Iraqi News Friday PM 12-3-21
Iraqi News Friday PM 12-3-21
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
IMF Staff Concludes Virtual Visit to Iraq
December 3, 2021 End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board.
The economy is recovering from last year’s sharp contraction, helped by higher oil prices and easing of the containment measures. Non-oil real GDP is expected to rebound by 12 percent in 2021 while the fiscal and current account balances are expected to improve significantly.
Higher oil revenues present the opportunity to tackle Iraq’s significant vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience, and achieve durable and more inclusive growth. The IMF stands ready to support Iraq toward these ends.
Washington, DC: A staff team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Tokhir Mirzoev held a virtual mission with the Iraqi authorities during November 28 - December 2 to discuss recent economic developments and outlook as well as policy priorities in the period ahead.
At the end of the mission, Mr. Mirzoev issued the following statement:
“The Iraqi economy is recovering from last year’s sharp contraction, helped by the increase in oil revenues and easing of the COVID-19 containment measures. In recent weeks, new COVID-19 infections have declined significantly, and the vaccination rate has been gradually improving.
Real non-oil GDP is expected to expand by 12 percent in 2021 and oil output is projected to gradually increase in line with the OPEC+ agreements. Inflation has reached 7.2 percent in September and is projected to ease in the coming months.
The fiscal and external current account balances are expected to improve significantly in 2021 from double-digit deficits in 2020, mainly due to higher oil prices. The recovery is expected to continue in the medium term albeit subject to considerable downside risks, most notably related to the oil market volatility and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Higher oil revenues present an important opportunity to tackle Iraq’s significant underlying vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience to future climate and other challenges, and advance key socio-economic priorities. Achieving these goals will require strengthening public finances, while creating the fiscal space for much-needed investment and social safety nets and promoting private sector development.
To this end, key priorities include a civil service reform aimed at increasing public sector’s efficiency and containing the wage bill, reducing inefficient energy subsidies, diversifying fiscal revenues, stemming losses in the electricity sector, strengthening governance.
Improving the coverage and targeting of social assistance will help better protect the most vulnerable. And restructuring large state-owned banks and strengthening their governance will be critical to revitalizing the financial sector and ensuring private sector’s access to finance. The IMF stands ready to support Iraq in these endeavors.
“The IMF staff team would like to thank the authorities for candid and productive discussions during this mission.”
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/12/03/pr21357-iraq-imf-staff-concludes-virtual-staff-visit?cid=em-COM-123-43980
Al-Sadr Comments On The Shape Of The Next Iraqi Government
Posted On 2021-12-03 By Sotaliraq The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, commented today, Thursday, on the shape of the next Iraqi government.
And he wrote on his Twitter account after his meeting with the “Coordination Framework”: “Neither Eastern nor Western, a national majority government.”
The "Sadr bloc" led by Muqtada al-Sadr won the highest number of seats in the last legislative elections that took place on the tenth of last October, with 73 out of 329 seats. LINK
Including Fighting Corruption...NATO Sets 14 Goals For Its Mission In Iraq
Posted On 2021-12-03 By Sotaliraq Today, Thursday, the NATO mission in Iraq revealed that there are 14 joint missions in the country, including the fight against corruption.
The commander of the mission in Iraq, Major General Michael Lolliscard, said: "We agreed with the Ministry of Defense on some long-term goals, and what we want to achieve. We have, for example, some technical issues."
He added, "We have 14 long-term goals that we are working on in terms of training, in terms of human resources management, in terms of women's peace and security, in terms of fighting corruption and others."
"We now hope that ISIS will be defeated soon, and the Iraqis will enter a new phase in which they will not be in a state of war. They have been in a state of war for many years, and they are now entering a new phase free of war."
For his part, Colonel Andrea Arutman, Senior Adviser to NATO, said, "The NATO mission in Iraq is to provide capacity building, so it seeks to achieve long-term achievements, so we focus on this matter, not on short-term achievements."
"And therefore it is very important to involve our Iraqi counterparts as much as possible," he added.
NATO supports Iraq in strengthening its security institutions and armed forces, to have a greater ability to stabilize their country, fight terrorism and prevent the return of ISIS, and to achieve this, NATO provides advice to relevant Iraqi officials in the defense and security sectors working in the Ministry of Defense, the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Operations Center National Prime Minister's Office. LINK
United Nations: Strengthening Coordination And Cooperation Is Essential In The Fight Against Terrorism
Posted On 2021-12-03 By Sotaliraq On Friday, the United Nations Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) stressed the importance of strengthening security coordination and cooperation in the battle against terrorism.
This came as a comment on the attack launched by ISIS last Thursday night in Makhmour district, which resulted in the death of a number of civilians and Peshmerga forces, and the injury of others.
“Our deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones in last night’s heinous attack in Makhmour,” the mission tweeted. We wish the wounded a full and speedy recovery.”
The mission called for strengthening coordination and security cooperation, which is essential in the ongoing battle against terrorism. LINK
A Jump In Oil Prices After OPEC Declined To Increase Its Production
Fri 03 December 2021 09:25 | economic Number of readings: 423 Baghdad / NINA / - Oil prices jumped, on Friday, extending its gains, after OPEC + said that it will review its plans to increase production before its next scheduled meeting if the new “Omicron” strain of the Corona virus weakens demand, but prices are still on the decline path for a sixth week.
Brent crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $69.79 a barrel at 01:22 GMT, after having jumped 1.2 percent in the previous session.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were not less fortunate than the previous one, as it also rose 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $ 66.77 a barrel, adding to its gains of 1.4 percent at the end of trading on Thursday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, in what is known as OPEC +, surprised the markets yesterday, Thursday, when it announced adherence to plans to increase oil production per month by another 400,000 barrels per day in January./End
https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=942596
An Informed Source Reveals The Nature Of The Coordination Framework Meeting
Fri 03 December 2021 22:09 | politicalNumber of readings: 344 Baghdad / NINA / - An informed source revealed the nature of the coordination framework meeting today, Friday, in Hammam Hammoudi's office.
The source said that the meeting agreed to form delegations to visit the various national forces to express their position, as well as to call for a joint administration for the next stage.
He added, "The framework's position on the election results was affirmed, and the court's pleading was awaited on his submitted appeals."/ https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=942707
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