Iraqi News Wednesday AM 9-9-20
Iraqi News Wednesday AM 9-9-20
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
The House Of Representatives Has Finished Reading Two Laws And Addresses An Oral Question To The Finance And Planning Ministers
09/08/2020 The House of Representatives, in its third session of the fourth parliamentary session of the third legislative year of the first legislative term, which was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Mohamed Al-Halbousi, Speaker of the House, has ended today, Tuesday 9/8/2020, the first reading of two laws, He was briefed on the opinions of the two ministers of finance and planning, after asking them verbally on the economic reform paper included in the domestic and foreign borrowing law.
At the beginning of the session, the council postponed the vote on the proposal for the first amendment of the Iraqi Commission for Accreditation Law (78) for the year 2017 submitted by the Economy, Investment and Finance Committees until the government’s opinion regarding the financial aspect of amending the law is taken.
For his part, the President of the Council directed each of the two committees concerned with approaching the Council of Ministers to express their opinion on amending the Iraqi Accreditation and Response Authority Law for a period not exceeding a week. Otherwise, the House of Representatives proceeds to enact the law.
The Council ended the first reading of the draft law of the first amendment to the General Population and Housing Census Law No. 40 of 2008 submitted by the committees monitoring the implementation of the government program and strategic and legal planning in order to reconfigure the General Authority for the General Population and Housing Census in light of the changes taking place in the state’s administrative structure and granting the authority’s president the powers Necessary to conduct a general census of population and housing.
The Council completed the first reading of the proposed law to cancel the (dissolved) Revolutionary Command Council Decision No. 218 of 2002 submitted by the Legal Committee in order to lift the unfairness of the employee who spent years of his life in compulsory service and the movements judged in accordance with the laws of military service and consider that service for the purposes of bonus, promotion, retirement and cancellation The decision of the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council, which considered that service for retirement purposes exclusively.
Mr. Al-Halbousi called for the cooperation of the Financial and Legal Committees to deliberate on the proposed law to cancel the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council's decision before proceeding with the second reading to find out the financial obligations related to it.
In the general discussion section during the session, partly headed by Mr. Al-Haddad, the interventions demanded to expedite the provision of job grades for degree holders, appoint the first to departments and colleges, and seriously consider the demands of those whose contracts have been canceled by the defense and interior staff, and the call to activate the application of the Federal Service Law to ensure social justice between graduates and legislation The Federal Civil Service Law, and the request of the executive authorities to launch financial allocations for the maintenance of external roads linking the governorates,
in addition to speeding up the completion of the transactions of the retired people to pay their arrears in addition to the disbursement of the farmers' dues and the redress of the mobilization of the Ministry of Defense, and the demand to respond to the demands of the protesting doctors and other medical personnel in appreciation of their efforts In response to the Corona pandemic.
Deputy Chairman of the Council, Dr. Bashir Al-Haddad directed the Finance and Legal Committees to expedite the legislation of the Federal Civil Service Law and explain the reasons for the increase in the interest rate on loans allocated to retirees from the Rasheed and Rafidian Banks, which reached 20%.
In another matter, the Speaker welcomed the attendance of Messrs. Ali Allawi, Minister of Finance, and Khaled Battal, Minister of Planning, to answer an oral question addressed to them by Representative Muhammad Sahib Al-Darraji, a member of the Finance Committee, in accordance with the bylaw of the House of Representatives to exercise its oversight role.
MP Mohamed Al-Darraji asked about the government's failure to submit the economic reforms paper within the 60-day period stipulated in the Domestic and Foreign Borrowing Law of 2020 in Article Seven of it, noting that the House of Representatives voted on the law on 6/24/2020.
For his part, the Minister of Finance explained that the economic reform program needs a long time to be presented because the economic situation in Iraq is going through a critical situation due to the repercussions of previous cumulative economic policies that the Iraqi state passed since the 1950s in the last century and so far, especially the legislation of the law on agricultural reform and the decisions of the socialist package In addition to the loss of the economic vision that weakened the private sector and made all the resources in the hands of the governments,
indicating that the current government suffers from a scarcity of funds that forced it to borrow internally and externally and cannot implement the presentation of the paper within the period specified by the law voted on, noting that the formation of a specialized team with a cadre formed Of 40 employees working continuously to work on preparing and submitting the required paper despite the current health conditions, indicating that the reasons for delaying its submission are technical and historical, setting the ceiling for the government’s submission of the first negotiable reform paper at the end of the current month, while the reforms paper is presented in its formFinal in the middle of next month.
In turn, the Minister of Planning indicated that there are 6,250 projects under construction that need to provide 126 trillion dinars to be completed, and this large number of projects caused the failure to include any new project in the new budget law, explaining that the delay in completing the projects led to the non-provision of services to citizens, including the presence of 42 complexes Uncompleted residential housing needs to be re-counted accurately to begin its implementation, in addition to the necessity to devise a real reform plan to address the delay in implementing projects.
Commenting on the two ministers' answer, MP Muhammad al-Darraji stressed the need to fully and not partially implement the legislated law, wondering about the value of internal and external borrowing and the size of what is allocated to pay salaries or in the investment sector, as well as knowing the value of the exchange rate specified in the next budget.
Minister Allawi pointed out that there are three types of loans, including commercial that the Iraqi government has moved away from, borrowing from governments and the third by borrowing from international development institutions such as the World Bank and the Arab Fund for the purpose of investment, especially those related to the requirements of improving the electricity sector by activating previous economic agreements with my company.
Siemens and General Electric, stressing the importance of reviewing the exchange rate so that the Iraqi economy enters the cycle of competition with the interest of the International Monetary Fund in the issue of the exchange rate, noting that the ministry received an amount of 15 trillion dinars in full to meet the needs of salaries.
For his part, the Minister of Planning stated that the Ministry had instructed to stop international obligations to pressure spending units, which led to the deprivation of some provinces of services, indicating the exception of some projects in the governorates that have funds to implement their projects without requiring them for additional funds until liquidity becomes available, stressing the importance of going to alternatives In allocating funds for vital projects to complete them, especially health institutions and residential complexes in the governorates, pointing out that the inclusion of any new project requires its inclusion in the federal budget law or meets any development gap.
And after MP Muhammad al-Darraji, his inquiries about the feasibility of borrowing an amount of 5 billion dollars abroad despite the lack of benefit from previous loans in meeting the needs, and knowing the extent of the continuation of the loan from the central reserve.
In his response, the Minister of Finance indicated that the need to borrow was to support the general budget and fill the financial deficit without giving support to investment projects, explaining that the trend to borrow from the International Monetary Fund comes because it has specific programs that support countries suffering from financial crises such as Iraq by loans for a period of time.
Three years, provided that it is linked to administrative and financial reforms, pointing out that the government opened communication channels with the International Monetary Fund, because Iraq has no source for internal borrowing except the Central Bank of Iraq and the absence of accredited financial markets in Iraq, in addition to the fact that government banking institutions are overburdened with debts to the government to finance the financial deficit In the budgets and private banks, they do not have large financial financing.
The minister added that carrying out concrete economic reforms requires 5 years by finding new alternatives for revenues, noting that the total debt represents 80 to 90 percent of the Iraqi national product, and the foreign debt amounts to 160 trillion dinars, including the debts of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia amounting to 40 billion dollars, citing The Ministry of Finance has no possibility of counting the monetary mass in Iraq.
For his part, the Speaker of Parliament stressed the need to present any government move to negotiate any external loan to the relevant parliamentary committees before negotiating with foreign parties, pointing to the treatment of raising the financial restrictions that the government had taken prior to contracts in the provinces that witnessed demonstrations and to allow financial spending units to proceed.
To her, expressing his thanks to the two Ministers of Finance and Planning for coming to the Council and answering the parliamentary question related to the implementation of the oversight role. After that, it was decided to raise the session to next Thursday 10/9/2020 Media Department Parliament 8/9/2020 LINK
The Legal Committee Reviews Laws And Projects Related To Them And Jointly With Other Committees
09/09/2020 The Legal Committee held a meeting chaired by Representative Rebwar Hadi, Chairman of the Committee, and the presence of its members today, Wednesday 9/9/2020, to discuss proposals and draft laws referred to the committee and jointly with other parliamentary committees.
During the meeting, which was held at its headquarters, the Legal Committee prepared a paper that included the position on proposals and draft laws implemented or what is in progress, the laws related to them and the laws that participated in their implementation.
The committee stated that the laws, proposals and draft laws must fulfill a number of conditions and according to Article 122 of the internal law of the House of Representatives, indicating that these conditions are that a draft or proposed law must meet formality and comply with the Iraqi constitution and not oppose the laws of the other enforceable and take into account the financial impunity in it, as well as Its compatibility with the ministerial platform prepared by the government.
On the other hand, the committee discussed the observation article in the Civil Status Law, pointing to the necessity to participate in four other parliamentary committees, namely the Women, Family and Childhood Committee, the Civil Society Institutions and Parliamentary Development Committee, the Endowment and Religious Affairs Committee and the Human Rights Committee for the purpose of taking as many opinions and ideas as possible to take into account the sensitivity of this article. Media Department Parliament 9/9/2020 LINK
The Council Of Ministers Holds A Regular Session Headed By The Prime Minister, Mr. Mustafa Al-Kazemi
The Prime Minister, Mr. Mustafa Al-Kazemi, chaired today, Tuesday, the regular session of the Council of Ministers, during which a number of issues and topics included in its agenda were discussed and several decisions were issued regarding them.
Mr. Al-Kazemi directed to hold an extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers early next week, devoted to discussing the 2020 budget.
He also directed the competent authorities to accelerate work on the e-government project, address the problems it faces as soon as possible, and prepare an integrated report on the measures taken next week, and the stages Work and diagnose ministries lagging in this regard, and the reasons for their delay.
The Minister of Health and Environment presented a detailed report on the latest developments in the Corona pandemic in Iraq, the ministry’s efforts to provide medical services to injured patients, its preparations to contain any potential increase, as well as its procedures in providing treatment supplies and in the field of preventive awareness programs.
While the Minister of Electricity reviewed the efforts of his ministry in providing electric power to citizens, improving its production level, addressing problems facing production lines, and also its procedures in maintenance and production work for the next stage.
After discussing the topics included in the agenda, the Council issued the following decisions:
First / Approval of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, in coordination with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, to implement the national project for youth employment by making use of the guidebook prepared by the Ministry of Planning.
Second / Approval of the financial conditions regarding the two loans of the Saudi Fund, the details of which are confirmed in the Ministry of Finance's letter No. Al-Diwaniyah, and a loan for the construction of Saqlawiyah Hospital in Anbar Governorate.
Third / Approval of the terms of the loan related to the National Electric Power Company for import and export, which are affixed in the Ministry of Finance book numbered:4306, dated 07/27/2020, and authorizing the Minister of Finance, Mr. (Ali Haider Abdul Amir Allawi) the authority to sign a loan agreement between the Popular Mobilization Authority and the Chinese National Electric Power Company for import and export, with a total amount of (78539,000) dollars, only seventy-eight million five hundred nine Thirty thousand dollars, guaranteed by the International Export Guarantee Corporation, for the purpose of equipping the aforementioned body with mechanisms of various types and sizes, based on the provisions of Article (2 / Second) of the Domestic and Foreign Borrowing Law to finance the fiscal deficit (5 of 2020).
Fourth / Approval of the following:
1- Authorizing the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority and the agency the authority to negotiate and sign a draft air transport agreement between the government of the Republic of Iraq and the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, as amended by the State Council, based on the provisions of Article (80 / Sixth) of the Constitution.
2- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepares the necessary authorization document in the name of the Republic of Iraq for the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority as an agency according to the approved contexts, and submits it to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in order to obtain the signature of the Prime Minister.
Fifth /
1- Approving the amendment of Article (6 / Second / B) of the Instructions to Facilitate the Implementation of the Law on Employment of Higher Degree Holders No. (3) of 2019, according to the following: (Auditing of staff and records of appointments in universities, colleges and private institutes, and the extent to which the ratio of teachers to students is taken into account to achieve The global ratios of teaching staff versus students for medical specialties at a ratio of (1-12), for engineering and scientific majors at a ratio of (1-20), and for humanitarian specializations at a ratio of (1-30)
2. Obligating universities, colleges and private institutes not to increase the percentage of retirees and to benefit from the total teaching staff on the owners .
The Media Office of the Prime Minister 8- Sep-2020 https://pmo.iq/press2020/8-9-202001.htm
Issue (4595) of the Iraqi newspaper Al-Waqi’a issued on 7/9/2020 was issued 2020-09-08 09:11:00
1- Republic Decree No. (26) of 2020.
2- Bylaw No. (2) of 2020 The First Amendment to the Bylaw of the General Company for Steel Industries No. (1) of 2018.
3- Customs Decree No. (2) of 2020 issued by the Ministry of Finance.
4- Statement No. (49) of 2020 issued by the Supreme Judicial Council.
5- A statement issued by the Central Bank of Iraq.
6- Announcements for establishing cooperative societies.
Those wishing to acquire the Iraqi factsheet can refer to the Iraqi investigation department located in Salhiya / Haifa Street (Ministry of Justice building), and obtain the required number. https://www.moj.gov.iq/view.5129/
An "Anticipated Agreement" Between Baghdad And Erbil
Wednesday 09 September 2020 126 Baghdad: Al-Sabah, Erbil: Sundus Abdel-Wahab
It is likely that the governments of Baghdad and Erbil will reach a "semi-final agreement" regarding the outstanding issues between the two parties, in light of the presence of international mediation to bring the views closer.
Yesterday, Tuesday, a Kurdish delegation headed by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan government Qubad Talabani arrived in Baghdad, and met with Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to discuss strengthening cooperation between state institutions and working in a team spirit that stems from a common vision to achieve the requirements and interests of the Iraqi people in general. Al-Kazemi stressed, according to the statement of his media office, the need for full coordination between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government in various fields, in order to address the great challenges facing the country as a result of the decline in global oil prices, and contribute to confronting the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.
The region’s delegation had held its first meeting with a high-ranking delegation from the federal government headed by Finance Minister Ali Allawi.
During the meeting, it was decided to form specialized and subsidiary committees to intensify discussions on issues (oil and gas, financial dues, electricity, border crossings, and debts).
The spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister in the Kurdistan region, Samir Hawrami, said to “Al-Sabah”: “The Kurdistan Regional Government has shown its willingness to agree with the federal government regarding the files of oil and non-oil revenues, and the revenues of border crossings.”
He adds that "the discussions with the federal government are continuing to resolve the outstanding issues and continue for a period of three days, as it is hoped to reach an agreement between the two governments."
Despite the existence of problems and obstacles between the two governments since 2003, Hawrami talks about the existence of "international mediation" to bridge the views between Baghdad and Erbil on the outstanding issues.
The spokesman for the deputy prime minister of the regional government said, “Baghdad is in the process of formulating a draft budget for 2021 and we aim, through meetings and discussions, to stabilize the region’s financial dues in the general budget before sending it to the House of Representatives and then approving it, in order for the vision to be clear for the next year and avoid Any problems or obstacles between The two parties. LINK
Iraq ... a promising investment area in the Middle East
Wednesday 09 September 2020 36 Baghdad: Hussein Faleh Experts and specialists for economic affairs considered Iraq a promising investment region in the Middle East, due to the diversity of investment opportunities and their abundance and increase and profits compared to other countries, pointing out that there is a great desire for international companies, especially advanced ones, to invest in Iraq in several fields, such as industry, housing, agriculture, transportation, roads, health and education.
Economist Basem Antoine said in a statement to Al-Sabah: “Security stability is at the forefront of investment factors, as capital is looking for a safe and stable environment, an advanced banking system and a law that encourages investment away from blackmail, bureaucracy, red tape and corruption.”
Single Window Application
He added, "The single window must be applied in investment to cancel the extra rings in granting investment licenses," pointing out that "the environment of Iraq is still repulsive and unattractive to investment and proceeds as water flows in the utensils Alastastaqah."
He pointed out that "the investor prefers to invest in other countries even if their profit is less, due to the presence of security and stability, and there are no challenges and complications, although Iraq is the best region for investment in the Middle East, where the investor makes big profits through it."
Desire Of Global Companies
He continued: "Therefore, we notice a great desire from companies in neighboring countries, European and American countries to work in Iraq, because the rate of investment in it is high, and there are wide and varied investment opportunities in Iraq, including in the field of housing, as Iraq needs to build more than 3 and a half million units. Residential by investment. "
He pointed out that "the industrial sector, there are about 50 to 60 thousand projects in need of partners or investment, and opportunities in the agricultural sector are about more than 25 million dunams, as well as the transport, roads, health, education and other sectors."
A Banking And Legal Environment
He explained, "The shuttling tours of the prime minister to the Gulf after America, Jordan and Iran to attract investment companies to work in Iraq, but these need to create a banking and legal environment and an advanced sums system for depositing money withdrawals."
For his part, the strategist, Issam Al-Faily, said, "Iraq today has become the focus of attention of developed world countries such as the United States, France and others, due to the availability of investment opportunities in various sectors."
Investing In The Energy Sector
Al-Faily said in a statement to Al-Sabah: “There is a great desire for international companies to invest in Iraq, especially in the field of electric power as well as housing,” pointing out that “Iraq needs to build about 3 million housing units and what has been achieved today is not equal to 4 Percent of the total need, and this requires attracting international companies. "
He added, "There are investment opportunities also in the oil sector. Iraq can conclude major agreements with advanced companies to invest in this field," stressing that Iraq faces a great opportunity to exploit the countries' desire to work and economic cooperation with him, and this is what was observed during the prime minister's foreign visits, Where there is a great desire for international companies to work in the Iraqi market. LINK
Private Sector Development Session And Provision Of Financial Liquidity
Wednesday 09 September 2020 59 Baghdad: Morning The Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform, in cooperation with the Center for International Private Enterprise, will hold the third virtual dialogue session at 8:00 pm Baghdad time on Saturday 12 / September / 2020 under the title "Work on developing the private sector and providing the necessary financial liquidity."
For The Private Sector
The cultural advisor to the institute, Dr. Hussein Al-Khaqani said: “The session includes two lectures, the first by the General Director of the Industrial Bank Bilal Sabah, and the second lecture by the consultant engineer Fuad Al-Dujaili on the private sector. The former director general of Al-Rafidain Bank, Dr. Khawla Al-Asadi, and from here we invite researchers, university professors and those interested in private sector affairs to participate in the dialogue and present useful opinions and proposals.
Reform Proposals
He added, "This session comes within three dialogue sessions aimed at presenting specific reform proposals to be placed in front of the decision-makers in the government to benefit from them in its drive to reform the national economy."
He emphasized that the Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform held two sessions during the last period, the first held under the title of rationalizing public spending, addressing job slack, reforming the salary scale and the role of the private sector, in which two lectures were presented to the advisor, Hazem Al-Saeed, the former director general of the Budget Department, and the consultant engineer, Mr. Adham Al-Fakhar. And commented on them Professor Dr. Zuhair Al-Hasani. "
Public Revenue
He pointed out that the second session was held on August 15, 2020 and was titled "Maximizing Public Revenue through Tax and Customs Channels". The first session included two lectures by the former Director General of the General Authority for Taxes Najah Al-Khafaji and in participation with Dr. Karim Salem Kamash, a professor at Al-Mustansiriya University, and a lecture by the Director General the former General Authority of Customs Munther Haider Asad. The two papers were followed comprehensively by Prof. Dr. Muhammad al-Khurasan.
It is worth noting the volume of participation in the previous two seminars is large, as a number of university professors, businessmen, officials and a number of members of Parliament participated in the dialogue, and we hope a wider participation in the next two dialogue sessions. LINK
Al-Alusi: The Productive Sectors Are Able To Cover The Market
Wednesday 09 September 2020 60 Baghdad: Morning Economic affairs specialist Raghad Nabil Al-Alousi confirmed the possibility of promoting the productive sectors and covering the local market demand for many important products.
She said that "Iraq has the elements to promote production at exceptional periods, and experiences prove the country's capabilities in this field," noting that some food and construction materials enable self-sufficiency and nourish local demand, and there is even the possibility of re-exporting some products whenever conditions are available for that.
Al-Alousi indicated that "adopting a plan to raise production capacities and protect the local product will enable the private sector to establish advanced industries, especially since the local private sector has proven its existence through the production of local mineral water and soft drinks, which fully feed the market, leading to the cement industry, which has proven its existence."
In terms of quantity and quality, and this is evidence that protection leads to the activation of national production, and the agricultural sector has proven, in a manner touched by everyone, its productive capabilities that cover the market need, and here it must be provided with protection to be an effective contributor to the industrial sector in achieving sustainable development.
She pointed out that "creating an appropriate investment environment that attracts capital and advanced technology and the participation of the local private sector will improve production capabilities faster, and this represents everyone's ambition and provides the federal budget with large sums of money allocated to import various products." LINK
Deputy Calls For A "Frightening" Approach To Fighting Corruption
Pratha News Agency90 2020-09-09 On Wednesday, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Faisal Al-Issawi, called for a method of intelligence work to collect information related to anti-corruption efforts, considering that this would "scare the corrupt" and contribute to their overthrow.
Al-Issawi said in a press interview, "The efforts to combat corruption and despite the presence of a large number of bodies concerned with this matter and the efforts being made, but what makes these efforts do not bear fruit is the lack of evidence, as a result of administrative conditions and red tape that makes many issues lost in administrative ramifications that disperse the effort. Primary ",
Noting that "the team formed by the prime minister to follow up issues of organized and not personal corruption, in case its focus in its work is on the intelligence side in gathering evidence away from administrative red tape, then exceptional results will be achieved."
Al-Issawi added, "Field work in combating corruption by following up the strings of each case and who are the parties that support other parties will bring us before evidence and integrated results to overthrow the corrupt and those behind them," pointing out that "evidence gathering is the basis and it is not a little effort, but it is." A correct vision for dealing with the flaw rooted in the corruption file.
Al-Issawi stressed, "The security follow-up gives more accurate results and reduces time and channels for investigating the wheel of information, because the administrative problems in Iraq have made our problems that can only be solved by finding a party that can bypass those procedures to reach the required information."
He continued, "Activating the intelligence effort in combating corruption will make the corrupt feel afraid and fearful of these measures, because they are effective in confronting them, and we have to believe in one truth, which is that we cannot live in a safe and stable country unless the law is above all." http://burathanews.com/arabic/news/376206
MP: Dozens Of Corruption Files Are Still Under The Sway Of The Brokerage Tycoons And The Parties
Pratha News Agency79 2020-09-09 On Wednesday, the MP for the coalition of liberated regions, Hoda Jarallah, called on the political forces to take positions in support of the process of reforming the government system, noting that there are tens of corruption files under the influence of the brokerage tycoons and the parties.
In a press statement, Jarallah said, "There are tens of corruption files still under the influence of the brokerage tycoons and the parties."
Indicating that "thousands of files of corruption referred to integrity have not been resolved until now due to pressures practiced by political parties 17 years ago."
She added that "there are files of ministers, agents, general directors, ambassadors and people with special ranks, and these files, if the political cover were removed from them and the funds were recovered, would be sufficient to build what ISIS destroyed." http://burathanews.com/arabic/news/376201
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