Monday Evening Iraq Economic News Highlights 8-15-22

Monday Evening Iraq Economic News Highlights 8-15-22

The Government Comments On The Possibility Of Restoring The Dollar Exchange Rate And Ending The Currency Auction

Posted On2022-08-15 By Sotaliraq    Today, Monday, the government's economic advisor, Haitham al-Jubouri, ruled out taking any decision regarding the dollar's exchange rate, indicating that the best solution lies in strengthening the national currency against the dollar.

Al-Jubouri said in a televised statement that "the issuance of a decision regarding the exchange rate of the dollar to decrease or raise is excluded at the present time."

He added, "The ideal solution to end the crisis of the devaluation of the dinar is the currency to strengthen the local currency, expand its activity and diversify its sources."

And on the possibility of ending the currency auction, Al-Jubouri said that “the currency auction does not mean selling the dollar only, but rather buying the dinar to give 10 trillion dinars for the benefit of state employees every month, which means that it cannot be dispensed with.”   LINK

Al-Kazemi's Advisor Sets An Alternative Path To End The “Exchange Rate” Crisis

15/08/2022   95   Earth News/ Haitham Al-Jubouri, technical advisor to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, confirmed that it is impossible to return the dollar exchange rate to its previous position, while the value of the dinar can be raised against the dollar.

Al-Jubouri said in a televised interview, followed by Earth News, today, Monday, that "returning to the old exchange rate is a fantasy, as the losses that Iraq will pay in the event of a return will be more than the dollar's survival at its current price."

Al-Jubouri added, "We have to say how the strength of the Iraqi dinar can be restored, against the dollar, but not by a government decision, and this matter is achieved through supply and demand."

He stressed that "the only source of dollars at the present time is the Central Bank, for what it receives in dollars from the Ministry of Finance, for Iraqi oil sales."

He pointed out that “the currency sale window cannot be stopped by the state, as it considers the department to withdraw the dinar and pump the dollar, as it delivers the dinar to the Ministry of Finance and receives the dollar instead, and then the ministry distributes the dinar in various forms, including salaries as well as investment projects.” .

https://earthiq-news.translate.goog/archives/127902?_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US

Al-Kazemi's Advisor Resolves The Controversy Over State Spending In The Absence Of The Budget

08/14/2022  74   Earth News/ The economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, resolved today, Sunday, the controversy over the way in which the state's financial affairs will go in the event that the general budget for the current year 2022 and next year 2023

is not approved. Because of the disruption of Parliament, the Federal Court is referred to the permissibility of the continuation of the application of the Financial Management Act of 12/1 for more than a year, based on what was achieved from actual current expenditures in the 2021 budget. ”

Saleh added that “the Minister of Finance resolved the controversy in this regard, noting that it is possible to continue spending at a rate of 1/12 per month from the actual continuous expenses that were achieved through the implementation of the budget for the year 2021.” , when the country entered a second fiscal year, specifically in 2023, and without the availability of a law for the general budget in the year 2022".

He pointed out that "the work will be similar to what is currently being done in 2022, as the expenditure is carried out and the country is without a general budget as well, and the exchange is approved by 12/1 of last year's actual continuous Expenditures included in the 2021 budget, which means that the text and spirit of Article 13 of the Financial Management Law can be applied. No. 6 of 2019 amended regarding the 12/1 exchange rate and its validity over more than one fiscal year, and it is devoid of a general budget.”

https://earthiq-news.translate.goog/archives/127580?_x_tr_sl=ar&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US

The Stability Of Gold Prices In Baghdad And Its Decline In Kurdistan

Shafaq News/ "Foreign and Iraqi" gold prices stabilized in the local markets in the capital, Baghdad, while they decreased in the markets of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Region, today, Monday, (15 August 2022).

Shafak News Agency correspondent said that gold prices in the wholesale markets on Al-Nahr Street in the capital, Baghdad, recorded this morning, the selling price of one weight of 21 karat of Gulf, Turkish and European gold amounted to 373,000 dinars, and the purchase price of 369 thousand, which is the same prices as yesterday, Sunday.

Our correspondent indicated that the selling price of one 21-carat weight of Iraqi gold was also stable at 333,000 dinars, and the purchase price amounted to 329 thousand.

With regard to gold prices in the jewelers’ shops, the price of selling the weight of Gulf gold 21 carat ranged between 375 thousand and 385 thousand dinars, while the selling price ranged from the weight of Iraqi gold between 335 thousand and 345 thousand dinars.

Meanwhile, Erbil gold prices witnessed a decline in its markets, as the selling price reached, according to the Goldsmiths Syndicate in Erbil:

24 carat gold weight for 425,000 Iraqi dinars

22 karat gold weight of 390,000 thousand Iraqi dinars

A 21 karat gold weight of 380,000 thousand Iraqi dinars

An 18 karat gold weight for 320,000 thousand Iraqi dinars

It is equal to one mithqal of gold (five grams).    LINK

A Slight Increase In The Exchange Rates Of The Dollar In Baghdad And Its Stability In Kurdistan

Shafaq News/ The exchange rates of the US dollar rose slightly against the Iraqi dinar, on Monday, in the main stock exchange in the capital, Baghdad, while it stabilized in the Kurdistan Region.

Shafak News Agency correspondent said that the central Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges in Baghdad recorded this morning, an exchange rate of 148,550 dinars against 100 dollars, while the dollar prices recorded yesterday, Sunday, 148525 dinars.

Our correspondent indicated that buying and selling prices have stabilized in banking shops in the local markets in Baghdad, where the selling price amounted to 149,000 dinars per 100 dollars, while the purchase prices amounted to 148000 dinars.

In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, dollar prices have witnessed stability, with the selling price reaching 148,550 dinars, and the purchase price 148,450 dinars per 100 dollars.    LINK

The Council Of Ministers Supports The Gulf Cup With 3 Billion Dinars

Monday, August 15, 2022 12:06 PM  Baghdad / National News Center  The Council of Ministers decided to support the Arab Gulf Cup football tournament with 3 billion dinars.

A statement by the General Secretariat, received by the National News Center, stated that “the Council of Ministers decided to finance the Ministry of Finance, with an amount of three billion dinars, to the Iraqi Football Association, to contract with a training angel to lead the Iraqi national football team.”

He added, "The decision came based on what the Minister of Youth and Sports presented as an emergency presentation during the twenty-ninth regular session of the Council of Ministers, held on 8/11/2022." The tournament is scheduled to be held in Basra in early 2023.   https://nnciraq.com/147246/

Drought Hits Iraq Hard.. How Did The Garden Of Eden Turn Into A Barren Desert?

2022-08-15 | 06:28    2,703 views  Like his father before him, he raises a buffalo, but only five are left of the herd of about 30 animals. Others died or were sold as the family struggled to make ends meet. Family members carefully watch those who remain, fearing that weak, undernourished monsters will fall into the mud and die.

“We have been protesting for more than two years and no one is listening,” Jased said. “We are at a loss as to where to go. Our lives are over."

The Mesopotamian marshes lie between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and suffered under the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein, who ordered their draining in 1991 as punishment for the societies that protect and hunt the rebels.

Wetlands have intermittently gone through years of severe drought in the past, before being revived by good rainy seasons.

Climate change

But between August 2020 and this month, 46% of the swamps in southern Iraq, including Hawizeh and Jabayish, suffered a complete loss of surface water, according to the Dutch peacebuilding organization Pax.

Another 41% of the marshlands suffered from low water levels and wetness, according to the organization, which used satellite data to make the assessment. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Iraq said the marshes are "one of the poorest regions in Iraq and one of the regions most affected by climate change," warning of "unprecedented low levels of water".

She noted the "disastrous impact" on more than 6,000 families "losing their buffalo and their unique livelihood assets."

Biodiversity is also under threat, and swamps provide home to "several groups of endangered species".

Environmental activist Ahmed Saleh Nima said that the swamps of Al-Hawizeh were irrigated by the tributaries of the Tigris River, which originates from Turkey, but its flows decreased, adding that the Iraqi authorities are rationing supplies to cover various needs.

"The government wants to conserve as much water as possible," he added, lamenting the "unfair sharing of water" and "mismanagement (resources)."

After pressure from the protesters, the authorities partially opened the valves, he said, but closed them again. On the Iranian side, the Hawizeh marshes, called Hor al-Azim, also suffer.

Water stress

"Wetlands are facing water stress, and currently about half of the Iranian part has dried up," the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported recently.

Hatem Hamid, who heads  Water Management Center  Of the Iraqi government, he said, "On the Iranian side, the main river that feeds the Hawizeh marshes has been completely cut off for more than a year," and acknowledged that the water needs of Iraqi farms and marshes are only half met, as the authorities closely monitor the reserves and try to cover a range of uses, with the presence of Drinking water is one of the "priorities".

Iraqi officials point to canals and small streams that have been rehabilitated to feed the marshes—and to where some families have moved from dry areas.

But he added that it was "impossible to compensate for the very high evaporation in the marshes" in temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). The 20-year-old said:

And in Chebayish, the effects of drought are very clear to Ali Jawad  Who said that dozens of families left his village.     LINK

It Extends To 2030.. Iraq Reveals Its Plan To Confront Drought And Climate Change

Money and business    Economy News-Baghdad   The Minister of Environment, Jassem Al-Falahi, stressed that the drought threatens the security of Iraq, as United Nations reports have placed it among the five countries most affected by climate changes, in terms of the dramatic rise in temperatures and the unprecedented decrease in water revenues from upstream countries .

Al-Falahi said in a press interview, "The decrease in rainfall rates, and other factors, led to an increase in desertification, loss of a lot of agricultural land, and an increase in dust and sand storms,"​​noting that "drought is one of the most important threats to national security, especially that more Of the 33 percent of the Iraqi population lives in rural areas .

He added that "these people depend on agriculture and animal husbandry, and in the event of losing their agricultural habitat, due to the absence of sufficient quantities of water, they will lose their main source of livelihood, and in the end result, drought will be one of the causes of internal and even external displacement ."

According to Al-Falahi, "the Iraqi government is very aware of the problem of drought, as the Ministry of Environment has taken very bold steps, in cooperation with the countries of the world and the region, to confront the inevitable effects of climate change, and the most prominent of these steps is Iraq's accession to the Paris Agreement, and the issuance of the relevant law ."

The Minister of Environment revealed Iraq's plan to confront drought, saying: "Iraq's plan is based on two parts, after the Council of Ministers voted on it, and it was sent to the Global Climate Secretariat, before participating in the Glasgow Conference, at the end of last year, where the plan began in its first section, which starts from 2020. - 2025, and focused on reducing carbon emissions, especially in the oil and gas sector, with a focus on the need to raise national awareness towards climate change .

He added: "The other direction that begins, from 2025 to 2030, will focus mainly on two important sectors, which is the transfer of modern technology, in the field of irrigation and irrigation, and the rational management of water resources, as we suffer from serious problems in this aspect, due to the obsolescence or non-entry of modern methods in perfusion, which causes wastage of water .”

He pointed out that "one of the important initiatives, the "National Initiative for Energy Promotion and Rationalization of Consumption", has achieved good results, in terms of installing meters and obligating government institutions to rationalize .

He pointed out that "there are 540 teams working continuously to accomplish this initiative, which was approved by the Cabinet Secretariat, and the Iraqi government launched the afforestation initiative, with the participation of several specialized committees, to choose places, and others to determine the quality of materials and trees, which are suitable to face the effects of climate change, and suit Iraqi environment .

Al-Falahi continued, "Iraq is now moving towards the use of treated wastewater to create windbreaks, around and outside cities, and we focus mainly on the urban environment, because we are interested in the issue of sustainability ."

For years, Iraq has been suffering from major environmental challenges, such as drought, the decline in water flows from neighboring countries, the deterioration of agricultural land, the expansion of desertification areas, as well as dust storms and a high level of air pollution, as a result of gas emissions and oil refineries .

The challenges on the environment have also increased recently due to the remnants of war and mines in the land, as well as the amount of pollution in the water, waste issues, overcrowding, and environmental, mental, audio and visual pollution .   42 . views   Added 08/15/2022 - 12:58 PM   Update 08/15/2022 - 2:51 PM https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=29335

Parliamentary Finance Clarifies The Possibility Of Parliament Authorizing The Government To Send The 2022 Budget

Sunday, August 14, 2022 11:56 AM  National News Center / Special  Today, Saturday, Parliamentary Finance revealed the possibility of parliament authorizing the current government to present the draft general budget law for 2022.

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Kougar, said in a statement to the National News Center that “the House of Representatives does not have the authority to authorize the government to send the budget law for 2022,” noting that “if it had this authority, it would have gone to legislate the budget law instead of the food security law.” “.

He added that "the texts of the constitution are very clear that the Council of Ministers is in charge of preparing the draft budget and sending it to the House of Representatives," noting that "the responsibility of Parliament is the legislation only."     https://nnciraq.com/147077/