Iraqi News Highlights Sunday Afternoon 1-22-23
Iraqi News Highlights Sunday Afternoon 1-22-23
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
The Central Bank's Procedures Are Slow..And It Must Use Its Tools To Raise The Value Of The National Currency
Jalil Al-Lami to / NINA /: Sunday 22 January 2023 | Economical Number of readings: 270 Baghdad / NINA / - The economic and political analyst, Jalil Al-Lami, considered: The Central Bank's measures regarding the dollar crisis are slow. Stressing that he must use his tools to raise the value of the national currency.
He told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /: What is happening now is that the supply of the dollar has decreased, which led to an increase in prices, and this is a natural economic result, indicating that the Central Bank of Iraq had to negotiate with the US Federal Reserve to make the procedures slower than what happened because what happened caused A shock to the commercial market in Iraq.
Al-Lami added: Now things have become difficult and more complicated, because the US Federal Reserve believes that it will not back down, and the Central Bank of Iraq is not capable of change. Therefore, the situation is likely to remain the same in terms of affecting the commercial markets.
And he stressed: In this case, the central bank must use its tools to control the dire economic situation by providing the local currency in the commercial markets in light of the decline in sales of the Central Bank of Iraq by issuing new money to fill the shortage in the commercial markets, as well as automating banking operations./ End 3 https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1028306
Raising The Value Of The Dinar Needs Internal Political Stability
Fadel Al-Badrani to / Nina /: Sunday, January 22, 2023 10:58 | political Number of readings: 291 Baghdad / NINA / - Political analyst Fadel Al-Badrani stressed that raising the value of the dinar requires internal political stability.
He told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /: The silence of the political blocs on the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar represents a failure to show treatment plans, being part of the problem, and in the eyes of the Iraqis it has become an important part of this frightening rise in the dollar, which in turn brought inflation by 7%. In the Iraqi market.
Al-Badrani added: Most of the political forces resorted to collecting money in order to survive in the swinging political scene, including resorting to smuggling foreign currency and opening private banks that contribute to undermining the stability of the financial side.
He stressed: Raising the value of the Iraqi dinar needs internal political stability that would create steadfastness in the face of external challenges and speculation, politically and financially./ End 3
https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?Key=1028292
Dollar exchange rates in the local markets
Economie| 10:08 - 01/22/2023 Baghdad - Mawazine News Today, Sunday, the exchange rates of the dollar witnessed stability in the local markets. Selling price: 162,200 dinars per 100 dollars Buying price: 162,000 dinars per 100 dollars https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=217241
Trade Actually Begins Automating The Ration Card, Starting From Najaf
Money and business Economy News-Baghdad Today, Sunday, the Ministry of Commerce announced the start of actually automating the ration card, indicating that the first stations were in the holy city of Najaf.
And the ministry stated in a statement that "the ministry has actually started automating the ration card, and the first step was in the holy city of Najaf, under the field supervision of the Minister of Commerce, Atheer Al-Ghurairy."
Al-Ghurairy said during his visit to the holy city of Najaf and meeting with its governor, Majed Al-Waeli, according to a statement, that "his presence today in the province is to supervise in the field the automation of the ration card and as a first step that was launched in Najaf, followed by other Iraqi provinces," noting that "70 percent of the ration card has been automated in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Governorate, and it is hoped that the rest of the other cards in the governorate will be completed, and thus go to all governorates.
He added, "The automation of the ration card comes within the framework of the government program announced by the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani," noting that it is "an important step in helping citizens register through their own phones without reviewing the ration centers, as well as knowing the materials supplied to citizens and making sure Of its types and powers, depending on an application that will be on citizens’ phones.”
He pointed out, "The automation service will be important to serve citizens in the possibility of knowing the types, quantities and types of processed materials, in addition to that it identifies repetitions and imaginary cases and stops all violations that occurred in the numbers of those included in the ration card."
He stressed, "Everything related to the completion of the project is now available at the Ministry of Commerce, and we have now started in Najaf in a proactive step, followed by other Iraqi provinces."
He pointed out, "The ministry needs the support of local governments and the support of the Electoral Commission for the purpose of its participation in the campaign, which will include all governorates of the country, and the aim is to complete the ration card and convert it into an electronic card," explaining that "this project was delayed by the Ministry of Commerce for a period of 5 years, due to The lack of infrastructure and as a result of the lack of a budget for this project, which is now being done by relying on the human resources of this ministry. https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=32025
British Report: Iraq Is Facing A Scarcity Of Its Currency That Will Force It To Issue New Editions
Posted On2023-01-22 By Sotaliraq Translated by: Hamed Ahmed The British Middle East Eye website quoted Iraqi officials as saying that Iraq is facing a gap in public finances that is getting deeper day by day, due to a crackdown on corruption and dollar smuggling that the US Federal Reserve has been implementing since the theft of the century.
A report by the website, translated by (Al-Mada), stated that “the crisis, which is expected to get worse during the next few weeks, is the outcome of a sharp decline that occurred in the amount of dollars that are sold daily at the Central Bank auction.” The report added, "The Iraqi government relies on the auction to convert dollars, which it earns from oil sales revenues, into dinars."
And he pointed out, “The daily sale rate of the dollar currency in the auction held by the Central Bank for private banks and companies was last year around 200 million dollars per day.”
The report pointed out that “this figure decreased sharply during the last two months of last year and reached by the end of December only 56 million dollars.”
He noted, "The government is now facing a scarcity in the liquidity of the dinar currency, which has left it struggling to pay public sector salary dues and meet other monthly obligations." A senior official in the Central Bank of Iraq, who did not give his name, said, “The problem we are facing now in Iraq is the scarcity of the Iraqi dinar, not the dollar.”
And the report indicated that “officials in Baghdad said that neighboring countries, which depend a lot on the official hard currency exchange market in Iraq to obtain dollars, are also facing a liquidity crisis, with Iran, Turkey and Syria affected by this matter.”
He explained, "The crisis has cast a shadow over the broader side of the economy, with the rise in the dollar exchange rate in informal markets since late November, from 148 dinars to 163 dinars." This affected the rise in the prices of foodstuffs consumed by the citizen.”
The report emphasized, “Iraqi officials denied the existence of any direct relationship between the current crisis and the so-called theft of the century, but they acknowledged that the US Federal Reserve imposed two months ago more stringent auditing procedures on private banks that buy dollars through auction, just weeks after The Ministry of Finance revealed the theft on October 10.”
And he stressed, “Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani had mentioned at the time that most of the stolen money was believed to have been smuggled out of the country.”
And he goes on, “The head of the Integrity Commission, Haider Hanoun, had indicated in November that Iraq had enlisted the help of friendly governments, international organizations and the United Nations to recover the stolen money.”
One of Al-Sudani's advisors said, without revealing his name, that "the Federal Reserve has begun auditing foreign financial transfers as of November in an attempt to track stolen funds."
The advisor added, "This caused delays in launching transfers and led to a decrease in the quantities of dollars sold at auction."
The advisor pointed out that “the Federal Reserve also resorted to scrutinizing the source of funds deposited with private banks participating in the auction, which motivated many of them to withdraw and increase the unofficial exchange rate for the dollar.”
And the report continues, “The Iraqi government needs at least eight trillion dinars per month (approximately $5.5 billion) to pay dues for public sector employees’ salaries, retirees, social welfare benefits, and other expenses.”
And he added, “This amount is largely secured through the currency auction,” noting that “most of this money comes from the proceeds from the sale of oil, which has been paid since 2003 in dollars and kept in an account deposited with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.”
And the report went, that “the US Treasury, for its part, transfers 10 billion dollars annually to the Central Bank of Iraq from its oil sales, in order to enhance its hard currency budget.”
Officials say that "this amount is transferred to Iraq in cash in four installments," adding that "all dollars are new and their sequence numbers are registered with the US Federal Bank for easy tracking of the place of their disbursement."
The officials explained, “The Central Bank of Iraq then sells these dollars through an auction selling hard currency and other channels in order to obtain an Iraqi dinar and deposit it with the Ministry of Finance.”
The report talked about, “The decrease in dollar sales caused a scarcity in the liquidity of the dinar at the Central Bank of Iraq.”
He pointed out, "The auction, even at the peak of its sales, often does not raise the sufficient rate that meets the government's daily needs, amounting to $275 million."
The report stressed that “this shortage is often covered by currency shares deposited with the central bank, through internal loans between the bank and the government, by printing more currency, or through other financial activities.”
And he stressed, “The data of the dollar currency auction over the past four years shows that the amount of dollars sold has remained stable at its rate, which is approximately 200 million dollars per day.”
He explained, "The auction remained at this rate even during the years 2019 and 2020, which witnessed a drop in oil prices, an outbreak of the Corona epidemic, and an economic recession."
And the report indicated that “the amount of dollars sold in the daily auction fell to the lowest rate, during the first three months of 2021.”
And it is reported that “the rate reached, in some days, only 3 million dollars sold,” adding that “the daily auction sale rate jumped in the second week of April to nearly 190 million dollars until the end of the year.” The report spoke of “the currency auctions not falling below an average of $200 million per day in the year 2022, during the first ten months of the year.”
Iraqi officials expected "the situation to further deteriorate over the next few weeks, after the Central Bank launched a new electronic platform for the currency auction at the beginning of this month." And the report went, “This platform connects all banks with the central bank, which requires them to disclose information about their customers who request bank transfers, their benefits and bank accounts, as well as other details.”
And one of Al-Sudani’s advisors said, “The new platform has complicated matters more, because the actual owners of money do not want to reveal their identities or the source of their money, and for this we do not expect that currency sales will improve anytime soon.”
The advisor added, "The pressures are increasing and the situation will get worse if the government does not take decisive measures to contain the crisis. The problem is that the available options are very limited and it takes time."
For his part, a senior official at the Central Bank said, "The amount now deposited in the bank is approximately 83 trillion dinars (56 billion dollars) and there is a need to take quick solutions." The official finds, "This does not bode well, and we cannot relax," stressing that "the currency auction outlet for the dollar is our main means of meeting the state's needs of the Iraqi dinar."
The official noted, "The currency auctions are low, and if they remain so low, the central bank must issue a new edition of the local currency."
And the report went on, that "officials said that the issuance of a new edition of the currency will lead to a devaluation of the dinar and increase the inflation rate more and increase the burdens more on the government and on the citizen." LINK
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