Iraqi Economic News and Points to Ponder Wed Evening 9-6-23

What Does It Mean To Achieve Iraq's Largest Trade Surplus? Government Advisor Answers

Posted On 2023-09-06 By Sotaliraq  The financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, commented on Iraq achieving the largest trade surplus in 2022 over a period of ten years, and said that it achieves 3 main goals.

Today, Monday, a statistic conducted by the German company Statista, which specializes in market and consumer data, revealed that Iraq achieved the largest trade surplus for the past year 2022 over the past ten years.

Saleh explained, “The importance of the rise in the current account surplus comes relative to the gross domestic product in its positive role in strengthening the means of economic stability represented by the stability of the general level of prices, which are the country’s foreign reserves, which are the lever of stability and a tool in monetary policy to combat harmful inflationary activities in order to ensure purchasing power.” for cash income.

He added, "The high percentage of the surplus, in the current account of the balance of payments to the gross domestic product, provides the financing capacity towards achieving sustainability in investment spending, which is the basis for targeted economic growth without expanding external borrowing."

He pointed out that “the increase in the aforementioned surplus rate at the level of financial stability and balance is an important and major step towards achieving the so-called (fiscal discipline), which is based in its most important pillars on reducing external public debt and what requires a subsequent step required by fiscal policy in the field of imposing discipline, which is reducing the gap The deficit in the general budget and the movement towards a balanced budget, as reducing public debt and reducing the deficit are the most important pillars of financial discipline or what is called fiscal consolidation.

The financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister concluded by saying, "The surplus proceeds in the current account of the balance of payments achieve three main goals, which are (price stability, stability, financial balance, and finally targeted economic growth)."

The trade balance indicates the differences in imports and exports of goods in the country during the year. If the value of its exports during a period exceeds the value of its imports, it is called a surplus in the trade balance. If the total value of imports exceeds the total value of exports, it is called a deficit in the trade balance.

According to the German company statista, Iraq achieved the highest trade surplus for goods in 2022 over the past ten years, as the surplus last year amounted to $53.54 billion, up by 64% from 2021, when the trade surplus for goods in that year reached $20.08 billion.

She explained that Iraq achieved a deficit in its trade balance for two years, the first in 2020, when the deficit amounted to 4.11 billion dollars, and the second in 2015, when the trade deficit amounted to 0.94 billion dollars.

And the report continued, while in 2019 the balance achieved a trade surplus amounting to 16.62 billion dollars, and in 2018 the trade surplus reached 35.95 billion dollars, and the trade surplus in 2017 reached 15.1 billion dollars, indicating that the trade surplus in 2012 amounted to 35.39 billion dollars.

And Iraq had achieved during the past year (2022) financial revenues of more than 115 billion dollars from the export of crude oil, to be the highest in years, according to official figures announced by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.

According to those figures, the daily export rate amounted to 3,320,000 barrels, which is a total of one billion, 211,800,000 barrels for a full year.   LINK

The Federal Supreme Court In Iraq Rules That The Ratification Of An Agreement With Kuwait Is Unconstitutional

Posted On2023-09-06 By Sotaliraq    The Federal Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq) ruled that the law ratifying the maritime navigation agreement in Khawr Abdullah with Kuwait was unconstitutional.

The media of the Federal Supreme Court said, in a statement, that the court decided in its session held today, in case No. (105 and its unification 194 / federal / 2023), the ruling that the law ratifying the agreement between the government of the Republic of Iraq and the government of the State of Kuwait regarding the regulation of maritime navigation in Khor Abdullah No. ( 42) for the year 2013.

He added, “The court issued its decision in violation of the provisions of Article (61 / Fourth) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq, which stipulated (the process of ratification of international treaties and agreements is regulated by a law enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of Parliament.”

For his part, Representative Saud Al-Saadi announced, in a video clip, that he won a lawsuit for the invalidity of the Khawr Abdullah Agreement before the Federal Court, describing it as “good news for the Iraqis.”  LINK

The Federal Court issues a decision in favor of the Kurdistan Region

Posted On2023-09-06 By Sotaliraq    The Federal Supreme Court rejected the Federal Ministry of Trade's claim to oblige its counterpart in the Kurdistan Regional Government to pay the amounts realized from the sale of ration card items for a period of 17 years.

And a decision of the Federal Court stated that “the case was filed by the Director General of the General Company for Foodstuff Trade / in addition to his job against the Minister of Trade and Industry in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq / in addition to his job and the Director General of the General Directorate of Trade in Erbil / in addition to his job, which includes a request for a judgment obligating the two defendants to pay the amounts they With their verified debt from selling the ration card items from 1/1/2004 to 9/30/2021, based on the value of the supplied materials and the number of individuals.

And the court decided to “reject the plaintiff’s claim, as it has become useless due to the issuance of Article (12/First) of Law No. (13) for the year 2023, the federal general budget of the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal years (2023-2024-2025).”

It is worth noting that the lawsuit was filed in May of last year 2022, while the Federal Court held a number of sessions that witnessed several postponements until the lawsuit was resolved yesterday, Monday, September 4.

Agents for distributing food supplies prescribed by the Ministry of Commerce receive a monthly amount of 500 dinars for each member of the families covered by it in the Kurdistan Region. LINK

Points on Error to Ponder:

False doctrine does not  necessarily make the man a heretic, but an evil heart  can  make any doctrine heretical -- Coleridge

There will be  mistakes in divinity when men  preach;  and errors  in government when  men  govern -- Dudley Carleton

Whatever is only almost true is quite false; and among the most dangerous of errors, because being so near truth, it is the more  likely to lead  astray -- Precise knowledge is the only true knowledge, and  he who does not teach exactly, does  not teach at  all --  H W Beecher

The least error should humble, but we should never permit even the greatest to discourage us -- Potter

A  man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in  other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday -- Pope

It is only an  error of judgment to make a mistake, but it argues an infirmity of character to adhere to it when discovered -- The Chinese  say, "The glory is not in never falling, but in the rising every time you fall"  Bovee