KTFA Members "Sunday News" 5-31-2020

KTFA:

Samson:  The Stock Exchange announces postponing its sessions until next week

31st May, 2020

The stock exchange announced, on Sunday, that its sessions will be postponed to next week due to the curfew in Iraq

The Stock Exchange said in a statement received by "Al-Iqtisad News", that the market will not organize "trading sessions and dealing in stocks for the period from Sunday May 31 to Thursday 4 June 2020, in compliance with the decision of the Supreme Committee for Safety and Health in Iraq to impose a total curfew in Iraq

He added that "his clients will be notified of any developments later

It is noteworthy that the Supreme Committee for Health and Safety decided, yesterday (May 30, 2020), to impose a comprehensive curfew for one week   LINK

Samson:  A deputy proposes to Al-Kazimi a solution to revive the economy and save the country from the financial crisis

31st May 2020
Representative Abdul Amir Al-Dubai presented, Sunday, a proposal to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to revive the economy and save the country from the financial crisis.

The Dubai, in a statement received / Mawazine News /, received a copy of it: "The distinguished Prime Minister, if he is serious in reviving the economy and rescuing him from the financial crisis that is ravaging him, must begin applying the judicial decisions issued by the Integrity Commission against the thieves of Iraqi money and smuggled outside the country."

He added, "He must also seek the assistance of the competent international bodies to recover this money."    LINK

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Don961:  The government's approach to borrowing from the cash reserve is rejected

05/30/2020 08:52:51 PM Baghdad / extent

Mustafa Al-Kazemi’s government is moving towards borrowing from the central bank’s reserves to secure the employees ’salaries until the end of the current year, while deputies and economists oppose this approach.

The Prime Minister and his team were forced to use the cash reserves due to financial constraints and lack of liquidity due to the deterioration of oil prices in global markets on the one hand and the outbreak of the Corona epidemic on the other hand.

And Mohammed Sahib Daraji, the independent deputy for (Al-Mada), talks that "the government cannot withdraw from the currency reserves to fill the budget deficit except with the approval of the Iraqi Central Bank, which is an independent entity," noting that "the Prime Minister has no solution but to resort to the central bank reserves to bypass The economic crisis.

" The government is studying several options to provide and secure the salaries of employees, retirees, and social welfare for the months of June and July, including the reduction of salaries of the highest levels and internal and external borrowing, and the House of Representatives is awaiting the arrival of these decisions in order to discuss and review them. 

Darraji believes that "the borrowing that the government will offer during the coming period is an unsuccessful solution," suggesting "to gradually change the dinar exchange rate and stop the currency auction with a series of measures to prevent inflation." He continued: "

The deputy from Baghdad governorate asserts that "the federal budget will be limited to monthly accounts to pay the salaries that will be insured until the end of the current year." In his speech at the summit meeting on financing sustainable development to confront the Corona pandemic, President of the Republic Barham Saleh emphasized that our budget imports have decreased by more than 70% compared to the levels before the current crisis, which compels us to take emergency measures to cover basic expenses.

"We may need, as an inevitable consequence, to rationing our spending, but even so we may face the possibility of a large budget deficit this year, which will necessitate financing by drawing on reserves and increasing debt. In general, our economy is expected to shrink by about 10% during 2020, with Prospect for recovery in 2021. " "We cannot hope for success without the cooperation of the international community, including international financial institutions and partners," he said, noting that "the financial and liquidity crises we face make it difficult to achieve our core financing and our debt obligations."

He continued, "We hope that the international community will support these efforts, including helping us with economic restructuring and supporting us in achieving our investment budget, which are important efforts to build infrastructure, maintain basic services and create jobs," noting that "according to World Bank estimates, the number of Iraqis living below the poverty line range from less than 20% at the end of 2019 to about 40%.

For his part, economist Majid Al-Suri explains that "from a legal standpoint, it is not permissible to use the central bank reserves to cover budget expenditures directly," without realizing "but it is possible to intervene by the central bank indirectly through the secondary market of government bonds, unless the government issues borrowing bonds The central bank cannot use the reserve. "

The photo shows in a statement to Al-Mada that "the central bank reserves are not used in any way to cover the operating expenses of the budget," noting that "the central bank can finance foreign trade (by providing the dollar to traders) in order to meet the needs of the people." In the month of March, the Parliamentary Finance Committee decision, Ahmed Al-Saffar, revealed in a press statement that "the central bank reserves reached $ 87 billion, and it does not include cash and foreign currency only, but it includes gold bars." On the interest that is taken from the loans granted by the bank to the government, banks and state institutions. "

The economist adds that "one of the solutions that the government is supposed to follow is to reduce large salaries (what exceeded a million) as allocations and concessions to a large degree." ".

He explains that "the size of salaries (nominal and allocations) is estimated at 42 trillion Iraqi dinars, and therefore a 50% reduction in allocations will provide us with approximately 14 trillion dinars annually, or more than a trillion dinars per month." Government. "

In a related context, the Prime Minister directed, in a brief statement, to make the necessary reforms in accordance with the principle of achieving social justice, by addressing double salaries, the pensions of detainees in Rafha, and a group of residents outside Iraq who are paid other salaries.   LINK

Don961:  Allawi struck a deal with the Kurds, based on a rule: Hand me over, I surrender!

Policy  ,   05/31 2020 04:32   
 Baghdad - Iraq today:

The relationship between Baghdad and Erbil remained based on the principle of prevalence, and the principle of trust from one side, and although Baghdad had been subjected for years to a real Kurdish blackmail, the Kurdish forces were building their financial interests by playing on the sectarian string once, and once on the internal contradiction in weighting, but this formula It was eroded after the fall of the fragile sectarian wall, and the Kurdish forces began facing pressure from Baghdad, forcing it to declare a position contrary to what it was showing, and that it was subject to the status quo in the days of the Abadi government, which forced it to cut off the hand of blackmail, but the matter did not last in the Abdul Mahdi government that opened Baghdad's treasures are frank in front of the Kurdish greed, and the Kurdish forces succeeded in regaining their fixed location, where they get everything from Baghdad, for nothing in the federal government .

This abnormal situation exploded the problems between Baghdad and Erbil, and held the existing crisis, and perhaps the biggest bet, and the dilemma that everyone thought was a serious obstacle to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Ali Abdul Amir Allawi is in reaching a formula of understanding with the Kurdish forces regarding funding, and delivery of extracted oil Of the fields in the region according to the famous oil agreement included in the 2019 federal budget, which the Kurdish government publicly disavowed .

But today, things seem to be heading for what we call "the first realistic and historical agreement" based on sufficient clarity in the relationship, and it can be counted that it will end the foggy period, freeze blackmail, and also erase "if it went well and implemented"A bad era of federal submission to the regional party, as the new agreement published today explicitly includes an obligation for the Kurdish party to pay the federal treasury dues and the delivery of non-oil financial revenues to the center, as well as the delivery of at least a quarter of a million barrels of oil per day to be issued through the Oil Marketing Company

The Iraqi government, in exchange for the region’s receiving of 400 billion dinars in employee dues per month, and as a first indication, the April payment that the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ali Abdul Amir Allawi, launched to disburse, will be the last, unless the Kurdistan government adheres to the terms of the agreement that explicitly stipulates that the region hand over This revenue to Baghdad, in exchange for paying this amount on a monthly basis, and in the event of non-commitment, Baghdad will withhold these amounts, and thus the parties to the agreement will be in a solution of the commitment of what was stated.

The importance of this agreement comes from the clear context in which the government dealt with, with its keenness on the interests of the Kurdistan people, and the necessity of delivering its financial dues, it is keen on all keenness on the federal public treasury, and it will not allow, as it seems, to any party, whatever it is to exercise extortion, or fraud , Benefiting and employing political influence .LINK

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Samson:  Newspaper: Iraqi-American negotiations will start on June 10

11:11 - 05/31/2020

The Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Sunday that the strategic dialogue between the United States of America and Iraq will start on the tenth and eleventh of next June. 

  And although Al-Kazemi is far from making hostilities and is close to making friends even with his opponents, his supporters are betting on this trait while his opponents, including those who accepted him compelled to see that the ability to satisfy enemies and friends together, is a recipe that must be viewed with caution. 

"The dialogue begins on the tenth and eleventh of the month of June (June)," the newspaper said in a report that was seen by him / the information. Military and economic.”

She added that "the precursors to this dialogue are many and are more favorable to Al-Kazemi's opponents. While the supporters of Al-Kazemi, especially the Sunnis and the Kurds, believe that the results of this dialogue will be in their favor in one way or another, especially since the opponents of Al-Kazemi do not have much pressure on him on the level of foreign policy.   LINK

Samson:  In the video .. the American ambassador clarifies the features of the upcoming strategic dialogue with Iraq

31st May 2020

The American Ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Toller, revealed the features of bilateral cooperation between the United States and Iraq, and the strategic dialogue scheduled for mid-June.

The US embassy published a video clip of Toller’s statements, in which he clarified the features of the dialogue in its political, economic, security, social, and cultural aspects.

On April 7, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a "strategic dialogue" between the United States and Iraq to discuss the future of the relationship between the two countries.

The dialogue, which will be a series of meetings between senior American and Iraqi officials, aims to put all aspects of the US-Iraqi relationship on the dialogue table.   

In English.....   VIDEO LINK     LINK 

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Samson:  Trump announces the postponement of the Group of Seven summit to September

11:04 - 05/31/2020

US President Donald Trump confirmed that he would postpone the G-7 summit until September, indicating that he would invite Russia, South Korea, Australia and India to attend.

Trump told reporters traveling with him from Florida to Washington that the Group of Seven, which was scheduled to take place in late June at Camp David, is "a group of countries very outdated" and does not represent "what is going on in the world correctly" 

The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United States usually participate in the meeting. Russia had been excluded from the group of what was then called the "Group of Eight" five years ago as punishment for annexing the neighboring Ukrainian Crimea region.

White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said the Group of Seven summit will bring together traditional allies to discuss dealing with China's future.    LINK