KTFA:

Ross: (Late Friday Night)  The banks are closed today and tomorrow.

Sunday would be a good day to release salaries and perhaps a new rate. 

 Maybe next week will a real Thanksgiving treat for all of us.

One can only hope.

Samson:  The Central Bank issues a directive to banks on Bulgarian monetary currencies

21st November, 2020

On Saturday, the Central Bank of Iraq informed all banks that Bulgaria had issued banknotes containing new security features

"The Bulgarian National Bank has informed us that it has introduced categories 5, 10 and 20 levs," the bank said in a statement, which was received by "Economy News", indicating that "these categories include new security specifications as well as updating some of the existing security specifications

The bank added that "the old banknote of the same category remains for circulation and has strength, innocence and legal presentation until the damaged notes of this category are replaced

The bank called on all private banks in Iraq to "inform their employees who work in the field of foreign exchange about the new issuance of the Bulgarian National Bank   LINK

**** This is in relation to https://cbi.iq/news/view/1605 posted on forum on the 18th November

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Samson:  Within a week .. Iraqi oil exports to America record a decline

21st November, 2020

The US Energy Information Administration announced, on Saturday, that Iraqi oil exports to America decreased by 94 thousand barrels per day during the past week.

In a report seen by Shafaq News Agency, the administration said, "Iraqi oil exports to the United States of America decreased by 94 thousand barrels per day during the past week to reach 92 thousand barrels, after it was 186 thousand barrels in the previous week."

And she added, "US imports decreased during the past week by 197 thousand barrels per day to 4.832 million barrels per day, indicating that" most of these revenues came from Canada, which amounted to 3.181 million barrels per day, followed by Mexico, whose revenues amounted to 517 thousand barrels per day, then Ecuador and revenues It amounted to 373 thousand barrels per day."

The administration indicated that "US imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia were at the same level as last week, reaching 357 thousand barrels per day, Colombia by 215 thousand barrels per day, and Nigeria with revenues amounted to 98 thousand barrels."  LINK

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Samson:  Chinese efforts to seize the US share of Exxon in an oil field in Iraq

21st November, 2020

The two Chinese oil giants, the China National Petroleum Corporation and CNOOC Ltd., are studying to acquire the remaining stake of Exxon Mobil Corp in an oil field in Iraq.

The US Bloomberg Agency said that "the agreement would represent Exxon's exit from the project and the major international oil companies' retreat from Iraq after Royal Dutch Shell Plc left Majnoon field three years ago."

Tough contractual terms, late payments and political instability weakened the attractiveness of what had previously been the glittering oil prize in the Middle East. "Iraq has not proved as appealing as it had hoped a decade ago, more expansion plans in Iraq. In contrast, Chinese companies are still interested," said Richard Bruns, co-founder of the consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.

CNPC and CNOOC, both of which are state-owned, are considering a potential deal to buy Exxon's 32.7% stake in West Qurna 1, Iraq, said people who requested anonymity because it is a privacy matter. They added that "no final decisions have been taken and there is no guarantee that the deliberations will lead to an agreement," explaining that the geopolitical risks in Iraq may raise doubts about any potential agreement.

Exxon's departure from the field, where it was once the dominant player and remains the main contractor, would cast doubt on a massive water injection project seen as critical to increasing Iraq's production capacity. The US company is in talks about a joint seawater supply project to the southern oilfields, which has faced several delays.

While the government in Baghdad has made tremendous progress in rebuilding the war-ravaged oil industry in the past decade - effectively doubling production between 2010 and 2015 despite the Islamist insurgency and other challenges - it has repeatedly had to delay its higher productivity targets. The country was pumping about 4.8 million barrels per day last September, before a new round of supply cuts agreed with the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said last month that it aims to reach seven million barrels per day by 2027. In 2010, Exxon signed an agreement with the Iraqi state-owned South Oil Company to rehabilitate and redevelop the West Qurna oil field. Three years later, Exxon reduced its stake by selling the stake to PetroChina, the listed unit of CNBC, and to PT Pertamina. Iraq awarded a contract to develop the West Qurna oil field to Exxon and Shell in 2009.

The oil field is one of the largest in the world with recoverable reserves of more than 20 billion barrels. Last year, Exxon employees left the Iraqi field after the United States withdrew non-essential personnel from its embassy in Baghdad, citing a threat from neighboring Iran. The employees returned two weeks later after bolstering company security.  LINK

Don961:  The first political comment on Al-Kazemi's call for the corrupt to return money in exchange for amnesty

3,874 Policy 2020/11/20 13:17
Baghdad today - Baghdad Today,

Friday (20-11-2020), the leader of the Iraqi Front, Atheel Al-Nujaifi, commented on Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi's call for corrupt people to return money in exchange for pardoning them.

Nujaifi said in an interview with (Baghdad Today), "There is no one intending to steal, then return the money that he stole," indicating that "Al-Kazemi's call to the corrupt to return the money in exchange for exempting them from accountability is a kind of leniency, the aim of which is to return the stolen money, especially if Iraq is going through a stifling financial crisis, and returning those funds is very important at the present time. "

He went on to say, "We suspect that the corrupt will return the money that they stole over the past years, as they are large sums," noting that "some of these stolen funds were spent in various aspects, from investments and others."

The leader of the Iraqi Front added that "calling on the corrupt to return the money in exchange for amnesty for them is a kind of imagination. I do not think that there are those who are corrupt intending to return these money."

In a press conference held yesterday, the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, called on those accused and wanted in corruption files to return the money that was stolen from public money, which is estimated at billions of dollars, according to what he said.

Al-Kazemi added that many countries of the world have dealt with those accused of corruption cases, according to the principle of returning money in exchange for amnesty for them, while stressing that detainees according to corruption cases have not been subjected to any torture or assault, according to reports from the Ministry of Health that are received on a daily basis.   link

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Don961: :  An Australian was ousted who bribed Iraqi officials $ 78 million

2020-11-20 | 02:42 

 Australian media reported that police had arrested a person working for an oil company involved in paying bribes worth $ 78 million that were used to secure lucrative Iraqi oil contracts linked to an alleged international corruption network.

The newspaper said "Street Times"The police claimed that the managing director of the Leighton of Shore oil company, Russell Wu, The Australian national, his company paid bribes through contractors including Una Oil - a Monaco-based company, which two former senior executives pleaded guilty to last year for being part of a scheme to bribe foreign government officials in several countries including Azerbaijan and Syria And the Iraq".

The newspaper pointed out that "bribes amounting to 78 million dollars were used in Iraq To secure contracts to build oil pipelines worth about $ 1.5 billion,

Australian police said in a statement that "the 54-year-old was arrested in the area."Brisbane, And that the main targets of the bribery scheme were responsible for Iraqi Ministry of Oil And government officials in the Southern Oil Company.

 ”The statement continued,“ The investigation, which spanned nine years, and I participated in itAuthorities of the United States and BritainIt was a painstaking process. "  link

Samson:  Does Iraq Declare Bankruptcy?

21st November, 2020

The Iraqi economy is under great pressure due to the drop in oil prices, high public sector expenditures and the outbreak of the Corona virus in the country, which made the government unable to pay employees' salaries on time.

The Iraqi state pays the salaries of nearly 7 million people, represented by the salaries of employees, retirees, political prisoners, martyrs and social care, whose annual salaries amount to $ 62 billion, while Iraq's oil revenues from the beginning of the year until last September amounted to $ 30.2 billion, and the budget is approved. Finance on oil revenues increased by 93%.

While the Iraqi government resorted to a policy of internal borrowing to fill the deficit in the financial budget and pay the salaries of state employees, as internal borrowing increased from about 32 billion to 43.5 billion dollars until last August, and most of the borrowing depended on the Central Bank and government banks, and the government seeks to borrow 34 One billion dollars over the next two months to cover the deficit in the coming months.

In turn, the Central Bank informed the Iraqi government of its inability to finance the budget, as the foreign currency reserves fell to 54 billion dollars after it was about 65 billion dollars at the beginning of the year, as well as deposits of government banks reached the minimum permissible level, and became unable to buy Government bonds.

And last Thursday, government spokesman Ahmed Mulla Talal warned that if the parliament did not approve the law to cover the fiscal deficit, the salaries of employees could not be paid, indicating that there is no liquidity in the government except by borrowing and covering the fiscal deficit, and it has gone in this direction compelled, You cannot secure salaries unless this law is passed.

The Minister of Finance, Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi, acknowledged the seriousness of the economic situation, and that failure to reform it would lead to collapse, indicating that the implementation of the White Paper would help the economy and lead to improving the lives of citizens.

The White Paper is an economic document that the government presented earlier this month and included new mechanisms for economic reform, and includes hundreds of measures aimed at improving the economy and exploiting the country's resources in ways described as feasible, and the paper is about 100 pages, provided that its implementation is between 3 and 5 years.

The Iraqi government resorted to international institutions - specifically the seven industrialized countries (America, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and France), in addition to the IMF and the World Bank - to obtain advice to manage the financial crisis, diversify the economy and restructure companies, so the Economic Contact Group for Iraq was established, which bears the costs Its establishment is Britain.

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said that Iraq, due to the Corona pandemic, the crisis of its oil resources and its harmful repercussions on the national economy, is in dire need of an international financial and economic alliance from the great powers, similar to the statement of the Tokyo Summit of the Seven Big Seven in May 2016, which supported Iraq economically in Confronting its economic crisis and fighting ISIS.

He pointed out that the government is determined to achieve reform through the White Paper, and thus this will positively affect the economy after it is implemented through diversifying its sources. 

LINK

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Samson:  The G20 Summit In Saudi Arabia Will Discuss The Post-Corona World And Debt Relief

21st November, 2020

The leaders of the 20 largest economies in the world (the Group of Twenty), which is chaired by Saudi Arabia for this year, will discuss for two days how to deal with the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic that caused a global recession, in addition to how to manage its recovery once the emerging Corona virus is under control.

Topping the summit agenda is the global procurement and distribution of vaccines, medicines and tests in low-income countries that cannot afford these expenses alone. On Saturday, the European Union will urge the G20 to invest $ 4.5 billion to help in this regard. "The main topic will be intensifying global cooperation to deal with the pandemic," said a senior G20 official involved in preparations for the two-day summit, chaired by Saudi Arabia, to be held online due to the pandemic.

The European Union will propose concluding a pandemic treaty and others in preparation for the future.

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, will address the G20 on Sunday, saying: “The conclusion of an international treaty will help us to deal faster and more coordinated”.

In a G20 summit report, the International Monetary Fund said that the global economy had recovered from the crisis earlier this year, but momentum is slowing in countries experiencing high infection rates, and the recovery is proceeding at an uneven pace and the pandemic is likely to have a profound impact.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that poor and indebted countries in the developing world are most at risk because they are "on the brink of financial collapse, rising poverty and hunger and facing untold suffering".

To address this, the G20 will approve a plan to extend the delay in debt service payments to developing countries for a period of six months until mid-2021 with the possibility of another extension, according to the group's draft statement.

European members of the G20 are likely to push for more. "There is a need for more debt relief," Michel told reporters on Friday.

Debt relief in Africa will be the main theme of the Italian G20 Presidency in 2021.  LINK