Iraqi News Monday AM 11-16-20
Iraqi News Monday AM 11-16-20
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
Paying $ 230 million in compensation to Kuwait
Monday 16th November 2020 140 Baghdad: Omar Abdul LatifAccording to the United Nations Compensation Committee, at the end of last month, Iraq paid $ 230 million in compensation to the State of Kuwait.
An official source in the committee told Al-Sabah that "the eighty-seventh session of the committee's board of directors, which was held last month, expressed its appreciation to the Iraqi government for its continued respect for its commitment to deposit 3 percent of the revenues from export sales of oil and petroleum products in the compensation fund."
He added, “The Council has studied the reports of the committee’s work, since its last session in November 2019, in various cases, where 5 payments were made, with a total total of $ 1.38 billion, including a payment of $ 230 million on October 27, 2020, and with this last installment there remains approximately $ 2.4 billion is owed in connection with the Kuwait Oil Company claim.
He explained that "the council has studied the various issues that will be dealt with in order to bring about an orderly reduction to the committee," stating that "by closing the environmental compensation program in 2013, the Kuwaiti, Jordanian and Saudi Arabian governments participating in it made a written promise to provide them with annual progress reports as long as the committee is in place,
and after the end of its work it will It submits annual reports to the Security Council unless it decides otherwise, ”affirming that“ the subject of submitting reports after closure is under consideration by the Council, and it welcomes before the decision is made that it receives from the government of Iraq in writing its views on submitting reports after closure. ” .
Resolution No. 1483 issued in 2003 stipulates that Iraq will pay 5 percent of its exports from sales of oil, its products and gas, in a UN fund established under the name (United Nations Compensation Fund), where an international compensation committee was formed in 1991, which obligated Iraq to pay $ 52.4 billion in compensation. For individuals, companies, governmental organizations and others, who suffered direct losses as a result of the occupation of Kuwait. LINK
Parliament resumes its sessions next week
Monday 16th November 2020 127 Baghdad: Morning Yesterday, Sunday, the House of Representatives reporter, Hoshyar Qardagh, suggested the resumption of the House of Representatives sessions, early next week.
Qardagh stated, in a press statement, that "according to the parliament's bylaw, the parliament session will likely be held at the beginning of next week."
He added that «the Presidency of the House of Representatives is determined to hold meetings and follow-up legislation important laws».
It is noteworthy that the last session of the House of Representatives witnessed the vote on the borrowing law, which contributed to securing the salaries of employees LINK
Oil Minister to Al-Sabah: The gas and petrochemical investment will provide thousands of jobs
Monday 16th November 2020 208 Baghdad: Hazem Muhammad Habib Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar confirmed that the projects that the ministry will start implementing, especially gas and petrochemical investment projects, will provide thousands of jobs, indicating that they will be promising and mega projects that will provide large financial revenues for the country. And Minister Abdul-Jabbar said in a brief interview to Al-Sabah: Improved gasoline prices come within the general culture that the Ministry of Oil is working to establish, and work to link fuel prices to the global price to a certain degree, while providing partial support, in a way that contributes to developing the wheel of development and opening up to the market, and reducing suffering on the shoulders of citizens. There are any tendencies at the ministry at the present time to reduce gasoline prices for the regular type ».
On the projects of laying new pipelines to export oil, the minister emphasized that "all the third, fourth and fifth sea line projects are under implementation, and work is continuing in them well." LINK
Liquidity and financial deficit
Monday 16th November 2020 51 Mohammed Sharif Abu Maysam Often the matter is confused with us between the fiscal deficit and the liquidity deficit, and we often put one of the two concepts in place of the other in our descriptions in which we refer to what the country is exposed to these days.
It seems to the public, as if we are about a scarcity of cash issued by the Central Bank, while the Central Bank confirms that the monetary mass outside the banking circulation space is estimated at about 70 percent of the issued cash, which means that there is confusion in the conversation supported by the intention to print more currency as a solution from The solutions presented, which confused the public's perceptions of the form of the crisis in conjunction with what is said about the liberalization of the exchange rate, and contributed to perpetuating the state of deflation, as a result of the demand for safe havens in converting Iraqi currency into dollars and other foreign currencies.
The concept of financial liquidity deficit differs from financial deficit, as the first expresses the rate at which assets are converted into cash, without incurring a loss in market rates, so that cash liquidity has the ability to absorb transactions without major price changes.
The lack of liquidity may lead to a drop in asset prices below the base price, or it may lead to a decline in external financing flows, a decrease in demand, or difficulty in trading assets. These features are not clearly visible in our current scene, which means that we are facing a fiscal deficit related to the public budget, resulting from a correlation of about (90 percent) of its revenues with low oil prices, and not a liquidity deficit related to market movement.
The financial deficit occurs when the state intends to spend a percentage of money more than the percentage of revenues, and it is expressed as the negative balance of the state's general budget, and sometimes the public budget deficit is said, and in this case the government is often forced to finance this deficit through external or internal borrowing, which leads To the increasing public debt.
So the matter is related to the decrease in revenues during a period of time, which is usually related to the life of the budget law, which is made to give the government the right to spend within one year under the umbrella of the administration law Financial.
Accordingly, the financial deficit indicates a problem in the way resources are used by the state, while the liquidity deficit indicates a decrease in the amount of cash in circulation. For example, it is possible to increase the revenues of the general budget by investing the state’s private assets in an optimal manner without selling them, after they remained idle for years. LINK
An invitation to employ oil revenues in national development
Monday 16th November 2020 39 Baghdad: the pillar of the emirate The industrial uses of oil represent a wide field for developing the development path of Iraq, as black gold enters as a raw material in the petrochemical industries, fertilizers, protein and medical drugs, in addition to many other industries, which requires the adoption of the modern and developed scientific method to extend the life of the country's oil reserves for the benefit of future generations.
Oil reserves
The economist, Ayada Saeed, explained that "the method of prolonging the life of oil reserves is by linking production and export levels to the size of actual needs to finance economic and social development in a way that ensures that future generations are not deprived of their legitimate rights in this wealth."
In an interview with Al-Sabah, Saeed added: “Iraq is the first oil-exporting country to introduce this scientific concept for production planning, and the first to define a method for its approach to a scientific formula that has proven successful in application since the 1970s.
Iraq plans
He continued, “Iraq has worked to develop plans to increase the efficiency of the oil industry in all its stages by increasing the productive investment of oil, which leads to improving the standard of living and expanding the absorptive capacity of the national economy and the optimum benefit from the revenues of oil wealth by maximizing the yield of oil and its manufacture and obtaining the added currency achieved. from him".
Saeed stressed, "Until the year 2003, successive Iraqi governments worked through international agreements to trade off development for oil by importing advanced technology, equipment and raw materials necessary for economic projects."
Oil revenues
Said stated, "The oil revenues work to pay the costs of economic projects and pay the dues of foreign investment companies operating in the country from the establishment of Iraqi oil exported to their countries," explaining that "the development path of the country requires the use of economic criteria when disposing of the financial resource in the field of government investment to achieve an increase in growth. Economic and diversification of sources of income and not to limit or rely on the oil sector as the only source.
And he continued, "As for government consumer spending, oil revenues must be disposed of in an efficient manner, in order to achieve a fair distribution of public services among all groups of society, in light of the social benefit."
He stressed that “the development path of the country requires not to over-exploit the oil wealth in operational expenditures only because it is from depleted resources, and that over-exploitation leads to its depletion as the only resource currently, so developing this resource and preserving the rights of generations from it when exploiting it is an economic responsibility. Political and social. " LINK
Salam Sumaisem warns of the growing indebtedness of Iraq
Monday 16th November 2020 31 Baghdad: Haider al-Rubaie The economic expert, Salam Sumaisem, warned of the growing debt rates of Iraq, and their arrival to high figures, indicating that the loans in all cases constitute an "additional cost" that could burden future budgets, criticizing at the same time, directing these loans towards operational benefits and keeping them away from Implementation of strategic projects for the country.
The Parliamentary Finance Committee had disclosed to Al-Sabah that “the external debts owed by Iraq and established within (Paris Club, Kuwait debts and the Iraqi-Iranian war) amounted to more than 136 billion dollars,” indicating that “the total amount of debt increased following the increase in borrowing. After the year 2014 and until now, it has reached more than $ 160 billion, most of which is foreign debt, and includes a very high interest rate.
The exacerbation of "external and internal" debts is a frightening concern for economists. In a statement to Al-Sabah, Sumaisem indicated that "debt servicing will be costly for those who pay, especially since the size of the repayment can double and be a burden on the shoulders of future generations."
Sumaisem explained, “Iraq, up until before the salary crisis, is essentially suffering from a debt crisis, extending to the next 61 years, and here it is necessary to raise a number of questions, which stand at the forefront of which, most of the countries that borrow have done so in order to establish foundation structures, But what is the use of borrowing to pay salaries only without establishing important strategic and anchor projects ?, indicating that "that is not logical."
The House of Representatives voted, during a session that lasted until the early morning hours of last Thursday, on the financing of the fiscal deficit law, or the so-called "borrowing law", which, according to a statement issued by the Information Department of the House of Representatives received by "Al-Sabah", guarantees the continuation of financing the salaries of employees Retirees, social protection network, ration card, contractor dues and other necessary expenses.
Despite the great advantages that the law will achieve, especially in eliminating the crisis of delay in salaries, however, Sumaisem believes that “the bankruptcy case claimed by the Ministry of Finance, does not mean that Iraq does not have money, but there is a deficit in the management of money, which constituted a burden on employees in a way.
Special, ”indicating at the same time, that“ the financial reality in Iraq lacks a lot of transparency, especially with regard to funds recycled from previous budgets, which can fill high rates of deficit, ”calling for the disclosure of these funds, and an investigation of the number of“ space employees. ” Those who cost the budget fantastic numbers LINK
The Prime Minister issues important decisions regarding the ports
Time: 11/16/2020 14:17:43 Read: 4,589 times {Baghdad: Al Furat News} The Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, issued important decisions regarding the border crossings.
The head of the Ports Authority, Major General Omar Adnan Al-Waeli, participated in the first regular session of the Council of Authorities not associated with a Ministry and independent bodies, which was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi on Monday.
"The prime minister praised the role and performance of the Border Ports Authority and the measures taken by them to control provisions and maximize government revenues," Al-Waeli confirmed in a statement.
He pointed out that Al-Kazemi agreed to "enhance the human resources of the authority by transferring the employees from the intelligence service to the staff of the authority, and to emphasize that all members of the board of the body are obligated to the decisions issued from its meetings, which include representatives of ministries, bodies and governorates concerned with border crossings."
Al-Waeli added, "The Prime Minister stressed the importance of developing border crossings and encouraging investment in them, and accelerating the process of automating customs procedures to eliminate administrative and financial corruption, as well as directing the joint operations command to close informal crossings to stop smuggling operations, harm the national economy and protect the local product."
The statement noted, "The meeting of the Council comes as a new initiative by the government, which will be held on a monthly basis to communicate with the authorities and bodies to overcome obstacles and challenges, take directions and refer what is required to the Council of Ministers for a vote." LINK
Parliamentary Finance comments on the possibility of borrowing again after the 2021 budget approval
Time: 11/16/2020 15:40:38 Read: 2,561 times {Baghdad: Al Furat News} The reporter of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ahmed Al-Saffar, confirmed the possibility of resorting to borrowing after the 2021 budget was approved.
Al-Saffar said in an interview with Al-Furat News that "it is hoped that the budget will be sent by the government to Parliament at the end of this month for a vote."
He added that "in all budgets, there is borrowing, but as a separate borrowing law, it is a constitutional violation, and there should be borrowing within the budget, as is found in various countries of the world."
He added, "It is possible that there will be borrowing because it is certain that there will be a deficit in the budget, and therefore we will be forced to borrow." LINK
Election Commission reveals the number of political parties in Iraq
Time: 11/16/2020 15:39:17 Read: 1,794 times {Baghdad: Al Furat News} The Election Commission revealed the number of parties in Iraq preparing to run for early parliamentary elections scheduled for June 6, 2021.
A statement of the Commission stated that the Euphrates News Agency received a copy of it, “In the context of promoting integration in work between the departments and divisions of the Commission, the Board of Commissioners discussed the mechanism of work of the Department of Political Parties and Organizations, the full extent of implementation of the political parties law, and following up on the actions and activities of political parties, taking into consideration Bearing in mind that the party’s principles, program, or goals do not contradict the Iraqi constitution of 2005.
The statement indicated that the Parties Department “, through its staffs, conducts periodic field visits to the headquarters of political parties, to ensure their existence and full commitment to the law, monitor their violations and administratively investigate them, and refer the criminal to the competent courts after submitting a detailed report to the Board of Commissioners.”
As for the issue of updating the registration process of political parties and granting them permission to establish, the Commission revealed that “the number of political parties that have been granted a certificate of incorporation under the (weekly party registration position) published by the Commission on its official website has reached about (230) political parties Rolling Eyes , and about (77) A political party under formation. " LINK
In its first meeting, the Council of Entities not affiliated with a Ministry and Independent Bodies issues several decisions
Time: 11/16/2020 14:59:46 Read: 2,119 times {Baghdad: Al Furat News} The media office of the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, revealed today, Monday, the details of the first session of the Council of Entities not associated with the Ministry and the independent bodies.
The media office of the prime minister said in a statement, of which Al-Furat News received a copy, that Al-Kazemi presided over the first regular session of the Council of Authorities not associated with a Ministry and independent bodies, during which a number of issues and topics included in the agenda were discussed.
Al-Kazemi pointed out, "the importance of the convening of the Council of Entities not associated with a Ministry and the Independent Bodies, which will be held monthly, and represents a new initiative for the first time in successive governments."
He indicated that "the council aims to communicate with independent bodies and bodies, to negotiate with them about issues and services provided to citizens, to overcome all obstacles and difficulties facing their work, and to refer what is required to the Council of Ministers for a vote, especially since the country faces many challenges, and all state institutions must double Efforts to overcome them and put the country on the right track. "
He stressed that "the current government is transitional, whose goal is to reach early elections, and despite those who try to put obstacles in front of it, it is determined to conduct transparent and fair elections that fulfill the aspirations of citizens and advance the country for the better."
According to the statement, the council discussed the topics on its agenda, which concern the Central Bank, the Hajj and Umrah Authority, the Border Ports Authority, the Baghdad Municipality, the Political Prisoners Foundation, and the Shiite and Sunni Endowments Diwani, and issued the following decisions:
First / Board of the Border Ports Authority
1- Obliging all ministries and bodies not associated with a ministry and the governorates to implement the decisions of the Board of Border Ports Authority, which has departments operating at border crossings, as they are represented in the council.
2- With regard to infrastructure development and rehabilitation, the Council decided:
- To oblige the governorates to allocate amounts from the 50% of the revenues of the border outlets located in their governorates.
A special meeting will be held with the Prime Minister, the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers and the Director of the Special Office to discuss the investment of the border crossings, with the aim of showing them in a decent appearance.
3- With regard to the electronic automation of customs procedures, it was decided:
Emphasis on the Ministry of Finance to complete the automation of customs and tax procedures, within the specified limits.
Activating and supporting the online platform prepared by the Border Ports Authority.
4- Borders of the Republic of Iraq, the following decision was issued:
Emphasizing on the leadership of the joint forces, the leadership of the border guards and the forces holding the land, by closing all unofficial crossings and openings, and preventing the entry of any smuggled materials in order to protect the consumer and the producer. LINK
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