Iraqi News Highlights Thursday Afternoon 2-23-23
Iraqi News Highlights Thursday Afternoon 2-23-23
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
Linking Iraq To The Global "Swift" System Will Limit Currency Smuggling Abroad
Parliamentarian for / NINA /: Tuesday 21 February 2023 18:26 | Economical Number of readings: 257 Baghdad / NINA / - A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, MP for the Islamic Union of Kurdistan, Ahmed Hama Rashid, confirmed: "Linking Iraq to the "Swift" network will limit currency smuggling abroad and the volume of currency that goes towards money laundering."
Rashid said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /: "The linking procedures need a period of time in order for all Iraqi banks to deal or all Iraqi banks are linked to the global" SWIFT "network," noting:
"Dealing through the SWIFT system will limit From the phenomenon of tax evasion, and therefore there will be transparency in the persons and investors dealing in financial exchange.
And about whether linking to the system prevents the neighboring countries of Iraq from benefiting from the dollar or vice versa, he explained:
"This requires a period of time, monitoring and auditing of commercial and banking transactions in Iraq."
And a member of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Ali Shariati, said earlier today, Tuesday:
“Linking Iraq to “Swift” hinders Iran’s circumvention of sanctions . Circumventing the US sanctions imposed on us. / End8 https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1035873
Iraq Needs To Address The Economy’s Structural Imbalances To Halt The Dinar’s Volatility
MENASource February 21, 2023 By Ahmed Tabaqchali A planned implementation of global procedural requirements for cross-border payments by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) in mid-November 2022 had a detrimental effect on the volumes of the CBI’s daily “Foreign Currency Selling Window,” better known as the CBI’s US Dollar (USD) auction.
The decreased volumes versus the continued high demand for USD led to a supply-demand mismatch and, consequently, to a depreciation of the market price of the Iraqi Dinar (IQD) versus the USD.
The Iraqi government and the CBI subsequently introduced a series of measures to create domestic demand for the IQD and to accelerate the adoption of banking in the economy—crucial measures to de-dollarize the economy and accelerate its evolution away from the dominance of cash and informality, which are the structural causes behind the currency’s turmoil.
As crucial as these measures are, their full effectiveness will take place over several years, and so the IQD has continued to depreciate.
Pressured by the public’s furor for immediate solutions from the authorities, the CBI, spurred by populist rhetoric, and with the government’s blessing, opted for a 10 percent revaluation of the IQD exchange rate against the USD in the hope that the IQD would reverse its depreciation.
Fundamentally, the revaluation in nominally lowering the official exchange rate does not change the current relationship between the market and the official exchange rates.
Nevertheless, the procedural requirements implemented by the CBI in mid-November 2022 were the latest stages of a process that started over two years ago, which were the product of extensive planning by the CBI and the Ministry of Finance on the Iraqi side and the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department on the US side.
The aim was to bring Iraqi banking technical procedures for cross-border payments fully in line with global standards, which themselves evolved over the last two decades.
As such, the new procedures, unlike the old ones, require full disclosure of the details of cross-border payments—including those of the ultimate beneficiary and the sender—before the payment takes place.
Crucially, they do not involve the provision of new information by Iraqi banks.
Instead, they lead to a digitized, effective, and electronically verifiable means of transmitting the same information they provided in the past.
The effect was immediately transmitted through a decline in the market price of the IQD versus the USD.
These decreased volumes in the CBI’s USD auctions versus the continued high demand for USD to satisfy the need for imports—amplified by an expansionary budget—will continue to pressure the market price of the exchange rate of the IQD versus the USD.
As such, the triggers for the exchange rate volatility are technical.
Nevertheless, the underlying causes are fundamental and due to the structural fault lines of the Iraqi government’s processes and the economy.
All of these create the perfect environment for the prevalence and persistence of corruption and fraud on a large scale with impunity.
As a result, this makes the country vulnerable to becoming a conduit for money laundering and sanctions evasion schemes.
The top priority for Iraq and its international partners and stakeholders should not be a narrow focus on addressing the symptoms of corruption, money laundering, and sanctions evasion.
Instead, it should be a multi-year collaboration on addressing their structural enablers along three broad fronts: the modernization of the government’s outdated bureaucratic paper-based processes;
increasing adoption of banking in the economy by accelerating its evolution away from the dominance of cash and informality; and furthering the government’s new measures to de-dollarize the economy.
Ahmed Tabaqchali is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. He is an experienced capital markets professional with over 25 years’ experience in US and MENA markets, and the Chief Strategist AFC Iraq Fund.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/iraq-needs-to-address-its-structural-fault-lines-to-halt-its-currencys-exchange-rate-volatility/
The Region Sends A New Delegation To Baghdad To Discuss Oil And Gas Laws And The Budget
Posted On2023-02-23 By Sotaliraq Yesterday, Wednesday, the Kurdistan Regional Council of Ministers held its regular weekly meeting headed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and discussed a number of files included in its agenda, while it decided to send a new delegation to Baghdad to discuss oil and gas laws and the budget.
In the first paragraph of the agenda of the meeting, according to a statement received by (Al-Mada), the Prime Minister presented a summary of the results of the participation of the Kurdistan Regional Government delegation and its meetings at the World Summit of Governments in Dubai, UAE, and its meetings and meetings with senior Emirati and international officials, as well as his visit to France and his meeting with The President of the Republic and senior French officials.
The Prime Minister and members of the delegation indicated that those two countries welcomed the delegation of the regional government at the highest levels, which indicates the important and well-established status of the Kurdistan region and the development of its diplomatic path within the international community.
The Prime Minister stated that the meetings focused on ways to strengthen relations between the Kurdistan region, the Emirates, France and countries of the world, in addition to discussing the latest developments, developments and general conditions in Iraq and the region.
The second paragraph of the agenda was devoted to presenting the results of the visit of the high-ranking negotiating delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government to Baghdad and its meetings with the federal government delegation on February 19, regarding the draft federal oil and gas law, which was presented by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Awat Sheikh Janab, and members of the delegation.
Iraqi News Highlights Thursday Afternoon 2-23-23
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
The Prime Minister praised the delegation of the region, stressing that the Kurdistan region has always supported a radical solution to the problems with the federal government through dialogue and negotiation and on the basis of the constitution. all Iraqi citizens.
The Prime Minister also reaffirmed that the Kurdistan Region will never give up its constitutional rights and entitlements.
The Council of Ministers decided to visit the Kurdistan Region team concerned with the federal budget and oil and gas bills, Baghdad today, Thursday, to move forward with the discussions in order to complete the final steps regarding determining the share of the Kurdistan region from the federal budget, as well as discussing preparations related to the draft federal oil and gas law.
In the third and final paragraph of the agenda, the Minister of Construction and Housing, Dana Abdul Karim, presented a draft law (public roads in the Kurdistan region). The draft law aims to protect the safety of public roads and put an end to tampering with and transgression, in addition to defining prohibitions on public roads.
After discussions and deliberations, it was decided to conduct an extensive research on the draft law with the aim of preparing it for the upcoming meetings of the Council of Ministers, and then endorsing it and referring it to the Kurdistan Parliament. LINK
Finance Minister: Iraq looks forward to the support of the World Bank to implement the national strategic goals
Finance Minister Taif Sami Muhammad affirmed Iraq's aspiration to support the World Bank to implement the national strategic goals.
A statement by the ministry said, "Minister of Finance Taif Sami Muhammad received a delegation from the International Finance Corporation for the Middle East and Asia region (IFC), affiliated with the World Bank Group, headed by the investment officer Julie Kalos and Bilal Rabah, the resident representative of the institution in Iraq, and in the presence of the Director General of the Iraqi Fund for External Development, Brin Abdul Salam." .
The statement added, "The importance of the role played by the International Finance Corporation alongside the Iraqi government in advancing sustainable development projects in Iraq, including supporting renewable energy projects and electrical interconnection with neighboring countries, and enhancing opportunities to involve the private sector alongside the public in implementing the reform national economy strategy, was discussed." ".
According to the statement, the minister stressed the importance of the studies and consultations provided by the International Finance Corporation in the field of capacity building and technical cooperation to achieve the goals of sustainable development, especially with regard to environmental rehabilitation projects, the reconstruction of liberated cities and economic reform, stressing the keenness of the Ministry of Finance to enhance the work process and coordination with the International Finance Corporation. To stimulate private sector growth and job creation in Iraq.
She added, "Iraq is looking forward to more support from the World Bank Group to implement the national strategic goals in addition to the structural reform programs adopted by the new Iraqi government, calling for" strengthening cooperation and coordination between Iraq and the World Bank and expressing the necessary assistance to overcome the obstacles facing the institution's work in Iraq. .
https://www.radionawa.com/all-detail.aspx?jimare=33519
Exchange rates of the dollar against the dinar
Economie| 10:07 - 02/23/2023 Baghdad - Mawazine News publishes / Mawazine News /, the exchange rates of the dollar against the dinar for today, Thursday. Selling price: 150,000 dinars per 100 dollars Buying price: 149,500 dinars per 100 dollars https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=220084
The Iraq Stock Exchange Ends The Week's Trading, Up By More Than 4%
Market Economy News / Baghdad The Iraqi Stock Exchange announced that the index increased by more than 4% with the end of the week's trading.
The number of shares traded during this week was more than (107) billion shares, with a value of more than (136) billion dinars.
The trading index in the market closed for the first session of the week at (607.26) points, while the index closed at the end of the week at (636.55) points, achieving an increase of (4.60%) over its closing at the beginning of the session.
During the week, more than (2900) buying and selling contracts were executed on the shares of companies listed in the market. https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=32620
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