Iraq Economic News Highlights and Points to Ponder Monday AM 10-30-23

Iraq's Accession To BRICS... Impressive Economic Advantages

 The first  10/30/2023  Baghdad: Hoda Al-Azzawi  Since Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani announced at the beginning of this October Iraq’s desire to join the “BRICS” group, and analyzes by experts in financial and economic affairs confirm that Iraq’s progress towards completing joining the “BRICS” will contribute to the development of the country’s economic sectors. And to get out of the pressures of Iraq’s unilateral monetary dealings in the “dollar” area.

Advisor to the Prime Minister for Financial and Economic Affairs, Dr. Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, told Al-Sabah that “the BRICS group was initially formed from countries that included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.”

He pointed out that "there is an objective basis for Iraq's desire to join the BRICS group, which is represented by the Iraqi economy's ties with the group's countries due to its dependence on an important percentage of Iraq's oil exports of no less than 55%, especially China and India, and nearly 70% of Iraq's imports are made with... BRICS countries or those seeking to join them, and this means that the commercial partnership and Iraq’s strong economic interests automatically push towards international economic cooperation with our trading partners, especially in the issue of looking towards broader areas in the flow of the group’s investments to our country in the context of obtaining the benefits of joining in order to serve the future. Sustainable development and economic progress in our country.”

Saleh added, “According to the purchasing power parity standard, Brazil, Russia, India, and China are among the ten largest countries in the world in terms of population, area, and gross domestic product, according to the purchasing power parity standard, and the last three countries (India, China, and Russia) are considered great powers.” And potential emerging ones, while all five countries in the BRICS group are also members of the G20 (which includes the United States of America and the rest of the G7).

Some international economic analyzes have suggested that Iraq's joining the BRICS alliance and using its financial dealing system instead of the current SWIFT system will have major impacts on the global economy. "Watcher Guru" magazine, which specializes in economic affairs, stated that "the consequences of Baghdad's expected decision will push the US dollar to the brink of the abyss," stressing that "if Iraq joins BRICS, the US dollar will suffer the biggest blow in its history," according to its description. To this, the analyst pointed out the matter

. Economist Jalil Al-Lami, in an interview with Al-Sabah, noted that “Iraq has announced on more than one occasion its readiness to join the BRICS group, especially since the Iraqi economy is distinguished in most of its indicators by the diversity of natural, human and capital resources, but it suffers from the oil sector’s control over the output.”

He explained that “the economic policies adopted by Iraq represent a reason for not achieving economic growth because of their focus on the public sector as the main driver of economic growth, while the private sector has not had the opportunities to implement huge investments.” He explained that “there is a great similarity between the capabilities Iraq's economic capabilities are comparable to what the BRICS countries possess, and thus it is easy for Iraq to achieve high economic growth rates such as those achieved by those countries due to their reliance on more than one resource.

He added that "decision-makers in Iraq should seriously consider studying the possibility of Iraq joining the BRICS countries in order to benefit from the advantages of this accession in developing the economic sectors in Iraq, due to the presence of a broad similarity in Iraq's capabilities - especially the inactive ones - and the level of economic progress and the nature of the conditions for a number of members." The BRICS countries, if not Iraq, are better than them in the case of stimulating economic activities and optimally exploiting their resources.” Edited by: Muhammad Al-Ansari   https://alsabaah.iq/86370-.html

Brix  BRICS

Iraq  10/30/2023  Ahmed Abdel Hussein   A month ago, Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani announced Iraq’s desire to join the “BRICS” group.

This is news that financial and economic specialists circulated with great optimism, and they considered it a sign of the revival and revitalization of the economic sector and a way to reduce the burdens that Iraq bears as a result of its dealings with the “SWIFT” payment system. .

BRICS is an international economic organization whose first nucleus was formed in 2006 and held its first conference in 2009. It aims to develop the economies of its members by dealing in their local currencies in a way that reduces dependence on dealing in the US dollar. The organization consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the first letters of each of which constitute the name of the organization.

The proposal will seem very important if we know that Iraq’s imports from BRICS members or future members, “including Iran, whose membership application file has been accepted,” constitute more than seventy percent of Iraq’s total imports, and that total exports to it exceed 55% of what the country exports.

There is also the political aspect involved in joining the organization, which is no less important than the economic aspect. Although the organization is not a political entity, the mere coordination among its members on major global trade issues places it in opposition to the Group of Seven industrialized countries, and this entails a corresponding political performance. And contrary to it.

Experts who are optimistic about the Iraqi desire are not equally optimistic about the issue of accepting the Iraqi request “which has not yet been submitted,” because the requirements for acceptance are many, and a large part of them are difficult and require a strong diplomatic presence to enforce them.

Requirements such as the level of education, foreign investment, the presence of a huge local industry, and diplomatic weight The great one who is the lifter of all these weights.

These are extremely difficult requirements that must be thought carefully about before we repeat the example of Algeria, which failed to convince the BRICS countries of its eligibility, and its application was rejected despite the amount of optimism shown by the Algerians when they submitted their application to join.    https://alsabaah.iq/86353-.html

The Central Bank Of Iraq's Foreign Sales Rise By 81%

2023-10-30 Shafaq News/ External remittances increased at the Central Bank’s auction, today, Monday, by 81% at the expense of cash sales, to reach $171 million.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said, “Today, during its auction for buying and selling the US dollar, the Central Bank sold 203 million, 802 thousand and 572 dollars, which the bank covered at a base exchange rate of 1,305 dinars, per dollar for documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards, and at a price of 1,310 dinars per dollar for foreign transfers and at 1310 dinars per dollar in cash.

Our correspondent added that most of the bank's dollar sales went to strengthening balances abroad in the form of (remittances, credits), which amounted to 171 million 142 thousand and 572 dollars, an increase of 81%, compared to cash sales amounting to 32 million and 660 thousand dollars.

Our correspondent pointed out that the number of banks that bought cash dollars reached 6 banks, while the number of banks that responded to requests to enhance balances abroad reached 22 banks, while the total number of exchange and brokerage companies participating in the auction was 62 companies.   LINK

In The Economic Balance.. How Is The Relationship Between The Rise In The Exchange Rate And The Unemployment Rate In Iraq?

Baghdad today – Baghdad    Economic expert Ahmed Al-Tamimi considered today, Sunday (October 29, 2023), that the rise in dollar exchange rates contributed to the difficulty of living for the unemployed, with the prices of goods and services rising due to the rise in exchange rates.

Al-Tamimi said, in an interview with “Baghdad Today,” that “the unemployment rate in Iraq is approximately 20%, but this percentage has declined recently after the recent appointments of those with advanced degrees, as well as the first and others, but the percentage is still high and constitutes a real concern among people.” the society".

He added, "The rise in the dollar exchange rate in recent months did not contribute in a real and significant way to the rate of increase in unemployment in Iraq, but this matter contributed to a decline in the standard of living of the poor and middle class, due to the significant rise in prices.

This rise also contributed to alleviating the suffering of the unemployed." Work, especially for the youth segment, which needs daily money to meet some of its needs.”

The percentage of the labor force in Iraq is 63% of the population, which means approximately 26 million people, while the unemployment rate among them, according to the last survey announced in 2022, is 16.5%, which means that the number of unemployed people in Iraq is more than 4 million people.

The budget included appointments amounting to more than 800,000 job grades, but in general they went to lecturers and contracts, that is, those not included according to the concept of “the unemployed,” in addition to providing 150,000 job grades to be distributed among the governorates, which means that these grades may be able to reduce the unemployment rate by 20%, i.e. Making the unemployed more than 3.2 million unemployed only.    LINK

Government Spokesman: The Decision To Close The United States Embassy Is Destroying Iraq

Posted On2023-10-30 By Sotaliraq   Regarding the demands to close the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Iraqi government spokesman Bassem Al-Awadi said that it is “a decision that would destroy Iraq.”

Al-Awadi stated in an interview with Al-Ahed satellite channel, affiliated with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, that “there are many international obligations on Iraq, and that any decision targeting diplomatic missions greatly affects Iraqi foreign relations.”

He added, “The decision taken by the government to close the Swedish embassy in Iraq led to international concern. We have received demands from various embassies that diplomatic missions must be protected from repeated attacks on them,” referring to the government’s previous decision to close the Swedish embassy against the backdrop of the issue of burning the Holy Qur’an in Sweden.

Al-Awadi promised that a decision such as closing the American embassy would not only affect the strategic framework agreement (signed between Washington and Baghdad), but would lead to the destruction of Iraq because of the international importance of its presence in Iraq.

The appearance of the government spokesman and his making statements of this kind on this channel (Al-Ahed) in particular, implicitly reveals, in the eyes of observers, that the “Asa’ib” movement, led by Qais Khazali, is among the Shiite groups and factions within the “coordination framework” forces that formed the Sudanese government, without In agreement with calls to close the Washington embassy in Iraq.

The government spokesman’s preference to appear on a “partisan” channel to express his position outside of the official government platforms is interpreted by observers as an attempt by the government to avoid criticism that might be directed at it from extremist factions regarding its position on the United States of America, if it announced that. Through its official statements and platforms.

The issuance of the government statement by this Asa’ib channel indicates that it intersects with the leader of the “Sadr movement,” Muqtada al-Sadr, and the rest of the armed Shiite factions that launched several attacks on American bases and interests in Iraq and Syria during the last two weeks in response to Washington’s support for Israel.

Last Friday, Muqtada al-Sadr called on the government and parliament to close the American embassy in Baghdad in protest against the unlimited American support for Israel in its war on Gaza.

Some observers tend to believe that Al-Sadr, with his stance, wanted to embarrass his opponents in the “Coordinating Framework” forces and the so-called “Islamic resistance” groups who control the government, and forced him to withdraw his parliamentary bloc (72 seats), mid-June 2022, and expose their claims of opposing the presence. Americans in Iraq.

Most observers in Baghdad speak of “sharp divisions” within the ranks of the Shiite forces and factions regarding the position on targeting American interests in Iraq. The “pragmatic” forces, represented by Asaib Ahl al-Haq, the Wisdom Movement, the State of Law Coalition, and the Victory Alliance, tend, within the “coordination framework,” to calm down and not to plunge Iraq into a new war, and they also stress Iraq’s responsibility to protect foreign missions and interests. In Iraq and not allowing it to be targeted.   LINK

Provoking Points to Ponder From Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci --  Italian - Author - Painter - Sculptor and Engineer --- Born  April 15 1452 -  Died 1519

"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind."

 "Oh Lord - thou givest us everything, at the price of an effort."

"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure what you do not understand."

"As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death."

"I do not depart from my furrow" "Obstacles do not bend me"  "Every obstacle is destroyed through rigor"  "Obstacles cannot crush me, every obstacle yields to stern resolve."

"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions"