Iraqi News Highlights and Points to Ponder Monday Evening 2-26-24

Do Electronic Payments Reduce The Printing Of Paper Currencies In Iraq?

Economy News – Baghdad  The Central Bank of Iraq expected, on Monday, that electronic payment operations will reduce the printing of paper currencies in the coming years.

The Director of the Operations and Settlements Department in the Information Technology and Payments Department, Zaid Hamid Rashid, said in a statement followed by Al-Iqtisad News Agency, that the bank provided the infrastructure for electronic payment operations, by spreading culture and awareness of this issue and implementing the decisions of the Council of Ministers, indicating that “ These decisions can be applied through settlement systems to activate the reciprocity through which these decisions are implemented.”

He added, "Every new work may face some obstacles, problems, and errors at the beginning, and we are working to find solutions to these obstacles," pointing out, "holding workshops and meetings in this regard, to review a number of numbers that proved the project's success and citizens' acceptance of it."

Rashid continued, "Any problem or obstacle is a complete cycle, and every party has a role in it, such as the central bank and government banks that lacked the presence of their own systems, which was the main reason for the occurrence of these problems."

He explained that "electronic payment will reduce the process of printing paper currency, as well as the strategic benefits for the state in general and the citizen in particular."

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142.4 Trillion Dinars, Total Iraqi State Spending During The Year 2023

Iraqi state spending  Economy News – Baghdad   The Iraqi state's spending during the year 2023 amounted to more than 142.4 trillion dinars.

The current budget amounted to 118.2 trillion dinars, while the investment budget amounted to 24.1 trillion dinars.

The Ministry of Finance ranked first in spending, amounting to 31 trillion dinars, followed by the Ministry of Interior with 13 trillion dinars, and oil with 12.9 trillion dinars.

Total employee salaries amounted to 47 trillion dinars last year, while revenues amounted to more than 135.6 trillion dinars.

Oil revenues accounted for 93%, reaching 125.8 trillion dinars.

Last year's financial budget ended with a real deficit of 6.6 trillion dinars.

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The Price Of Recharge Cards Has Increased Despite The Abolition Of The Tax

Economy |  02/26/2024  Mawazine News – Baghdad  The government canceled the taxes imposed on recharge cards years ago, but their prices are still high.

Mustafa Al-Karawi, a member of the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives, told the “official newspaper” followed by Mawazine News: “In past years, a 10 percent tax was imposed on mobile phone recharge cards, which led to an increase in the prices of the cards after they were sold in the same denomination written in them.” On the card,” noting that “the Council of Ministers rejected the tax, which led to its official cancellation for the citizen.”

He pointed out that “it is assumed that there will be differences in the balance, fees or profits of the store that sells these cards, provided that they do not burden the citizen,” noting that “what we are seeing at the present time is the opposite, as large sums of money increase the value of the card sold.” "For the citizen."

He added that the head of the executive body of the Media and Communications Authority, Dr. Ali Al-Moayyed, expected that “the increase in mobile phone recharge cards will go back to shop owners,” explaining that “it was set at around 500 dinars as a profit on mobile phone recharge cards.”

He stated that "the price is not the same as it was before, with 1,250,000 dinars being added to recharge cards of 5,000 dinars, or 2,500 dinars being added to cards of 10,000 dinars."

Economist Mustafa Akram Hantoush pointed out that “the tax imposed on mobile phone recharge cards in 2015 and 2016 was added to the companies’ net profit, which led to it being converted into a cost,” stressing that it is “the first time it has been transformed into that, and as a result the citizen has borne it for 7 years.” ".

He pointed out that "the current government has abolished the tax, but there is no price control, as the 5,000 recharge card is sold with an increase of 500 dinars on it, since companies sell it at the value it is on," blaming "government agencies responsible for the failure of mobile phone companies to monitor their sales, which led to... Such results."    https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=242764

List of metropolitan areas

Baghdad Dollar...A Large Demand For The Currency On Monday Evening Hinders The Continued Decline

Baghdad – 964  The demand for large quantities of foreign currency, Monday evening, obstructed the decline that seemed to be continuing in the exchange rates of the US dollar, as they rose slightly at the beginning of the week and the return of the work of the main stock exchanges and the foreign currency window at the Central Bank, but the exchange rates remained Below 152 thousand dinars for a $100 note on the main stock exchanges on the Karkh and Rusafa sides of Baghdad, with slight differences in exchange offices from one region to another.    https://964media.com/320213/

The Baghdad Dollar Rises Slightly In The Markets.. Money Exchangers Sell For 152 Thousand

Economy |Baghdad today – Baghdad  Today, Monday (February 26, 2024), the exchange rates of the dollar against the dinar recorded a slight increase in the local markets in the capital, Baghdad.

The "Baghdad Today" correspondent said, "The selling price of the dollar in banking offices in the capital, Baghdad, reached today 152,000 dinars for every 100 dollars."

He added, "The purchase price reached 150,000 dinars for every 100 dollars."  LINK

Provoking Points To Ponder on Change and Transience:

As one gets older, one discovers everything is going to be exactly the same with different hats on. - Noel Coward

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is apart of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another. - Anatole France

When you get there, there isn't any there there. - Gertrude Stein

Change must be measured from a known base line. - Evan Shute

I can generally bear the separation, but I don't like the leave-taking. - Samuel Butler

http://famousquotesandauthors.com/topics/change_and_transience_quotes.html