Monday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 6-26-23
Monday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 6-26-23
The Budget Enters Into Force.. Iraqi Facts Publish The Text Of The Law
2023-06-26 02:50 Shafaq News/ The official Iraqi Gazette issued by the Ministry of Justice published, on Monday, the text of the general budget law for the years (2023, 2024, 2025). LINK
The Iraqi Gazette Publishes The Federal General Budget Law
Iraq 11:05 - 2023-06-26 Today, Monday, the Iraqi Al-Waqa’i newspaper affiliated with the Ministry of Justice published Law No. (13) for the year 2023 “The Federal General Budget of the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal years (2023-2024-2025).” https://kirkuktv.net/AR/Details/16008
The Tripartite Budget Enters Into Force After It Is Published In The Al-Waqi' Newspaper. This Is The Final Version
Policy 2023-06-26 | 03:46 3,111 views Alsumaria News – Politics The official Iraqi Gazette published today, Monday, the general financial budget law for the next three years.
To read the General Financial Budget Law published in the Official Gazette, the file is below:
After difficult labor that lasted for months, the Iraqi Parliament voted on the country's general financial budget for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 after a series of sessions held by the Council, which began last Thursday, June 8, 2023, and extended until the early hours of Monday, June 12, 2023.
The recent parliament sessions witnessed an unprecedented debate between the political blocs, especially after the Kurdistan Democratic Party refused to proceed with voting on some paragraphs of the budget, before the two parties reached a compromise agreement that guarantees the continuation of the political agreement that led to the formation of the State Administration Alliance and the formation of the government of the current Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.
The sessions also witnessed sharp interactions between deputies from various governorates due to differences related to the governorates' financial allocations and development funds and the creation of job grades in the public sector, with Parliament's refusal to approve imposing a tax on fuel prices and communications.
On Wednesday (June 21, 2023), the President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, approved the Federal Public Finance Law. LINK
Newspaper: Al-Sudani's Government Pledges Collide With The Budget Deficit... Electoral Or Enforceable Promises?
2023-06-26 Arab and international reports 0 - Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani announced pledges to implement five priorities, some of which require strict control policies, and others require funds, but he did not mention where the money would come from to implement them, as long as the budget that was approved recently notes a deficit estimated at 63 trillion dinars, equivalent to $49 billion.
This prompted some observers to say that, since assuming the presidency of the government last October, Al-Sudani tends to make promises without backing them up with figures, and without showing any evidence of them in the budget, so that they appear as electoral promises rather than an implementable program of action.
Al-Sudani said in a local television interview that his government is keen to implement five priorities, which are “tackling poverty, confronting unemployment, combating financial and administrative corruption, in addition to providing services and economic reform, and there is another priority that requires expediting the completion of projects that have been obstructed for years.”
Al-Sudani also promised that social protection would cover 42,000 displaced families, as well as a reduction in tuition fees for students covered by social care in public universities for evening studies and private universities.
In addition to the fact that the issue of combating financial and administrative corruption has not been taken regarding measures leading to the overthrow of the well-known major corruption heads in Iraq, and its agents deployed in Parliament, government institutions and the Central Bank, including those suspected of carrying out what has become known as the “theft of the century”, priorities require. Other investments The recently approved budget does not provide sufficient financial cover for its implementation.
Al-Sudani seemed to gather some scattered capabilities when he said that the country could save $3 billion if the Karbala refinery operated with a capacity of 140,000 barrels per day, which was used to import oil derivatives.
Iraq's budget for the current year amounts to 198.9 trillion dinars ($153 billion), but its deficit is more than double the deficit recorded in the 2021 budget. More than two-thirds of the budget goes to covering the costs of salaries and government spending, which has previously raised many questions about the reason The deficit has ballooned out of proportion to the country's new employment rates.
The government is betting on borrowing to cover the deficit. This means that if it wants to implement investment projects that lead to reducing poverty and unemployment rates, it will need to borrow more money.
Economists explain the reason for the inflation of the budget, the deficit, and the need to borrow as interconnected links related to levels of spending ravaged by corruption, including hundreds of thousands of jobs and fictitious pensions that militias and political parties benefit from, especially since they are parties that pay salaries to their members, and not like other parties that depend on donations from their members. .
“The implementation of the provisions of the budget law will be in accordance with the actual financial liquidity, especially with regard to investment projects,” said Salah Nuri, former director of the Office of Financial Supervision. He continued, “All previous budgets were unable to achieve the expected revenues, and because the financial liquidity is much less than expected; Priority is given to the operational budget in terms of salaries and governing expenses.”
Nuri added, “If it requires the implementation of all budget items; The financial ceiling will be covered by borrowing, and investment projects will most likely not be completed.
For his part, the economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said, "The deficit rate will be controlled through several chapters, including the accumulated cash surplus for the previous months, as well as the issuance of government bonds and internal borrowing."
On June 12, the House of Representatives approved a three-year budget that relies on oil for 83 percent of its revenues. This is based on a price of $70 a barrel. If the price of oil falls, the deficit will increase.
However, what is considered a “reality” is that the government does not have sufficient funds to implement investment projects. In order to overcome two decades of continuous failure, it is forced to seek the help of external investments to implement stalled projects and projects that the government wants to say it has implemented, with the money and contributions of others, and not with its own money.
Observers say that although foreign investment projects, especially those implemented by the Gulf states, are a vital outlet to extricate Iraq from the circle of failure that surrounded it throughout the years after the 2003 invasion, the Iraqi governments would have been able, had it not been dominated by corruption, To carry out an important aspect of these investments.
Iraq has a cash surplus of about $110 billion. While part of it is used to provide flexibility to the Central Bank to finance government spending and pay off foreign debt installments, another part of it can still be invested in the implementation of much-needed economic projects, in the areas of infrastructure reform, transportation and electricity networks, which is a basic basis for serving the investment projects that are needed. Funded by outside investors. Unless the government undertakes these actions, the foreign investment projects themselves may be stalled or not bear fruit in a timely manner.
Source: Al-Arab newspaper, London LINK
With The Eid Approaching And The Markets Booming, The Dollar Is Flying In The Sky Of Baghdad
Time: 06/25/2023 Read: 585 times {Economic: Al Furat News} The main stock exchange in the capital, Baghdad, closed today, Sunday, on the rise in the dollar prices against the Iraqi dinar.
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The price of the dollar, with the closure of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, reached 147,550 dollars against 100 dollars, while the dollar prices this morning were 147,100 dinars against 100 dollars.
That the buying and selling prices in exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad rose, as the selling price reached 148,500 Iraqi dinars, while the purchase price reached 146,500 dinars for every 100 dollars.
The pace of demand for clothes and foodstuffs, including meat, is increasing in Iraq, especially in the capital, Baghdad, significantly, with the approach of Eid Al-Adha.
And the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’a Al-Sudani, directed that the blessed Eid Al-Adha holiday be from Tuesday, corresponding to June 27, 2023, until Sunday, corresponding to July 2, 2023.
Official working hours in all government institutions will resume on Monday, corresponding to 7/3/2023.
The markets are not as usual every year, despite the crowd of pedestrians in their streets, but in Iraq they are witnessing a remarkable state of stagnation and lack of shopping with the advent of Eid Al-Fitr.
The reasons for this are multiple, including the high prices of materials and commodities, and the significant decline in the purchasing power of employees and those with daily wages and limited incomes. This holiday also represents a new challenge for the poor and low-income class, in addition to the instability of prices and the stability of the price of the dollar in the parallel market. LINK
The Government Is Reviving Lagging Projects Since 2006
Iraq 2023/06/26 Muhannad Abdel Wahhab The government has revealed that it will restore the 1,450 projects lagging behind since 2006, in addition to the implementation of 4 strategic projects, and indicated that it has set its sights on providing the necessary funds to implement a number of housing projects.
The government spokesman, Basem Al-Awadi, stated in an exclusive interview with "Al-Sabah" that "the implementation of strategic projects lies in four projects that came within the government's curriculum, which are (the Al-Faw project, the railways, the dry canal linking the port of Al-Faw with neighboring countries, and the establishment of a water desalination plant." The sea is in Basra, and it is one of the most important projects in the province because of what it suffers from.”
He stressed that "the government has developed integrated plans to implement investment projects in the manufacturing and petrochemical industries, as well as the establishment of new refineries of the new generation to fill the shortfall in oil products."
He added, "Our investment budget amounts to 47 trillion dinars," of which:
147 billion dinars were allocated for the rehabilitation of 10 large hospitals in all Iraqi governorates,
400 billion dinars for desalinating Basra water,
600 billion dinars for implementing the fourth ring road in Baghdad,
300 billion dinars for infrastructure projects. Infrastructure in Diwaniyah,
107 billion dinars for the "Nibras" project in Baghdad,
280 billion dinars for the rehabilitation and maintenance of power plants,
1 trillion dinars for the "Development Fund", and
500 billion dinars for the "Fund for the Poorest Provinces", added by the Prime Minister, in addition to investments The big one that will enter Iraq through the path of development.
Al-Awadi pointed out, "One of the most important issues that we must talk about is that the Prime Minister has set his sights on moving lagging projects since 2006 until now," noting that "the latest reports received from the Ministry of Planning indicate that the number of lagging projects in Iraq More than 1,450 projects have been lagging since 2005 and 2006, and the reasons for their reluctance are due to political conditions or the fluctuation and decline in oil prices.
He explained that "the statement of the Ministry of Planning in this regard stated that during the past eight months of the life of the Prime Minister's government (Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani), 450 lagging projects were dealt with, as they were reinstated," stressing that "the government is committed to moving all the accumulated 1450 lagging projects."
In the life of the previous Iraqi governments, from 2006 to the present time, and this is a great achievement that cannot be neglected.
Al-Awadi pointed out that "some of the previous paragraphs come within the ministry's budget - that is, what is allocated to the Ministry of Housing - as an annual support amount estimated at 4 to 5 trillion dinars," noting that many service issues are linked to the Ministry of Housing and Construction and not the departments of municipalities and governorates, including projects for resolving bottlenecks.
Traffic, and for all these projects funds were allocated within the general budget of the Ministry of Construction and Housing.” Edited by: Muhammad al-Ansari https://alsabaah.iq/79766-.html