad, they decreased, as the selling price reached 157,500 Iraqi dinars, while the purchasing price reached 155,500 dinars for every 100 dollars.

“More than 8 months ago, specifically since the Central Bank began working on the electronic platform and the international financial transfer system.” Swift (SWIFT), the dollar exchange rates are not witnessed inIraqstability despite the attempts of the government and the Central Bank to control the exchange rate in the parallel (black) markets.

And he decided  Central Bank of Iraq Earlier, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar was adjusted, as the price of purchasing the dollar from the Ministry of Finance reached 1,300 dinars per dollar and selling it at (1,310) dinars per dollar to banks through the electronic platform, and selling it at (1,320) dinars per dollar to banks and institutions. Non-banking finance for the ultimate beneficiary.   LINK

American Doubts About Iraq’s Ability To Stop Importing Iranian Gas And Talk Of An “Existential Battle”

Posted On2023-10-04 By Sotaliraq   On Wednesday, the American website "Oil Price", which specializes in energy news, questioned Iraq's pledges to soon stop importing Iranian gas and Iraqi announcements about the imminent launch of new projects in the gas sector.

Despite American skepticism, the report confirmed that “Iraq’s role could be pivotal in the existential battle currently taking place in the world for energy resources.”

The report criticized statements by senior Iraqi oil officials that gas imports from Iran will stop soon, which are followed by seasoned oil industry observers and which, in their view, are merely reassurances that are always followed by mutterings about new gas projects scheduled to start soon, pipelines that will be extended, and the fulfillment of energy-related commitments. Green.

The report continued its criticism, saying that they are “wonderful, evocative ideas that will certainly be welcomed by the US State Department. They also arouse collective optimism, but only for a while, before we remember that we heard all that before and that nothing has changed.”

However, the report pointed out what is at great risk for any new major player entering the game in the global gas market, explaining that “there are widening divisions that have not been so clear between the Western and Eastern alliances since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the year 2022, which reflects the need to secure supplies.” Gas is long-term.

He continued, saying, “Cheap gas supplies from Russia were the cornerstone on which most of Europe, especially the de facto European leader Germany, built its economic prosperity over the past two decades,” adding that “fears of the risk of losing these supplies were enough for these European powers to “It undermines any serious plans to punish Russia over its annexation of Crimea in 2014.”

He added, "The rapid action by the United States and its main allies to secure alternative supplies of gas is what prevented the same diplomatic inaction after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022."

Now, the report says, “Iraq’s role in this existential battle for global energy resources may be pivotal,” explaining that “it not only has the ability to become the first producer of crude oil in the world, and one of the largest exporters of gas as well, but its geopolitical location is important.” "It is critical to what is happening in the global security structure."

While the report pointed out the loss of the United States to Saudi Arabia, which strengthened its closeness to China through multiple events, including its recent accession to the “BRICS” bloc, its move deeper into the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” and through the agreement to resume the relationship with Iran, all of which are moves.

Brokered by Beijing, he continued, the other superpower in the Middle East, i.e. Iran, was also strengthened through its transformation into a proxy state for China through the “Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement between Iran and China for 25 years.”

The report stated that the ongoing moves by the Western coalition to separate Iran from the Chinese-Russian bloc, by drafting a diluted version of the “nuclear agreement,” adding that the existing logic in Washington is that if it is possible to separate Iraq, which has been under the influence of Iran for a long time,

Regarding Tehran, this will not only accelerate the signing of the new nuclear agreement with Iran, but it will also mean that the Western coalition will have two of the three largest oil and gas exporting countries in the Middle East under its influence.

The report considered that the French “Total Energies” company currently stands at the forefront of the Western coalition’s efforts to win over Iraq, through the huge, four-pronged deal, which is worth 27 billion US dollars, despite the fact that the company faces great challenges at every level.

Oil And Gas Bureaucracy In Iraq.

However, the report believed that strengthening the presence of other major Western companies in Iraq would contribute to enhancing their chances of success.

He added, “Such efforts, at least on the surface, are encouraged by Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, who recently said that Iraq will stop gas imports from Iran within two years after giant projects are formed to develop its gas facilities.”

However, the report stated that these words are the same as what former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said when he went to Washington in May 2020 to request more money to support the corruption-afflicted economy, and to also request a 120-day exemption from the sanctions to continue importing gas and electricity from Iran.

He added that as soon as the United States provided financing and exemption, deposited the money in banks and Al-Kadhimi returned safely to his lands, Iraq signed a two-year contract with Iran to continue importing gas and electricity.

The report also stated that Sudanese announced last July that Iraq intends to pay for its oil supplies in exchange for the gas and electricity it imports from Iran because Iraq has no choice but to start paying for Iranian gas and electricity imports with Iraqi oil because the US sanctions on Iran have made it difficult Baghdad must make payments through traditional banking mechanisms.

However, the report considered that Iraq could end its dependence on gas from Iran relatively easily if it really wanted to, noting that the total proven natural gas reserves in Iraq amount to about 131 trillion cubic feet, and thus Iraq occupies 12th place in the world, and it may be Its gas reserves are much larger than that, because the level of exploration for gas reserves is not equal to the rate of oil exploration.

After he mentioned that the Iraqi Ministry of Oil had an agreement with the giant American engineering company “Baker Hughes” to seize the gas associated with the oil from the Gharraf and Nasiriyah oil fields, he pointed out that the plans related to Nasiriyah included the beginning of processing the gas to generate more than 100 million standard cubic meters, then developing the Nasiriyah plant.

To become a complete LNG facility capable of recovering 200 million cubic feet per day of dry gas, liquefied gas and condensates, a production that was supposed to go to the local power generation sector.

He continued that Baker Hughes had reported that processing the burned gas from these two fields would allow 400 megawatts of energy to be provided to the Iraqi network.

The report found that if Baker Hughes had been allowed to continue implementing the project, it would have taken about 30 months to implement, adding that it would have then been possible to implement similar development plans for other major gas detention sites, which in 2018 and 2020 included the Halfaya field (300). million cubic feet per day), and Artawi field (400 million cubic feet per day).

He noted that it was then possible to develop interconnections with the only major gas project that has achieved significant progress in Iraq over the years, which is the Basra Gas Company (BGC) project, which is managed by Shell.

He concluded by saying that at the present time, little progress has been made in any of these projects, and therefore it remains to be seen whether Al-Sudani’s recent statements will change this situation.LINK

Points to Ponder From The Seat of the Soul By Gary Zukav:

You cannot and will not encounter a circumstance or a single moment that does not serve directly and  immediately the  need of your soul to heal - to come to wholeness

When the personality , Jesus encountered the Luciferic principle , the challenging dynamic of the human experience -- when he  was offered dominion over the  entire  globe -- was he tempted??? Yes he was tempted !! If he were not - there would have been no power in his choice -- Authentic empowerment is not gained by making choices that do not stretch you 

Sooner or later, each soul will turn toward authentic power - Every situation serves this goal and every soul will reach it

When you understand that the experiences of your life are necessary to the balancing of the energy of your soul - you are free to not react to them personally -- to not create more negative karma for your soul

Although what you encounter and what you do in each moment is appropriate and perfect to the evolution of your soul -- the shape of the  experiences of your life is determined nonetheless by the choices that you  make -- It is you that  chooses to linger in resentment - or enveloped in  grief - or to release these lower frequency currents of energy