KTFA Members "Tuesday News" 12-29-2020

KTFA:

The Snod:  From the Turkmenistan Model:

The first step in the Turkmen currency reform was to unify the exchange rate. In the past, because of a shortage of foreign exchange, there had been a dual exchange rate system made up of an official rate pegged at 5,200 manat per U.S. dollar and an informal parallel market rate of about 23,000 manat per U.S. dollar.

Later, the government devalued the official rate to 6,250 manat per dollar and introduced a commercial rate of 20,000 manat per dollar at which banks could trade freely with the public. The two markets were successfully unified on May 1, 2008—at the rate of 14,250 manat per dollar, a level consistent with the country’s strong external position.

Don961:  Deputy talks about a next step to change the current exchange rate for the dollar

3,402 Policy 12/28/2020 21:47
Baghdad today - Baghdad 

MP Hussein Arab spoke about the possibility of changing the current dollar exchange rate, while noting that the decision to change it is in the hands of the Ministry of Finance.

Arabs said in a televised interview, followed by (Baghdad Today), "We have not discussed the government yet in the parliament about the basis on which the new exchange rate was built," adding that "raising the exchange rate to 1450 dinars against the dollar is surprising because oil prices are rising and it is possible that It reduces the size of the financial fortune, and therefore it is not necessary to go towards changing the exchange rate on the pretext of reducing the deficit ."

With regard to the trend in covering government expenditures, the MP said that "raising the exchange rate solves a small part of the deficit problem, and there are alternatives and other better solutions," noting, "We believe that the exchange rate will change once the 2021 budget is discussed in Parliament."

"I tell the Minister of Finance that raising the dollar exchange rate is illogical, and it will cause the market to collapse, and what you did will not be merciful to you by history," he said.

Arab confirmed that "the Ministry of Finance is the one that determines the exchange rate, and the Central Bank has nothing to do with that," noting that "all parliamentarians agree not to allow any prejudice to the salaries of employees."

Before that, the representative of the Saeron Alliance, Ali Saadoun, confirmed that Parliament will host the Minister of Finance, Ali Allawi, in its first session next year, to discuss the reasons for raising the dollar exchange rate against the Iraqi dinar.

Saadoun said in an interview singled out (Baghdad Today), "The House of Representatives will host the Minister of Finance in the first session of the Council at the beginning of next year, to discuss the reasons for raising the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar and its negative effects on many groups of the Iraqi people," indicating that "the Council It will examine the exchange sections mentioned in the 2021 budget bill.

He added that "many members of Parliament are not convinced of the move to raise the exchange rate, because this matter must be accompanied by activating the local industry and reducing imported goods."

The Finance Minister Ali Allawi, said Monday 12/21/2020, the change of the dinar exchange rate against the dollar came in order to protect the economy.

He said Allawi , a joint press conference in Baghdad , "We made a change regardless of the dollar to protect the economy."

He added that " the budget is the first step in the path of economic reform and the difference in revenue by changing the exchange rate will be allocated to support vulnerable groups of society."

In turn, Minister of Planning Khalid Al Battal stressed that "investment spending will be up to 8 trillion dinars in the budget of 2021". He added, "The budget included the suspension train project, the port of Faw, and a number of projects."   link

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Don961:  Cabinet: The budget has been signed and will be sent to Parliament tomorrow

 Monday, December 28, 2020 19:32

Cabinet spokesman, Minister of Culture, Hassan Nazim

Baghdad (People) - Cabinet spokesman Hassan Nazim revealed, on Monday, the date for sending the 2021 budget to Parliament.  

Nazem said during his hosting of the "neutral" program, presented by colleague "Saadoun Mohsen Damad," and "people" followed it (December 28, 2020), that "the budget has been signed and will be sent on Tuesday to the House of Representatives."  

He added that "the budget is based on a reform vision presented by the Ministry of Finance, and will work to revitalize the private sector."  

And he indicated that "there is a kind of protection for citizens with limited income in the ration card that has not been tampered with, and the government's decision is categorical about changing the dollar exchange rate, which is part of the vision of economic reform in Iraq."  

He continued, "The government did not set the budget alone, and there was a discussion about it with the leaders of political blocs and they showed their willingness to vote on it within the exchange rate of the dollar."  

 He stressed that "what the current government did regarding the Faw port is to authorize the General Director of Ports to contract to start disbursement to complete the work."  

 He continued, "The negotiations with the Kurdistan region have reached the approval of the delegation of the region on the borrowing law, and the discussion is still ongoing regarding the discrepancy of numbers about the region’s share.  

 Nazem revealed, "a meeting held today for the Prime Minister with 8 ministers and security leaders, the Iraqi Media Network and the Media and Communications Commission with the parties related to the elections in the presence of the Chairperson of the Commission. There was talk about forming committees and coordinating work in preparation for the elections on June 6, 2021," indicating that "the government saved All the requirements for holding elections. "  

 He pointed out that "the meeting talked about securing the lives of citizens during the elections, as well as choosing places to store invention boxes to prevent recurring incidents of fund burning."  

 In another file, Nazem said that "the popular crowd is an official institution and everything that goes out of its law does not agree with it," noting that "hitting the embassy is condemned by all factions, and there is a political horizon to solve the issue."  

 Concerning the files of the Ministry of Culture, Nazem pointed out that "the culture has been passed down by terrorists, corrupt and uneducated people, and it is a ministry that is rotten in its construction, and in the past months there has been a change in the leadership of the ministry due to corruption cases, and a number of them were issued judicial orders and some others were dismissed due to mismanagement.  

 "The Tourism Authority is a losing self-financing company, and most of the Iraqi self-financing companies are losers, and they are full of corruption," Nazim said, indicating that "in this body there are corruption files that affected leaders in the body from a general director and above, and a number of them were exempted and expelled and referred to the judiciary."  

 He stressed that "the Tourism Authority and within the last two months paid salaries from its revenues after changing the administration in new ways, as for years the Ministry of Culture did not receive revenues from it, and now it gives us revenues of one billion or more."  

 The minister went on to say, "We brought in a team from outside the ministry and they worked with the directors of the ministry to restructure it, and we are now in the process of implementation."  

 Nazem detailed that by saying, "The structure included all departments of the ministry, after it had created unnecessary divisions and divisions for compliments and for the sake of assignments, and some divisions and divisions had only one or two people, and at the time we needed to create new departments, we created two sections for cultural diversity, And another section for financial management in the event that the Ministry of Finance is unable to finance the ministry. "  

 He continued, "There was a lack of confidence in the ministry’s dealings with international organizations about grants, as international organizations are subject to various suspicions and administrative visions. We cannot heal ourselves as quickly as international organizations help us.  

 Speaking about the projects, Nazem said, “Several projects have been resumed, such as the Al-Nuri Mosque and the Taq Kasra maintenance project, which was restored a few years ago and fell in the rain, despite that because of the work wear.  

The Minister of Culture complained about "a deficiency in institutions that develop cultural diversity, as we have a Kurdish publishing house, which is an existing department from the seventies, others do not."  

 The minister revealed, "We have formed a committee to translate Turkmen literature, as translation between languages ​​in Iraq is very limited," stressing "the responsibility of Arabs and Kurds to promote cultural and literary exchange."  

 He continued, "I spoke with Kurdish intellectuals and parliamentarians in response to the fact that the biggest loser is the Kurds themselves. There is a large Kurdish cultural window that has to look out from the window of Iraq to the Arabs, and there is no presence of the Kurds in the Arab literary results in Iraq, linguistic isolation that the Kurds live in a geographical area, and this cannot be done." It should overlook other cultures, such as Arabic, Persian and Turkish. "  

 And he called for "reviving the Arab and Kurdish Cultural Forum, which was annually, and is hosted every year by an Iraqi governorate, in which memoranda of understanding and agreements are held."  

 He added, "We have 41 cultural houses in the governorates, which are frequent and concentrated in some governorates without others, and we are in the process of reviewing the feasibility of these houses, as some of them do not practice any activity or are small rooms, so they will be reassessed and examined for their feasibility, and the budgets spent We are also dealing with it.  

 The minister stated that "the heritage strip in Baghdad, which extends a kilometer along the banks of the Tigris, we seek to find an investor to rehabilitate the area, which includes the souk, the shrines and mosques surrounding it, Al-Mutanabi Street, Beit Al-Wali and other places. We are also seeking to move towards international destinations to invest in these places." The Iraqi-Saudi Coordinating Council is to entrust the cultural tape in Baghdad to Saudi companies. "  

He concluded by saying that "those with degrees in the fields of tourism and antiquities demanding appointments will have future contracts in the 2021 budget."   LINK

Don961:  Al-Kazemi Economic Adviser confirms that the dollar will not be raised, and the Iraqi government is not bound by the International Monetary Fund

 Economy  ,   12/28/2020 12:19   Baghdad - Iraq today:

The appearance of Muhammad Salih, the economic advisor to the prime minister, denied the government’s intention to raise the exchange rate of the dollar again against the Iraqi dinar, while affirming that the International Monetary Fund’s advice is not binding on Iraq.

Saleh said, "The reports that talk about a new increase in the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar are incorrect, and the price is currently fixed and cannot be changed."

And on the role of the International Monetary Fund in the Iraqi economic crisis, Saleh explained that "Iraq is a founding member of the International Monetary Fund since 1945, and when every country is exposed to a financial crisis, the Fund intervenes in consultation with it, with the aim of achieving financial stability for the country."

He added that "when the International Monetary Fund saw that Iraq was exposed to a financial and economic crisis, it entered into consultation and not for other matters," stressing that "the advice of the International Fund is not binding, given that Iraq has not entered into the financial borrowing program."

Some media and social media circulated news of the government's intention to raise the price of the dollar against the dinar again, after the Central Bank set the dollar exchange rate at 1450 dinars. LINK

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Samson:  Association of Private Banks: The Central Bank works to stimulate the economy after changing the exchange rate of the dinar

29th December, 2020

The Iraqi Private Banks Association announced that the decision to change the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar, taken by the government, is part of reform packages for the economy, which is going through a stifling financial crisis due to its dependence on oil and disruption of other productive sectors

The association said in a press release seen by "Al-Eqtisad News", that the Iraqi Private Banks Association supports the monetary policy measures taken by the Central Bank, aimed at revitalizing the economy through the lending initiative represented by 5 trillion dinars to support large industrial, agricultural and real estate projects in addition to the 1 trillion dinars initiative To support small and medium industrial and agricultural projects, which will contribute to supporting the local product and creating factories that can attract the unemployed, as well as his recently announced 3 trillion dinars initiative to support the residential sector, which will include non-employees in the public sector

The Association of Private Banks confirmed that the economy has reached a very difficult stage, represented by the erosion of oil revenues, and its spending on salaries in addition to the government borrowing huge sums of money to support the operating budget, without creating real economic development, and the country’s dependence of a very large percentage on imports, which required taking important measures

. To support the Iraqi productive sectors to confront the commodity dumping carried out by some countries, especially since the economy has become unable to attract people who are able to work in its public and private sectors   LINK