Iraqi News Highlights Late Friday Evening 7-21-23
Iraqi News Highlights Late Friday Evening 7-21-23
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
The Crisis Of The Rise Of The Dollar Returns To The Fore... And An Upcoming Parliamentary Procedure
Posted On2023-07-21 By Sotaliraq On Friday, the Parliamentary Finance Committee confirmed its intention to host the governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance during the next week, to find out the reasons for not controlling the parallel exchange rate.
The parallel price means the exchange rate of the dollar in the market and exchange offices, and not the official rate set at 1132 dinars per dollar, according to the decision of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Iraq, which was approved by the Council of Ministers.
The exchange rates of the US dollar rose against the Iraqi dinar, in the Baghdad markets, and in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, after Washington imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks.
As the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges recorded, with the closing, yesterday evening, Thursday, 150,900 dinars for 100 dollars, while in Erbil it recorded 151,000 dinars for every 100 dollars, and the purchase price was 150,950 dinars for 100 dollars.
In this context, Moein Al-Kazemi, a member of the Finance Committee, deputy, says, “The government tried to control the exchange rate, by reducing the dollar from 145 to 130, and was able to provide remittances to countries to which remittances can be sent.”
Al-Kadhimi added, “But there are other countries from which Iraqi merchants import, and US sanctions prevent sending these remittances, forcing these merchants to obtain dollars from the parallel market.”
And he explains, “Which leads to the dollar’s price remaining high in this market, and with the recent measures of the US Federal Reserve not to deal with a number of private banks, this had an impact on the dollar’s price rise, to reach 155.”
Regarding the procedures of the Finance Committee in this regard, Al-Kazemi confirms, “There will be a hosting of the Governor of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance during the next week, to find out the real reasons for the inability to control the parallel price.”
A member of the Finance Committee explains, “The lack of control over the parallel price is due to the sanctions imposed by the United States on countries such as Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, and even on some Turkish companies, which leads to an increase in the black market demand for the dollar.”
On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks in a crackdown on Iran's dollar transactions.
The Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying that "the move came after the disclosure of information indicating that the targeted banks were involved in money laundering and fraudulent transactions."
The newspaper added, “Some of these operations may relate to individuals subject to sanctions, which increases fears that Iran will benefit from it.
A senior US official told the newspaper: “We have strong reason to suspect that some of these money laundering operations may benefit either individuals covered by US sanctions, or people who may be included in the sanctions.”
"The main danger of sanctions in Iraq is definitely related to Iran," the US official added.
Shafak Agency learned that the sanctions affected “banks (the Islamic Advisor for Investment and Finance, the Islamic Al-Qartas for Investment and Finance, as well as the Islamic Spectrum, Elaf Bank, Erbil Bank for Investment and Finance, the International Islamic Bank, Pan-Iraq Bank, Mosul Bank for Development and Investment, Al-Rajeh Bank, Sumer Commercial Bank, Trust International Islamic Bank, Ur Islamic Bank, Islamic World Bank for Investment and Finance, and Zain Iraq Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance.”
And the US Treasury Department prevented four other Iraqi banks from accessing the dollar last November, and also imposed, in cooperation with the Central Bank of Iraq, stricter controls on financial transfers in the country in general.
In the past weeks, the Central Bank of Iraq had excluded 4 private Iraqi banks from the currency sale auction (namely: Al-Ansari, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Al-Qabid, and Asia) following directives and warnings from the US Treasury about these banks accused of smuggling currency. LINK
Oil Rises Due To Supply Cuts... Brent Crosses $80
Friday 21 July 2023 09:56 | Economical Number of readings: 446 Baghdad / NINA / - Brent crude prices rose in Asian trading, today, Friday, amid market assessments of the possibility of announcing economic stimulus measures in China after weak economic data, in addition to declining inventories in the United States and reducing supplies from two major producers.
Brent crude futures rose 63 cents to $80.27 a barrel by 0425 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 62 cents to $76.27 a barrel. Prices ended Thursday slightly higher.
For the week as a whole, Brent crude is heading for a 0.5 percent rise, while US crude is heading for a 1.1 percent increase. This means that the two benchmarks continued to rise for the fourth week in a row.
Weak economic data from China weighed on oil prices all week after the world's second-biggest oil consumer reported disappointing growth in gross domestic product for the second quarter, raising the possibility of missing the government's 5 percent annual economic growth target.
However, sentiment in commodities markets rebounded on hope that the central government would introduce more stimulus measures to support the economy.
And Beijing announced last Wednesday that it will lay out plans to stabilize the growth of ten sectors, in addition to increasing support for private companies.
Supporting prices was a decline in US crude inventories, supported by a jump in crude exports, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
In addition, recent data, such as a lower-than-expected inflation rate and moderate job growth, have convinced many investors and analysts that the Federal Reserve's expected rate hike this month will be the last in the current tightening cycle.
Higher interest rates could slow economic growth and lower demand for oil.
Riyadh announced in early July that it would extend a voluntary production cut of one million barrels per day until August, while Moscow said it would reduce exports by 500,000 barrels per day in August https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1066152
Minister Of Communications: We Are Working To Complete The Procedures For Iraq's Accession To The Digital Cooperation Organization
Money and business Economy News _ Baghdad Today, Friday, Minister of Communications Hayam Al-Yasiri confirmed work to complete the procedures for Iraq's accession to the Digital Cooperation Organization.
A statement by the Ministry of Communications, received by "Al-Iqtisad News", stated that "Al-Yasiri met, via video conference technology, the Secretary-General of the Digital Cooperation Organization, Dima Al-Yahya, and discussed with her completing the procedures related to Iraq's accession to the Digital Cooperation Organization and the services that the organization can provide to Iraq in the field of digitization."
Al-Yasiri emphasized that "Iraq seeks to be an active member in the organization, which is considered one of the specialized organizations that are concerned with advancing the reality of communications and informatics and transferring advanced experiences to the organizing countries to them, in a way that contributes to strengthening digital cooperation between these countries."
Views 47 07/21/2023 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=35254
The Central Bank Of Iraq Issues A Statement Regarding Depriving Some Iraqi Banks From Dealing In Dollars
Economy | 12:58 - 07/20/2023 Baghdad - Mawazine News The Central Bank of Iraq issued, on Thursday, a statement regarding the deprivation of some Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars, while indicating that those banks' requests do not constitute only 8% of the total external transfers.
The bank stated in a statement that Mawazine News received a copy of it, that “against the background of recent media news, the Central Bank of Iraq issued a statement regarding depriving some Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars: In addition to its right to international dealings in currencies other than the US dollar .
3- The application of the electronic platform for external transfers ensures the safety and accuracy of transfer transactions from all aspects, in accordance with international standards and practices, and the law against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The US Federal Bank, the US Department of the Treasury and international financial institutions praise this system, and it enjoys their care, with high coordination from those parties, and with an accredited international auditor.
4- What the Central Bank of Iraq has achieved in terms of expanding transfer channels and approved correspondent banks makes transfer operations available and secure, and that the number of local banks that do this is able to cover all transfer requests, with the ability of the Central Bank of Iraq to cover them without restrictions or ceilings, as long as they involve legitimate operations, bearing in mind that banks banned from the dollar do not make up their requests for only 8% of the total external transfers.
5- The announced exchange rate in the market is based on cash dollars granted by the Central Bank of Iraq to cover citizens’ requests for travel and others, and because of the citizen’s need for the national currency, some merchants and others withdraw dollars for trade or other purposes, away from the platform and away from the fundamental transfer contexts, which leads to an increase in the exchange rate on the black market, which is not a parallel market, as long as the source of the dollar is the central bank and not from within the market.
Establishing a mechanism to link imports, and what proves the existence of a fundamental financial transfer corresponding to its value in order to prevent the use of illegal means to pay their values that constitute unjustified pressure on the cash dollar, and helps, on the other hand, to control manipulation and smuggling of imports. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=231700
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