Iraqi News Thursday Evening 9-1-22
Iraqi News Thursday Evening 9-1-22
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
The Appearance Of Muhammad Saleh: The Deficit Of The Upcoming Budgets Is Controlled By 3 Tracks
Thursday 01 September 2022 14:54 | Economic Number of readings: 452 Baghdad / NINA / - The financial expert, advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed: "The deficit of the upcoming budgets is controlled by 3 tracks." He said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /:
"These tracks are: the ceiling of total expenditures and annual oil revenues, which are available from the accumulated financial reserve, which forms the material basis of the Sovereign Fund and the method of its management and investment of its resources in whole or in part."
He added, "The abundance or the deficit depends on the financial planning, the expenditure aspects, and the expenditure ceilings approved in the annual general budget draft law in light of the estimation of the actual public revenues.
If the expenditures for the year 2022 are approved with a growth rate of 10% per cent in total expenditures for the purposes of new projects, the budget will be The general public in 2023 is in a state of equilibrium,
provided that the average price of a barrel of oil is not less than 75 dollars and an export capacity of 3.3 million barrels of oil per day,
while maintaining a hedge account from the financial surpluses achieved in 2022 and looking forward to the formation of a sovereign fund.
He explained that: "With the total annual spending ceiling fixed, any rises in the average barrel of oil will lead to savings that will be subject to the foundations and principles of Article 19 of the Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019 amended regarding the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund automatically.
Saleh continued: Contrary to what was mentioned above and the precautions to face the drop in oil prices to an average of $50 a barrel in the coming year with the spending ceiling fixed, it will lead to an actual deficit, but it will be financed from the surplus and revolving reserve balance from the year 2022,
when we talk about the 2023 budget with the ceiling of expenditures for the year 2022 / In addition to a growth in expenditures of 10%, as we mentioned when forming the public spending ceiling. / End 3
https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=997673
Iraq On The Corner Of "Silk"... Oil In Exchange For Construction Under The Abdul Mahdi Agreement
Reports & Analytics Iraq China Chinese agreement
2022-09-01 06:59 Shafaq News / The Chinese agreement opened the door wide for Beijing to flow into the sectors of the Iraqi economy, a move that sparked Western fears that Baghdad would become a hostage to the Chinese dragon, like many capitals of emerging Asian countries that sank into several economic crises due to its absolute dependence on investments Chinese.
Unlike the West, Beijing provides generous aid to Iraq without imposing political conditions on Iraqi leaders, such as achieving more democracy or pursuing structural reform policies for the local economy, so cooperation with China appears more attractive.
In October 2019, the then Prime Minister of Iraq, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, signed an agreement with China that activated the "oil for reconstruction" program, under which dozens of Chinese companies pledged to work in Iraqi infrastructure in exchange for Beijing receiving 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
This revived another old agreement signed by Abdul-Mahdi also with Beijing in 2015.
He carried the same principles, but at the time he was Minister of Oil during the era of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, after Iraq agreed to engage in the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative in exchange for signing the "Oil for Reconstruction” agreement, which
Its provisions included allowing Chinese companies to invest heavily in all of Iraq's economic joints in return for providing China with a specified number of barrels of oil.
The "2015 agreement" was not implemented due to the political tensions experienced by Iraq, which resulted in governments being subjected to successive ministerial changes that froze the "China deal" until Abdul Mahdi took the helm and revived it again.
Under the new agreement, Chinese companies will build 1,000 schools in Iraq
- with a pledge to explore building another 7,000 in the future
- and work has begun to build an airport in Nasiriyah, 90,000 homes in Sadr City and 1,000 medical facilities, as well as implementing a comprehensive sanitation improvement process.
In Baghdad and building a "science city" in northern Iraq that will include a huge university, research laboratories and public parks, unlike dozens of other projects in Iraqi infrastructure implemented by Chinese companies with funding from Chinese banks.
US Withdrawal
These steps come at a time when the United States is reducing its presence in the country, after it announced the end of its “combat missions” in Iraq, and shifted the roles of the remaining soldiers (2,500 American soldiers, and a thousand other coalition soldiers) to advisory missions, which reflects the pursuit of Beijing is quick to fill any void that the United States may leave in Iraq.
On the economic level as well, many Western oil companies have begun to reduce their presence in Iraq due to the country being considered a “risky investment environment” and the spread of corruption in the country, most notably the exit of the American oil company ExxonMobil from the “West Qurna 2” oil field despite official government appeals. her not to do so.
The British "BP" intends to take a similar step with its investments in the "Rumeil" field, the largest oil field in Iraq.
As a result of these steps, Chinese companies do not stop acquiring concessions from Iraq's oil fields one by one.
After ISIS
Iraq succeeded in ending the control of ISIS over large parts of its territory, but, despite the victory, the price was heavy: the country's infrastructure collapsed, and Iraq needed 88 billion dollars to rebuild its dilapidated infrastructure, according to estimates by World Bank experts.
On the other hand, Beijing's hunger for energy does not stop, which has put it on the throne of the country most in demand for oil in the world, so it does not stop making deals that secure oil right and left: with Iran, Saudi Arabia and finally Iraq, which China set as a main target immediately after the fall of Hussein's system.
In 2010, 80% of Iraq's debts, amounting to 8.5 billion dollars, were written off at the time, in exchange for "strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries."
This step had its effect and Chinese companies began to penetrate Iraq little by little: in 2018, China imported 27 percent of Iraq's total oil, and thus China paid $22 billion out of the $83 billion that Iraq earned that year as a result of selling its oil to countries around the world.
On The Corner Of Silk
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the "Belt and Road" initiative, which he considered to be the new Silk Road in this era, in reference to the complex network of roads used by Chinese tribes in the past to sell their goods around the world.
Iraq occupies a cornerstone of this initiative.
Therefore, Beijing is interested in developing its relationship with Baghdad so that it becomes a cornerstone in its commercial communication between the countries of the Middle East and the rest of the countries that fall within the scope of the Chinese initiative, which amounts to 125 countries, according to what Beijing announced.
Iraq, which has the fifth largest oil reserves in the world, and a strategic geographic location in the heart of the Middle East, is considered by China as its cornerstone to control trade across Europe and Asia,
in addition to its ability to play the role of a "shipping corridor" to transport its goods to other countries in the Gulf, Turkey or Israel as well as to Syria and Lebanon.
And for the historical irony, Iraq in ancient times played a key role in the Chinese trade route, which enjoyed great support from the “Han” dynasty of the Chinese empire thanks to the close relations that developed between China and the Arabs since ancient times.
Kurdistan
As for the Kurdistan Region, China's ambition to expand into Iraq does not depend only on dealing with Baghdad, but Beijing has also shown an interest in being present within the autonomous region within the state.
In 2014, Beijing opened a consulate in Erbil, a move that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming justified by his country's desire to strengthen "bilateral relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in various fields."
During the Corona pandemic, Beijing provided the Kurdish region with huge aids of masks, sterilizers, and medical supplies, and just last year, the two parties signed an agreement worth billions of dollars to build dozens of mega projects in Erbil in the fields of cement, housing, tourism and commercial centers.
In August last year, Qingcheng, the Chinese commercial consul in Erbil, said the province had become a "gold mine" for foreign investment.
https://shafaq.com/ar/تقارير-وتحليلات/العراق-على-ناصية-الحرير-نفط-مقابل-بنا-بموجب-اتفاقية-عبد-المهدي
Jalil Al-Lami: The Smuggled Money File Is Very Complicated And The Countries Of The World Do Not Cooperate For Many Reasons
Wednesday 31 August 2022 23:44 |Economic Number of readings: 783 Baghdad / NINA / - The economic expert, Jalil Al-Lami, confirmed:
"The file of smuggled money is a very complex file, especially with the internal and external problems facing this file." Al-Lami said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA:
"The volume of smuggled funds exceeds (350) billion dollars," noting that: "There is no international cooperation, even if the Iraqi government obtains judicial decisions from international courts."
Al-Lami explained: "The reason is that most politicians are dual nationals, and the secrecy of banking work in many countries, especially Switzerland, prevents the disclosure of the names and addresses of depositors." He added:
Al-Lami pointed to the failure to activate the UN Money Laundering Convention for the year (2005), which was ratified by Iraq in Law No. (35) in (2007), which may play a major role in recovering funds in the event that internal conditions are met in the country.
He continued, "The weakness of the government internally stands as an obstacle to recovering the funds, in addition to the rampant corruption in government institutions." / End 3
https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=997577
Smuggled Money That The State Is Unable To Recover
Wednesday 31 August 2022 19:28 | Economic Number of readings: 445 Baghdad / NINA / - The economic expert, Saleh Al-Hamashi, confirmed:
"The file of corruption, especially the smuggled money, is a very complex and thorny file, because most of this money belongs to political or religious figures who have investments in regional and European countries."
He said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /:
"Diving into such a file leads to political and social problems, so the state is unable even to announce the size of this smuggled money."
Al-Hamashi added: "There are estimates based on the volume of consumption and government spending along with the revenues obtained by the Iraqi state, compared to the level of project completion.
These funds are estimated at more than $100 billion, and this has caused many Western countries, especially the United States and European countries, to smuggle money. and the Iraqi money laundering process.
He explained: "Everything that the state does in following up the smuggled money and how to recover it does not go beyond collecting data or forming special committees,"
noting: "Recovering money from abroad requires a court decision to be dealt with by the state in which those funds are, and this is very difficult for the government." Iraq,
because it will face political and social figures, as well as figures, perhaps within the government, who will be affected by these legal measures." / End 3 https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=997527
Integrity: A Prison Sentence Was Issued Against An Associate Of A Government Bank In Anbar
On September 1, 2022 The Independent/ The Federal Integrity Commission announced the issuance of a prison sentence and a financial fine against the assistant branch manager of a government bank in Anbar;
This is against the background of the case of embezzled funds from the bank.
The Commission’s Investigation Department, while talking about the case that it investigated and referred to the judiciary, stated, in a statement, which the Independent received a copy of, that “the Rusafa Criminal Court, which is specialized in integrity issues, issued a ruling ordering a sentence of imprisonment for a period of (15) years, with a fine of Rs. (10,000,000) million dollars against the assistant director of Al-Rafidain Bank - Khalidiya branch.”
She added that "the court, after reviewing the papers, investigation records, seized exhibits, evidence and evidence obtained in this case, reached full conviction of the defendant's negligence, and decided to convict her by issuing a judgment in attendance, imprisoning her for (15) years, with a fine of $10,000,000; Based on the requirements of Article (36) of the Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Law No. (39) of 2015.”
And the department continued, explaining, “the steps taken after the issuance of a life sentence to the director of Al-Rafidain Bank - Khalidiya branch; For his participation with his assistant and other employees in embezzling an amount of (50,000,000,000) billion dinars from the bank resulting from the disbursement of pensioners’ money in Anbar. to access the embezzled money.”
In cooperation with law enforcement agencies and according to judicial memoranda, “a team from the department carried out raids and searches on the homes of the convicts, each of the Rafidain Bank branch manager and his assistant, in coordination between the Baghdad Investigation Directorate and the land holding force in Anbar Governorate, where the team was able to find money inside their homes.”
Its value reached more than half a billion Iraqi dinars, in addition to seizing (9) real estate bonds distributed in different areas in Baghdad.
And she pointed out that "its continuous operations led to the discovery of a huge multi-storey building in the center of Al-Mansour city and a plot of land in the same location (belonging to the accused), as well as a house with an area of (300) meters in Al-Jamaa neighborhood, and (2) real estate apartments outside Iraq. And multiple bank accounts.” The statement continued,
"The team organized fundamentalist records, as all real estate bonds and citations related to them were linked in the investigative papers and presented to the judiciary, and their values were estimated and a special account was opened in the Rafidain Bank; to deposit the resulting rents.
https://mustaqila.com/النزاهة-صدور-قرارحكمٍ-بالسجن-بحقِّ-مع/
To read more current and reliable Iraqi news please visit BondLady’s Corner: