KTFA:

Don961:  Completing advanced stages of e-governance

Sunday 04 July 2021 Baghdad: Huda Al-Azzawi 

 The General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers announced the completion of advanced stages of the e-government file, and that it had completed linking the ministerial authorities to it, and thousands of documents were circulated electronically through this system. 

The spokesman for the General Secretariat, Haider Majid, said in an interview with “Al-Sabah”: “The secretariat has supervised the Supreme Committee for e-Governance Management, and has completed advanced stages in this file, and has completed the first phase of the program, by linking all ministries with the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, and direct circulation of The documents between them electronically, starting from September of the year 2020, and the number of documents that were circulated reached more than (30) thousand documents, and the advanced stages of the second stage were reached, to link the entities not associated with the Ministry. and provinces."

He added, "A program was launched to support the validity of issuances between the real estate registration departments, the notary public and the tax departments, to facilitate and speed up the completion of transactions, in addition to assigning an advisory team that includes an elite of specialists to restrict and design electronic programs for organizing the follow-up of the progress and stages of the progress of completion rates for government projects in Baghdad and the provinces, And the development of the border ports automation system, as well as the preparation for launching the National Data Center, which will allow the citizen to register at the gate through the national card information and prove his identity for government institutions participating in the gate, which will reduce the routine work of these institutions and contribute to accelerating the completion of transactions". 

Majid noted that "the Iraqi government has paid great attention to the file of the displaced and the rehabilitation of the liberated areas. On this basis, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers worked, in coordination with the Ministry of Migration and Displacement, donor countries and international organizations, to implement the national plan to close the camps, through the rehabilitation of liberated areas, Numerous meetings and meetings at the level of attendance and through closed circuit television, with the Fund for the Reconstruction of the Liberated Areas and the ambassadors of donor countries and international organizations, to discuss the mechanism of supporting the stabilization effort in the liberated areas and the allocation money.”

Concluding his speech to "Al-Sabah", "work is continuing to conduct community reconciliation within the liberated areas, integrate the displaced into the community, provide job opportunities, establish small and medium projects for the displaced, and work to issue official documents for them, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and local administrations in the regions."  LINK

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The Iraqi economy and external challenges

Sunday 04 July 2021Yasser Al-Metwally 

 Iraq faces various challenges, including internal and external challenges. As for the internal challenges, we have addressed them in more than one article and they are now known.

Now it is necessary to address the external challenges that impede economic development and growth in Iraq, and in order to infer the reasons, it is necessary to follow the ways and effects of those challenges to be within the reach of those concerned in managing the economic file in the country and how to deal with and address them.

Believe it or not, Iraq is one of the 10 richest countries in the world, and it is a fact, and what was published by the reports and studies of international research centers did not come out of nowhere, but rather because of their knowledge of the resources that Iraq possesses that make it rich, so it placed it in the ranks of the selected countries in wealth.

And to prove this fact Let us analyze the indicators simply. It is known that the two international institutions concerned with external lending (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) have strict conditions when lending to countries, foremost of which are reforms that must be implemented by the beneficiary countries.. It is noted that any country that does not adhere to the controls and conditions of lending refrain from lending, and more than that. That is in the event of global financial crises or serious accidents, you will find them stop lending, but what about Iraq?

Since the year (2004) they have tried to impose their strict conditions on Iraq in return for lending it, but Iraq did not respond to them, due to the internal challenges facing the country, the most prominent of which is the social pressure, but in return the two institutions find that they are lending it..Do you know why?, because they know the size of Iraq's wealth and potential Thus, the risk of lending is weak, so they continue to lend it despite the financial crises that it has been exposed to and affected by, the fluctuation of oil prices, the aggression of ISIS and even the Corona pandemic (Covid-19). This is the first witness to the strength and strength of the Iraqi economy.

As for the other witness, it is that most of the crises it faced did not dissuade it and did not collapse economically, despite the media statements and the fears expressed by some non-economists, which often affect and undermine the market, and here lies the fact that Iraq is one of the rich countries that Resist all conditions.

the world is witnessing a frantic struggle to seize the capabilities of the global economy within the framework of the new economic system imposed by the pandemic and its consequences and effects. This means that the struggle of the adults is clear and to resist their struggle the lower countries seek to take possession of their regional surroundings so that they can withstand the game of adults or rise to it. The conclusion I came out with is that the future of the Iraqi economy is governed by external and internal challenges and their effects on the possibility of achieving full recovery and the required economic growth.

Here, I wanted to explain my perceptions as interested in economic affairs and put them in front of decision-makers and those in charge of the economic file to make up for the remaining time in order to determine the future of the Iraqi economy and advance Iraq to the level of its wealth and wealth, and to face potential challenges by relying on Iraqi thinkers and economic experts at home and abroad, in their hands the key to the solution

Iraq must return as it is established and the world looks at it as one of the 10 richest countries in the world.   LINK

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MilitiaMan:  It is about a digital transformation.. One that need global adhesion.. imo ...

Suzie:  Agreed....but if Iraq is entering into all these international contracts, as we're being told, I would think Iraq is close , if not done, with digital transformation at this point.  Time to activate and help their people and become a true player

Talk2me:  It will sort of be a big day when they do it instead of talking about it. Everyone KNOWS how money works.

Samson:  The Kuwaiti Generation Fund is the third largest sovereign fund in the world, and Iraqis are asking: Isn't it time to establish a national sovereign fund?

4th July, 2021

The American "Bloomberg" agency indicated, on Saturday, July 3, 2021, that the Kuwait Investment Authority has become its third rank among the list of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world in terms of assets, at a time when Iraqis are wondering, "Is it time to establish an Iraqi sovereign fund? ?".

The Iraqi economy today is in dire need of a sovereign fund for development in order to encourage the financing of economic and social projects and to strengthen industrial policies to increase real production within the Iraqi economy. This type of fund will bring a set of positive effects to the Iraqi economy.

This means an increase in business and companies and an increase in job opportunities in a very large way, which contributes to the elimination of unemployment and at the same time causes a significant increase in the gross domestic product and introduces large imports to the governmental public sector and the capitalist private sector, and now is an appropriate time to establish a sovereign fund for Iraq especially after the Iraqi government's intentions to reform and modernize the economy and maximize Iraq's financial resources, it would be appropriate to put a plan to establish a sovereign fund in the reform white paper.

On Tuesday, February 2, 2021, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, announced a government proposal to establish a sovereign wealth fund, "in which funds will be deposited, the deductions of which are equivalent to the ongoing compensation for the Kuwait war."

The proposal of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, referred to by the Prime Minister’s advisor, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, is based on “depositing amounts equivalent to the Kuwait war compensation, after completing the payment of those compensations, which is to deduct 3% of the proceeds from each barrel of Iraqi crude oil that is exported.” dollars for Kuwait over the past years.

The economic expert, Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, said that "the money that goes to the sovereign fund leads to the accumulation of great wealth in the fund, which can be invested in various fields, inside and outside Iraq."

Al-Mashhadani warned against corruption and sectarian quotas and their impact on the fund's work in the future, and said: "If the fund's board of directors is established, it will be dominated by political quotas, which leads to making the fund a gateway to corruption."

Al-Mashhadani pointed to Iraq's bad experience with the pension fund, saying that "what happened in the pension fund, which is one of the largest and oldest sovereign funds in the region, with a value of nearly 60 trillion dinars (about 50 billion dollars), and is now on the verge of bankruptcy due to mismanagement and corruption. prevalent in the fund.

Bloomberg quoted an informed source as saying that the value of the “Generation Fund” had risen to about $700 billion, revealing that “the value of the fund’s assets is estimated at $670 billion at the end of the fiscal year ending in March 2021.”

The increase means that "the General Investment Authority, which also manages the General Reserve Fund, has accumulated more assets than the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, whose assets are estimated by the Institute of Sovereign Wealth Funds at just over $649 billion."

According to the Sovereign Wealth Funds Institute's ranking, "The Norwegian State Pension Fund is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with total assets of $1.3 trillion, followed by the China Investment Corporation, which manages $1 trillion."

The gains that Kuwait achieved abroad contrast with its great financial challenges at home, which were exacerbated by the dispute between members of the National Assembly, "Parliament" and the government.  LINK

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Samson:  6,000 suspended projects in Iraq..Two ministries are in the Parliamentary Indictment Department

4th July, 2021
The Services and Reconstruction Committee of the Iraqi Parliament accused, on Sunday, the Ministries of Finance and Planning of "negligence" towards citizens, while noting that there are more than six thousand suspended projects with different completion rates due to poor planning and corruption.

Committee member Abbas Al-Jaber told Shafaq News Agency, "Most projects in Iraq began to stop due to the routine set by the Ministry of Planning," noting that "the lack of funding by the Ministry of Finance for the governorates and ministries, led to the suspension of most projects, especially in Wasit Governorate, where there are strategic projects." and annual roads.

Al-Jaber added, "The Great Kut Water Project, one of the most important projects in the governorates, has been suspended," noting that "there are important projects, including water projects throughout Iraq, which the citizen today has a great need for potable water, especially in the summer."  He pointed out that "the rates of completion are currently varying in most projects, and there are six thousand projects throughout Iraq, most of which have been accumulated for years," explaining that the new projects were not announced this year due to the method of dealing, overlap and routine set by the Ministry of Planning and its intervention even in technical real estate, and companies. Contracting and the routine in the Ministry of Finance and the lack of funding for these projects.”

Al-Jaber added, "The completion rates vary between 30-70%, and this year there is no funding for projects across the country, and work rates this year did not reach 30%."

On Sunday (23/5/2021), the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, announced that he had submitted a draft law to “recover the proceeds of corruption” to recover corruption funds and hold the spoilers accountable and bring them to justice, noting that the law includes proactive and deterrent practical measures, and subsequent steps to recover corruption funds.

Saleh revealed that Iraq has lost a thousand billion dollars since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime until now due to the rampant financial and administrative corruption in state departments and institutions.

LINK