More News, Rumors and Opinions Sunday Night 8-22-2021
TNT:
Harambe: Afghan Central Banker Sees Currency Drop, Capital Controls Ahead | Bloomberg
(8/22/21)
Afghanistan’s new Taliban-led government faces a series of shocks that probably will lead to a weaker currency, faster inflation and capital controls, according to the nation’s exiled central bank chief.
The Afghani, as the tender is known, likely will see renewed weakness after it reached a record low last week, Ajmal Ahmady, governor of Da Afghan Bank, known as DAB, said in an interview for Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. That could spur a pickup in consumer price increases by making imports more expensive, he said.
With the vast majority of the central bank’s more than $9 billion in assets frozen by the U.S., Afghanistan faces a potential economic crisis, Ahmady said. That comes on top of Covid-19, a regional drought and displaced people that was already creating hardship.
“It’s a really challenging situation,” Ahmady said by phone from
an undisclosed location where he fled as the government fell. “We were trying to manage three shocks, and now I think they’re gonna have to deal with a fourth.”
Ahmady, 43, is a Harvard University graduate who briefly worked at the U.S. Treasury Department as an economist.
As the U.S. prepares to complete the military withdrawal that led President Ashraf Ghani to flee to the United Arab Emirates as the Taliban rolled into Kabul, Afghanistan’s economy and banking sector lie in tatters. Almost three-quarters of the country’s nearly 40 million citizens live in rural areas, while a majority of lenders are in the three major cities, according to World Bank data.
The Afghan currency isn’t accepted for cross-border trade, leaving the nation dependent on U.S. dollars and an informal transfer system known as hawala. The centuries-old trust-based method of moving cash that underpinned international trade throughout the Middle East and South Asia before the advent of modern banking remains a central part of life in Afghanistan.
The International Monetary Fund last week said that the new government is cut off from using fund reserve assets set to be allocated to its 190 member nations on Monday, depriving the Taliban of almost $500 million.
The Taliban will “probably try to go out to other countries to replace the U.S., and maybe China, Pakistan, or other regional countries to find some sources of finance,” Ahmady said. “But it’s a tough situation.”
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Tishwash: this is from Kuwait's news
Al-Kazemi: The doors of Iraq are open to the Kuwaiti investor
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi said that during his meetings and meetings with Kuwaiti officials, he affirmed his country's respect for and implementation of international resolutions, as well as commitment to relations based on common interests between the two countries.
Al-Kazemi said in an interview with the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) and the editors-in-chief of local newspapers, "Kuwait is for us a neighbor and friendly country, and it is in the heart and soul of every Iraqi by virtue of its historical and tender stances towards Iraq and all Arab countries."
Al-Kazemi indicated his country's keenness to overcome all difficulties in front of Kuwaiti investments by enacting legislation and fighting corruption and administrative bureaucracy to attract the Kuwaiti investor.
Al-Kazemi said, "The doors of Iraq are open to the Kuwaiti investor, and I personally, my office is open to any investor."
On the situation in Iraq, Al-Kazemi confirmed that a general reform document will be presented, the provisions of which will be adopted as basic constants for Iraq, noting that the legislative elections in his country will be held on time by the tenth of next October and that it is "not subject to postponement."
And he indicated that "what matters to us is to cross the country to safety and to regain its health, as we are in dire need of a healthy Iraq that does not dispense with its Arab and Islamic surroundings. link
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Courtesy of Dinar Guru
Frank26 Kazemi comes back out and again is telling you about the summit at the end of the month and how Iraq is so important to the rest of the Arabic world but of course not at a program rate. He's excited. Notice what he said that this is the place where they're going to tell...you when they're going to do it.
Breitling Question: [Will the upcoming [Iraqi] elections or the end of Iraq's fiscal year have any bearing on the revaluation?] No it will not. Iraq is strictly looking at the markets. They're looking at how much they owe. Remember one of the main principles - they want to get out from under the U.S. dollar. Do they want the US dollar? Absolutely they do. But they want to have control of what they can spend and how they spend it and to do that they're going to have to add value to the Iraqi currency.
Fleming Sunday RV Report
Our military intel contact can only reply he gave was the physical gold allocation to USN problem that the Admiral ran into Fri 20 Aug was fixed, as Mr Fleming’s sources said, as of 8:39 am PST today Sun 22 Aug for the RV teams to move forward this week, rates could be locked in any time next 24+ hours; for security he cannot give more details except be ready for a busy week for all tiers and payout levels and exchanges;
To the one question about projects, if you present your project ideas (3-5 minutes only at 1st appt) to negotiate for higher contract rates on currencies and/or ZIM his info is that there will be NDAs; if there are no NDAs for certain currency rates, as some sources have heard, don’t sweat it but just go with the flow in your first appt;
If you choose bank approved (Elder approved & UST and DoD approved) projects domestically or internationally, just ask the exchange banker(s) for their list of projects to invest some of your exchange-redemption proceeds in and they will give you higher contract rates; then let your WM assigned at the 1st appt help you structure your trust, legal, accounting, security team to create the framework for your money to start working for you in the way you desire.
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Will IRAQ Face Afghanistan's Fate? Iraqi Dinar Update
Rapid updates: Aug 22, 2021
Iraq Sunday Update & Afghanistan fate