Iraqi News Wednesday AM 12-30-20

Iraqi News Wednesday AM 12-30-20

TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner

Parliament Criticizes The Budget And There Are Unnecessary Expenditures

Wednesday 30 December 2020  107  Baghdad: Shaima Rasheed    Yesterday, Tuesday, the House of Representatives received the draft federal budget bill for 2021 after its approval by the government, while it extended the legislative term by one month. In conjunction with that, the parliament set a session next month as a date for the interrogation of Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi, while Parliamentary Finance believes that the figures in the budget are inaccurate and there are unnecessary expenditures.

The Speaker of the Council, Muhammad Al-Halbousi, said in a statement: "Parliament extended its first legislative term of the third legislative year for a period of one month, in order to complete many important legislations for the coming period, including the draft federal budget bill for the fiscal year 2021, which reached Parliament." For his part, a member of the Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, said in a statement to "Al-Sabah" that "the budget contains 122 trillion dinars, operating expenses, equivalent to the budgets of three countries," indicating that "there are expenditures that are not needed at the present time."

He added, "Parliament will not return the budget to the government, but the Finance Committee will amend the draft budget bill because its numbers are inaccurate," explaining that "the government has put 2 trillion to implement its reform program, and this is a very large amount."

He continued, "The second borrowing law came in the amount of 42 trillion dinars, and upon checking and reviewing it was found that what the government needs is 10 trillion, but Parliament approved 12 trillion, so the Finance Committee will work to check all numbers."

In addition, a member of the Parliamentary Services and Reconstruction Committee, Mudhar Al-Suleiman, told "Conscious", that "the measures taken by the government within the 2021 budget are insufficient and do not move away from the one-sided economy," calling on the government to "take real measures that have a practical and real dimension in obtaining Diverse imports of non-oil income.

In turn, the deputy of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Hassan Ali, said: "The budget for next year needs political consensus between the parliamentary blocs, in order to pass it, especially with regard to the region's share of 12%."

He added that "the region's share of the budget amounts to 13 trillion dinars annually / including the salaries of employees and the Peshmerga and the budget allocated for development projects, which is a good percentage." LINK

Financial Planning And Economic Decisions

Wednesday 30 December 2020  58   a. M. Dr.. Ahmed Al-Husseini

But it seems that the Ministry of Planning has neglected other reasons that may be more rhythmic and influential than the effects of the pandemic, the most important of which is the decisions of the Supreme Committee for Safety and National Health to impose a curfew that lasted for quite some time, which affected the entry levels of those groups that represent most of the Iraqi people, and this is what led at a later stage To increase economic recession rates in the markets;

Because these groups are the most consuming ones and they drive the aggregate demand movement in the economy, and the aforementioned committee was supposed to recommend that the living expenses of these groups should be covered if they wanted to achieve the maximum benefit from the health curfew decision, but we did not notice this thing, in addition to that.

The recent decisions of the Iraqi government related to reducing the value of the Iraqi dinar and imposing progressive taxes targeting certain groups without others, and a proposal to reduce allocations to more than 3 million employees within the Iraqi government institutions. LINK

Parliamentary Finance: We Will Discuss The Budget After The New Year Holidays

Pratha News Agency72 2020-12-30   The Parliamentary Finance Committee announced, on Wednesday, that the discussion of the draft federal budget law for 2021 will begin after the New Year holiday.

A member of the committee, Representative Shirwan Mirza, told the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan website that "discussion of the draft federal budget law for 2021 will start after the New Year holiday."

He added that "the House of Representatives will certainly amend the budget and transfer the sums contained in it," noting that "the budget is estimated at more than 160 trillion dinars, and these funds are huge and very large."

He explained that "the House of Representatives has the authority to reduce and transfer in the chapters of the budget and the Finance Committee will meet with the relevant government agencies and discuss the allocations included in the budget and ways to reduce it."

The Speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, announced the extension of the current legislative season for a period of one month.   http://burathanews.com/arabic/news/383508

US Military Reinforcements To Protect The Green Zone

Time: 12/30/2020 10:24:28 Read: 3,861 times   (Baghdad: Al Furat News) The US embassy in Baghdad announced that the United States has provided 30 armored cars to the Iraqi army, to secure the Green Zone where the embassy is based, and after the international zone witnessed several times previously, Katyusha rocket attacks.

The embassy said in a statement on its account on Facebook, said on Wednesday that the United States is committed to helping the Iraqi army in maintaining Iraq and Baghdad 's security, and to this end, on Monday submitted a thirty armored car to help secure the international zone ".

" The vehicles also provided the band leadership It is located at Al-Asad Air Base, and the Iraqi army will use it in its patrols. ”

She pointed out that“ this contribution is part of a larger plan by the US Army Security Cooperation Office - Iraq to support the Special Command Team in securing the center of Baghdad. ”

This came more than a week after the targeting Dozens of rockets fired by "outlaws" at the US embassy in Baghdad. LINK

Minister Of Planning: Al-Faw Port Will Make A Quantum Leap In The Reality Of The Iraqi Economy

Time: 12/30/2020 16:35:03 Reading: 260 times   (Baghdad: Al Furat News) The Minister of Planning, Khaled Battal Al-Najm, participated today, Wednesday, in the signing ceremony of the contract for the implementation of the Grand Faw Port project, which was organized by the Ministry of Transport, in the presence of a number of ministers and senior officials in the state.

"The minister was briefed during the ceremony on the detailed plans for the port, the implementation stages and the timings for the completion of the project," the ministry said in a statement, which Al-Furat News received.

Al-Najm said, "The Faw port project represents an important addition to the Iraqi economy, and that its completion will represent a major transformation process, in the developmental reality, stressing that the Ministry of Planning was keen and insistent on including it within the investment program for 2021."   LINK

Integrity Warns Against Exploiting The Repercussions Of Changing The Price Of The Dollar And Stresses On Deterring Traders Who Manipulate The Livelihood Of The Poor

Time: 12/30/2020 14:21:18 Read: 1,898 times   {Baghdad: Al Furat News} The Integrity Commission warned, on Wednesday, against exploiting the repercussions of changing the price of the dollar, while stressing on deterring traders who manipulate the poor's food.

A statement by the commission stated that "the head of the Federal Integrity Commission, Judge Alaa Jawad Hamid, stressed the need for the law to be a deterrent to all those who ask themselves to manipulate the livelihood of the poor citizen," warning merchants and weak souls from "exploiting the repercussions of changing the currency in order to achieve financial gains." At the expense of the needs of citizens with limited income. "

Jawad drew attention to “the importance of dealing with the exploiters of this crisis with the limitations permitted by the law, in order to deter them from exploiting it in ways and methods that negatively affect the lives of the poor citizen, whom we, as watchdogs, must be very close to,” indicating that “the monitoring bodies must be A fortress for the citizen, and a deterrent by law to those manipulating his power.

During his visit, Jawad stressed a number of the commission’s investigation offices in the northern region, “the necessity of access to field work and a permanent presence in state institutions, especially the service ones, in order to meet the needs of auditors, and work to facilitate the smooth completion of their transactions and isolate the corrupt who try in one way or another. Obstructing it or bargaining with them in order to force them to pay bribes,

”pointing out“ the necessity for the commission to be a window of hope through which the citizen looks to restore his confidence in the various state institutions, indicating that this is only achieved through the permanent presence of the body’s cadres in those institutions, in order to encourage Righteous employees are to provide the best services to the citizen, and to isolate others who are willing to compromise and blackmail the citizen. "

He continued, "Restoring the citizen's confidence in state institutions, which some try to bring down by generalizing the description of corruption to all of its employees, neglecting their righteousness and integrity among them, who are the majority, must be one of the priorities of the work of the commission, through permanent presence in those institutions, approaching the needs of the citizen and measuring The level of his satisfaction with the work of those institutions, and the diagnosis of corrupt elements through it, "calling for" escalating the pace of the seizure processes for the flagrante delicto, and measuring the levels of bribery abuse in those institutions by permanently distributing questionnaires between the auditors and building bridges of trust between them and the body’s staff. "

"The inspection visit, which included the commission’s investigation offices in the governorates of Diyala, Salah al-Din and Kirkuk, and in the presence of the general directors of the investigation, administrative and financial departments and the director of the Citizens Affairs and Inspection Department, comes as part of a series of inspection visits conducted by the Commission’s president recently, during which he requested the directorates and investigation offices of the commission in the regions.

The center, the south and the north; quickly implementing the strategy of the work of the presidency calling for escalating the pace of arrest operations for the flagrante delicto, working effectively and in a team spirit under the umbrella of the judiciary, and accessing field work through permanent presence within state institutions, especially the service ones, sensing the needs of the citizen, and interacting Directly dealing with the crises that may arise, and isolating the corrupt who try to compromise or blackmail them and prevent the delivery of the best services to them. " LINK

In Pictures ... The Protests Continued In Front Of The Central Bank For The Third Day In A Row

Time: 12/30/2020 10:47:19  Read: 1,391 times   {Baghdad: Al Furat News} Protests continue in front of the Central Bank of Iraq for the third day in a row due to the high exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar.

The demonstrators insisted on continuing their protest, demanding the dismissal of Mustafa Ghaleb, governor of the Central Bank.

The protesters had raised slogans describing the governor of the Central Bank that he wanted to starve the people. They also demanded that "corruption banks" be held accountable.

It is noteworthy that the Central Bank of Iraq decided on 19 December to amend the dollar exchange rate, as follows:

1450 dinars per dollar, the price of buying foreign currency from the Ministry of Finance.

1460 dinars per dollar the selling price of foreign currency to banks.

1470 dinars per dollar is the selling price of foreign currency to the public. LINK

The Minister Of Industry Reveals Plans To Operate The Stalled Factories And Factories

Wednesday 30, December 2020 09:51 | Economica lViews: 165   Baghdad / NINA / Minister of Industry Manhal Aziz Al-Khabbaz revealed plans to operate the stalled factories and factories, noting that the ministry did not receive any allocations during the year 2020 to complete the investment plan projects as a result of not approving the budget.

In a statement to the semi-official Al-Sabah newspaper, Al-Baker said: The ministry seeks to support those working to develop productive factories, to provide the opportunity to advance the industry and bring the local product back to its previous state, and to support industrialists in order to open their factories and reduce taxes and customs duties in order to create real competition.

He added that the ministry faced during the past six months difficult circumstances and challenges, but it focused on opening strategic projects in support of the national economy, especially operating the stalled factories in Nineveh, Kirkuk, Maysan and Basra, including the asphalt products plant in Maysan, which includes four production lines with a capacity of 100 thousand tons annually and is counted from The largest of the modern projects that have been implemented in partnership with the private sector.

He added that the ministry will implement and work on rehabilitating a group of vital projects during the next year, including the asphalt products plant in Bartella district in Nineveh governorate, operating an iron and steel factory in Basra, rehabilitating sugar factories in Maysan and Nineveh in cooperation with international companies, and implementing the (Al-Nebras) project for petrochemical industries in Basra.

Which produces one million and 800 thousand tons annually and provides more than 30 thousand job opportunities and achieves large financial revenues for the state treasury in the future, and the project's estimated cost is 8 billion dollars. https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=879133

To read more current and reliable Iraqi news please visit BondLady’s Corner:

 https://www.bondladyscorner.com/