Iraqi News Friday PM 10-16-20
Iraqi News Friday PM 10-16-20
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
In Iraq .. 3 Files Await The Outcome Of The US Elections
Time: 10/16/2020 20:56:48 Read: 2,067 times {International: Al Furat News} Many around the world are awaiting the results of the US elections and what the victory of one of the candidates could reflect on the US foreign policies, and Iraq may be one of the most interested in what the ballot will leave.
As usual, two candidates will compete in the US elections scheduled for the third of next month, one of them affiliated with the Republican Party represented by the current President Donald Trump, and the other representing the Democratic Party, which is former Vice President Joe Biden.
It is known that both parties have different views on dealing with external and internal files alike.
What matters to the Iraqis, of course, is Washington's foreign policy, and will Iraq be among the priorities of the United States during the next four years, or not?
The US presidential elections this year come in light of the escalating discussions about the fate of the US forces in Iraq, and the attempts of political forces to pressure towards the removal of all American soldiers from the country, in addition to the file of bombing operations against the US embassy in Baghdad with missiles from time to time.
Observers believe that it is known that the United States is a state of institutions, and its foreign policies do not necessarily change for the arrival of this or that candidate to the White House, but nonetheless others believe that some files may be subject to the president's view sometimes.
Iyad Al-Anbar, a professor of political science at the University of Kufa, says that there are three important files for Iraq that could be affected by the arrival of Trump or Biden to the presidency of the United States.
The first is the file of the US military presence in Iraq, the second is related to ISIS, and the third and last file, and perhaps the most important, is the US-Iranian conflict in the region.
On the level of the American forces, Amber believes that both candidates view this file roughly the same way, as they "believe that any complete withdrawal of the American army from the country is not possible at this time for several considerations."
Al-Ambar added that the US withdrawal file is linked to the other files related to Iraq, as it may weaken the war waged by the international coalition against ISIS, and thus increase the possibility of losing the momentum of the victories achieved against the terrorist organization in Iraq and the region.
There are about three thousand American soldiers in Iraq, and discussions are currently taking place between Baghdad and Washington in order to organize this presence in the future.
On the other hand, the political science professor believes that "Biden will be completely different from Trump in this regard, as he prefers diplomatic options in order to deal with Iran, and may also press toward his old project of transforming Iraq into three federal regions." LINK
Finance Minister: There Is A Growing Political Will To Make The Fundamental Reforms Required For The Country To Deal With The Liquidity Crisis
Friday 16, October 2020 19:59 | EconomicalViews: 142
Baghdad ( NINA ) - The Minister of Finance affirmed that there is a growing political will to carry out the fundamental reforms required for the country to address the massive liquidity crisis that has pushed Iraq to the brink of collapse.
Ali Allawi said, according to the Associated Press, "There is more will now than it was five months ago. Now, I think there is recognition that unless oil prices rise miraculously, this is something we have to deal with and manage."
"It is a paper designed to create a strategic and political framework for a new Iraqi economy. At the end of this period of change and reform ... we are supposed to have a restructured and more dynamic economy, this is the aim of it," he added regarding the reform paper.
The lack of support from key political elites has undermined similar efforts in the past, he said. Al-Kazemi's government continues to rely on parliament approval for the vision to gain momentum.
Allawi said that at a later time, aspects of the plan outlined in the paper will be incorporated into the 2021 budget, which will require a vote in Parliament. Government support in the electricity and oil sectors will face special scrutiny.
"Part of the public sector finance problem is the huge amount of subsidies, and we intend to address this issue directly in the 2021 budget," the minister explained. But the public debate focused on the white paper that aims to reduce public wages from 25 percent of GDP to 12 percent.
"I've said many times before, that the share of oil revenue earmarked for salaries in 2004 was 20 percent, and now it's 120 percent," he said. “This is clearly not sustainable,” he stressed.
"I hope Parliament will approve it. If this does not happen, we have the possibility of other alternatives, but it will be more difficult," Allawi said of the bill. https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=863201
Deputy Explaining The Reasons For The High Price Of The Dollar Against The Dinar
Pratha News Agency75 2020-10-16 On Friday, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Naji Al-Saeedi, revealed the reasons behind the high exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar in the local market.
Al-Saeedi said in a press interview, "Any country that is exposed to a financial policy crisis, its monetary policy will also be affected."
Noting that "Iraq operates today according to the fixed exchange rate system, which is very exaggerated and is supportive of the external product, not the local."
Al-Saeedi added, "The shift from the fixed exchange rate to the creeping exchange rate, especially in periods of financial instability, will have a very negative impact on the expectations side, as if the price is raised to a point or two, it may affect four or five points in the market and this is for him." Negative effects on low-income and low-income citizens.
Stressing that "the use of inflationary financing or the new monetary issuance as the government borrowed treasury bonds from the central bank, the latter did not use the existing reserves of hard currency, but rather used the new cash issue." Suspect
He pointed out that "this measure by the Central Bank raised the monetary mass in Iraq from 56 trillion dinars to approximately 80 or less trillion dinars, and this increase leads to monetary inflation and continuing with it leads to an increase in the exchange rate of the dollar towards the Iraqi dinar and this is a very natural thing in monetary policy." As the new monetary issue leads to the exchange rate of the dollar, given that the government did not use real resources to finance the deficit, but rather used inflationary resources. "
Al-Saeedi stressed, "This procedure is similar to what the previous system used to do, and it is contrary to Central Bank Law No. 56 of 2004 in its Articles 32 and 28." http://burathanews.com/arabic/economic/378534
The Government Intends To Apply Income Tax To Salaries And Allowances, Starting From The Current Month
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad Informed political sources revealed that the government intends to issue a decision to apply the income tax law to the total salary since the current month of October.
The Ministry of Finance imposes an income tax of 3% to 15% on the nominal salary of employees.
The sources, who preferred not to be named, told Al-Iqtisad News that the government is directing a major crisis in providing liquidity to pay the salaries of employees, especially this month, noting that the salaries of this month are witnessing a large deficit after the government exhausted the internal loans and that oil revenues are not Enough for that.
She noted that the application of the Income Tax Law on the total salary, not just the nominal salary, will give the government an amount of 600 billion dinars.
The government applies an income tax from one dinar to 500,000 dinars at a rate of 3%, and if the salary is more than 500,000 to one million dinars, then the income tax is 5%, and if it is more than a million to 2 million, 10% is applied, and if it is more than 2 million dinars, it applies. 15%. Number of observations 226, date of addendum 10/16/2020 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=22282
Al-Kazemi Government May Increase The Internal Debt To 111 Trillion Dinars
Council of Ministers headed by Mustafa Al-Kazemi Reports Economy News – Baghdad Mustafa Al-Kazemi's government may raise the internal debt to more than 111 trillion dinars if Parliament approves the second borrowing bill, which includes borrowing 41 trillion dinars to cover the fiscal deficit for the coming months.
Iraq needs from last September until December, an amount of 57.8 trillion dinars, and the estimated financial deficit during this period is 41 trillion dinars, and the government wants to finance it through the second borrowing law.
Mustafa Al-Kazemi's government is the first government in the history of Iraq to introduce two borrowing laws in one year, and its refusal to legislate the budget law for 2020.
If the second borrowing law is approved, the level of internal debt will reach a historic stage, which is 111 trillion dinars, except for the external debt, which reaches 72 trillion dinars, and thus will exceed 70% of the GDP.
Until last August, the internal debt was 52 trillion dinars, but over the past few days, the sovereign guarantees that were granted to private investors, who borrowed from various financial sources, were 14 trillion dinars, in addition to 10 trillion dinars borrowed during the past two months. To pay employees' salaries.
Continuing the borrowing policy will lead to an increase in inflation in the local market, and a rise in commodity prices, which will harm the poor, whose proportion exceeds 30% of the Iraqi population.
The government is facing a large deficit in salaries, as it resorted to borrowing for fear of the downfall of the current political system, which most of the Iraqi people are angry with, and it did not resort to other options, for example reducing public spending, especially in the three presidencies, in which the door to employment is still open.
These amount to the central government’s debts, excluding the Kurdistan Regional Government’s debts, which exceed $ 27 billion, to international oil companies.
The head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Haitham al-Jubouri, said that continuing with the borrowing policy will lead to the collapse of the currency and thus the collapse of the economy, calling on the government to search for other solutions that are more beneficial to the economy. Number of observations 275 Date of addendum 10/16/2020 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=22283
After Its Economy Was Affected By The Decision Of OPEC + .. Iraq Is Considering Increasing Its Oil Exports
Pratha News Agency73 2020-10-16 The Parliamentary Committee for Monitoring the Governmental Program and Strategic Planning discussed, with the Minister of Oil Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, on Friday, the possibility of increasing oil exports and taking into account the exceptional economic crisis that the country is going through imposed by the Corona pandemic, as well as the negative effects the war left on the terrorist organization ISIS.
The media office of the head of the committee, MP Hazem al-Khalidi, said in a statement. “The latter, during hosting the Minister of Oil Ihsan Abdul Jabbar and the advanced cadre in the Ministry, stated that the Ministry of Oil did not follow the sober mechanisms by referring important strategic refineries projects (Karbala, Maysan, Dhi Qar, Kirkuk). In terms of studying the potential of technical and financial companies.
Al-Khalidi called for a statement, "the reasons for reducing Iraqi oil prices to Jordan, despite the existence of a stifling economic crisis in Iraq that could lead to paralyzing the national economy, as well as the Oil Ministry bearing sums for transporting and delivering crude to Jordan."
He stressed, "the importance of developing the oil sector in Iraq, good wealth management, not relying solely on selling crude oil, moving towards a free, non-rentier economy, revitalizing the private sector and providing all facilities for it," noting that "the current economic crisis requires the development of quick solutions and practical plans that take into account. The exceptional circumstance, and the current situation cannot continue without a concerted effort between the authorities. "
The committee discussed, "the ministry's plans to develop the gas sector and invest it in the right way without relying on importing it from neighboring countries and for Iraq to be an exporter of gas, as well as the petrochemical project, which will contribute to the rise of the industrial sector, operate factories and provide thousands of job opportunities for youth."
The committee touched on "the agreement with OPEC regarding Iraq's commitment to reduce its share of oil exports in the shadow of the economic and health crisis imposed by the Corona pandemic from a drop in global oil prices, as the committee discussed the possibility of increasing the share and taking into account the economic crisis that the country is going through." The exceptional circumstances imposed by the pandemic, as well as the negative effects the war left on the terrorist organization ISIS http://burathanews.com/arabic/economic/378551
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