Iraqi News Sunday AM 8-8-21
Iraqi News Sunday AM 8-8-21
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The Minister Of Finance Stresses The Importance Of Adopting Systematic Mechanisms And Steps In Accordance With The White Paper
Political | 03:22 - 08/08/2021 Baghdad - Mawazine News, Minister of Finance Ali Abdul Amir Allawi stressed, on Sunday, the importance of adopting mechanisms and systematic steps, according to what was stated in the white paper.
And the Ministry's media office stated in a statement, "The Minister of Finance, Abdul Amir Allawi, chaired the sixteenth session of the committee for preparing the budget strategy for the years 2022-2024, and in the presence of the head of the General Authority for Monitoring Federal Ministries' allocations, the Undersecretary, the Prime Minister's advisors, the ministry's advisor, and a number of the ministry's general directors.
He added, "During the session, a comprehensive report was presented on the strategic plans for the governorates: (Babylon, Anbar, Dhi Qar, and Wasit) and their future vision in the context of achieving economic development, activating the investment aspect in them, and supporting efforts to advance the service and infrastructure reality, provide job opportunities and reduce levels of employment." poverty in those provinces.
He continued, "The meeting discussed defining and discussing ceilings for oil and non-oil revenues, according to the report submitted by the head of the General Authority for Monitoring the allocations of the federal ministries."
Allawi stressed, according to the statement, "the importance of adopting systematic mechanisms and steps in accordance with scientific frameworks, including according to what was stated in the economic reform paper (white paper). Ended 29 / h https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=163129
Central Bank Sales Of Hard Currency Rise To 227 Million Dollars
Economie| 02:40 - 08/08/2021 Baghdad - Mawazine News The Central Bank of Iraq recorded, on Sunday, a significant increase in its sales of hard currency.
Today, the Central Bank auction for the sale and purchase of foreign currencies witnessed an increase in its sales by 7.58% to reach 227 million and 969 thousand and 500 dollars, compared to last Thursday, in which sales amounted to 211 million and 240 thousand and 433 dollars.
The purchases amounting to 169 million and 269 thousand and 500 dollars went to enhance balances abroad in the form of remittances and credits, while the remaining amount of 58 million and 700 thousand dollars went in cash.
33 banks responded to requests to enhance balances abroad, and 8 banks to meet cash requests, in addition to the participation of four exchange companies. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=163126
Abu Ragheef Committee Pursues The File Of Smuggling Money Abroad In Cooperation With The US Treasury
Posted On 2021-08-08 By Sotaliraq Baghdad / Muhammed Sabah The State Anti-Corruption Committee has begun to move towards monitoring the process of smuggling money from Iraq abroad, with the support and backing of one of the European Union countries and with the help of the US Treasury, in an attempt to collect the largest number of documents and evidence incriminating political figures accused of smuggling and stealing Iraqi money.
The move came after the political parties, blocs and leaders objected to the intention of the Anti-Corruption Committee to chase and prosecute more than (13) head of a bloc, and its attempt to arrest them for accusing them of financial and administrative corruption.
An informed source, who declined to be identified, told Al-Mada that the governmental anti-corruption committee led by Lieutenant-General Ahmed Abu Ragheef began monitoring financial transfers related to external balances and banks for the purpose of collecting evidence and tracking the financial transactions of persons accused of money smuggling operations.
In a report by (Al-Mada) published on the fifth of last July, it revealed the intention of the Anti-Corruption Committee to hunt down more than (200) influential political figures, some of whom are leaders of the first row. The report added that arrest warrants will be ready to pursue these wanted persons between mid-July. current and next August.
However, these efforts were disrupted and aborted due to the pressure exerted by the parties, blocs and political leaders on the government committee to stop or postpone its work until the completion of the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on the tenth of next October.
As for the availability of the ability for the Anti-Corruption Committee to monitor or track the financial transfer process and the deposited balances of these politicians in foreign banks, the source clarifies that “the Abu Ragheef Committee works with the help and assistance of one of the European Union countries and the United States of America to monitor the movement of money transfers from Iraq to abroad, to collect the largest number of Possible evidence and proofs to convict those corrupt.”
According to anti-corruption watchdogs, Iraqi funds smuggled abroad are estimated at about $500 billion, accusing Iraqi politicians of foreign nationalities who have smuggled and stolen Iraqi funds abroad.
On a related level, the files of the ministries of Electricity, Health, Industry and Trade, which waste money, were presented to the Abu Ragheef Committee, and audits are now underway to prosecute corrupt and thieves in order to issue arrest warrants, according to the source.
The source indicated that “the heads of the political blocs informed the Prime Minister, at its last meeting with him, to postpone the pursuit of the heads and symbols of the political blocs accused of financial and administrative corruption until the completion of the parliamentary elections,” adding that the agreement reached the prosecution of some junior employees during the coming period, who do not exceed The five employees are accused of financial corruption.
The source indicates that “the number of heads or symbols of political blocs wanted by the judiciary, according to the investigations of the Anti-Corruption Committee, amounted to about (13) people out of a total of (25) heads of a political bloc,” adding that “the agreement gave the green light to the head of government and the Anti-Corruption Committee to chase down the small names ( junior employees), their number ranges from five to six names.
A member of the Committee, Alia Nassif, stated in press statements that “the Anti-Corruption Committee had a clear opinion of the necessity of involving the constitutional institutions in the fight against corruption, especially the Integrity Commission,” noting that “the Integrity Committee as a legislative and oversight authority accepted the Abu Ragheef Committee because the amount of corruption is large.”
She pointed out that "there is coordination with the Anti-Corruption Committee, and that the powers of this committee are great in fighting corruption without having a political influence on its work," noting that "the Anti-Corruption Committee has approached some of the executive tools of the party systems and economies affiliated with those parties," stressing that " The committee has achieved qualitative success, but it must include all the active spoilers in the parties’ economies.”
For his part, Saeed Yassin Moussa, a former member of the Anti-Corruption Council, said in a statement to (Al-Mada) that "there are arrest warrants issued in the past years that were not implemented, but in 2019 they were sorted, as their number reached (12) thousand cases," noting that The reason for “the non-implementation of arrest warrants against the wanted persons was due to political influence.”
At the end of August 2020, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi formed a permanent committee to investigate corruption cases and operations headed by Lieutenant-General Ahmed Abu Ragheef, and assigned the Counter-Terrorism Service to implement the decisions issued by this committee.
And Moussa indicated that "the government's Anti-Corruption Committee followed up on these files and referred many of these files to the judiciary, after it was certain that there was evidence of the involvement of many personalities in financial and administrative corruption."
He added that "this committee needs political support in order to implement all arrest warrants, prosecute all the corrupt and bring them to justice," noting that no matter how the committee works, its work remains insufficient in terms of time and investigations that require documents and witnesses.
The anti-corruption expert stressed that "despite the difficulties that the government committee faced, it did what could be implemented and referred many files to the judiciary," adding, "but the political support remains limited and insufficient to help this committee complete all the files."
Since the formation of the committee by the prime minister last August, arrest warrants have been issued against a large number of political and administrative figures, including the head of the al-Hal Party, Jamal al-Karbouli, after he assigned the anti-terrorism agency to implement the decisions issued by the committee.
The corruption witnessed by Iraq is very large, and the money that was wasted ranges between three hundred and four hundred billion dollars, meaning that a large number of Iraqi politicians have already been involved in corruption deals.
Saeed Yassin stressed that "corruption has great godfathers, and that the political, social and administrative names involved in corruption are nothing but tools." LINK
The Central Bank Of Iraq .. And The Process Of Achieving Monetary Policy Goals
Samir Al-Nusairi Monetary policy applications face great challenges for many reasons related to the effects and repercussions of the economic reality that Iraq has experienced since 2003 and is still going on and during the previous years and since the issuance of the Central Bank Law No. To achieve monetary stability, especially during the economic, financial and security crises that Iraq suffered due to the instability of oil prices, which is the main resource for the public budget, the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and the war on terrorism, and the Central Bank is still making clear efforts on this path.
For the purpose of presenting and analyzing the process of achieving monetary policy goals and transforming them into achievements achieved by the Central Bank during its march for the previous years and it is still continuing in the same pace and approach to achieve the goal of monetary stability. Its policies and programs in monetary policy applications and linking all of this to the economic reality through coexistence, follow-up and monitoring have reached a study specialized in this vital issue in the current circumstance.
The Central Bank of Iraq is a solid, sovereign, economic and financial institution founded in 1947 of the last century. It is specialized in drawing up the paths and policies of monetary policy applications, supervision and control of the banking sector, and is considered the financial advisor to the government.
And the Central Bank of Iraq had a key role in managing the economic process in Iraq after the change in 2003 according to its new law 56 of 2004 and through its management of monetary policy and the achievement of its objectives. Building the introductions to the transition from the philosophy and strategies of the central economic system in managing the economy to the philosophy, strategies and mechanisms of a market economy.
The most important feature of this stage is the empiricism and the practice of economic policies and jurisprudence that depend mainly on the application of market economy mechanisms without relying on the basic economic pillars of this transition.
The unstable security clearly contributed to the dispersion of applications in economic and financial policies and the different visions and strategies to reach the specific central goals, in addition to the shortcomings in some articles of the legislative environment of the economic laws in force and issued in 2004 that regulate the economic process, which led to a disturbance in the application.
Achievement Walk (1)
However, the Central Bank of Iraq and the banking sector have taken great development steps towards moving from banking activity to real and developmental activity, especially during recent years. Since the issuance of laws regulating banking work in 2004, great achievements have been made in the field of:
* Reducing the hyperinflation that Iraq was suffering from and bringing it to good rates, amounting to less than 2 percent, as indicated by data and financial indicators..
* And that the Central Bank of Iraq was able to maintain for several years the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar in a balanced manner, despite the fluctuation and variation upwards And down according to the difficult economic conditions and the financial and economic crises due to the drop in oil prices, the war on terrorism and the speculations that occur in the markets.
* Issuing instructions, controls, memoranda, and regulatory and guiding regulations that are consistent with international standards and requirements of compliance regulations and rules, combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and issuing a law regulating this in 2015 and liquidating 700 notes diagnosed by the Financial Action Group (FATF), which moved Iraq from the gray area to the regular follow-up Every two years
* Controlling the violations that occur by reviewing, evaluating and classifying banks for the purposes of comprehensive evaluation according to the (camels) system and for the purposes of the foreign currency sale window, with the aim of controlling the movement of foreign currency and limiting its disposal other than the specific economic goals of monetary policy applications.
As dealing with the sale of foreign currency is one of the largest open market operations in controlling the levels of local liquidity and putting the cash surplus in its proper tracks, which is a good economic indicator that the exchange rate will be stable despite the difficult economic conditions that Iraq went through after 2014.
* The Central Bank of Iraq was able to maintain a good foreign cash reserve despite the conditions of economic stagnation, yet it formed a safe cover for the Iraqi dinar and to cover trade within a period of more than six months, which is an internationally approved standard rate.
* He clearly contributed to covering the deficit in public budgets according to what was planned by re-discounting treasury bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance and issuing international treasury bonds, in addition to the praise of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the economic and financial reform programs adopted by the Central Bank in accordance with its five-year strategy.
* The formation of a joint committee between him and financial coordination between the fiscal and monetary policies have been achieved because of the numerous coordinating measures and this marks a clear fact that the bank CBI has managed efforts to clear over the years last to enhance his tally of foreign exchange in the bank 's coffers in foreign banks and reserves of gold In Baghdad and abroad, it is well in line with oil prices and developments on the local and regional arena.
* The calculated and bold economic and financial measures carried out by the Central Bank and its successful experience in providing continuous support to the Iraqi economy, in addition to its initiative to revitalize the economic cycle, launch and follow-up the implementation of its multiple initiatives to finance small, medium, housing and investment projects in the housing, agriculture, industry and services sectors, support banks’ liquidity and achieve two economic and social goals at the same time .
* Taking other important measures by establishing the Deposit Insurance Company, which has begun its tasks for the purpose of restoring confidence in the banking sector and increasing the savings rate for the monetary mass in banks at the expense of the hoarding ratio.
* All of this was accompanied by structural and structural developmental developments in all the specialized and qualitative departments of the bank, focusing on total quality management, institutional development, adoption of international standards, risk management, banking awareness, technical developments in payment systems, electronic payment and information technology, which contributed to the transition of the Central Bank’s work policies and procedures to an advanced stage on the Steps to achieve monetary stability.
Therefore, the Central Bank of Iraq is responsible for the monetary policy in Iraq and its applications, and for the developmental role that it must play as a solid sovereign institution in formulating and implementing monetary policy in conditions of intertwined plans and policies. But then monetary policy had clear features, directions, and strategies.
The functions of the Central Bank of Iraq are to achieve the above objectives as follows:
First - Formulation and implementation of monetary policy, including the exchange rate policy.
Maintaining and managing all foreign reserves.
Secondly, managing the government's gold reserves.
Third - Issuing and managing the Iraqi currency.
Fourth - Monitor and enhance the safety and efficiency of payment systems.
Fifth - Issuing licenses or licenses for banks, regulating and controlling banks as specified in Banking Law No. 94 of 2004.
Sources
* Samir Al-Nusairi, The Tagged Book, The Central Bank of Iraq in Facing the Challenges of the Economic and Financial Crisis (2015-2017)
* Selected studies and research issued by the Central Bank and published on its website.
Views 129 Date Added 08/08/2021 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=25912
Ammar Tohme: We Reject The Government's Approach To Borrowing From The International Monetary Fund And Offering Government Bonds
Sunday 08 August 2021 13:59 | Economic Number of readings: 334 Baghdad / NINA / - The head of the National Approach Bloc, Ammar Tohme, expressed his rejection of the government's tendency to borrow four billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund, especially since the Minister of Finance announced that he did not expect to obtain the loan until the end of this year.
He said in a press statement: "The total revenues in excess of what is fixed for the Iraqi oil selling price in the budget amounted to more than (7.7) billion dollars during the first six months of the current year, which is more than the amount of borrowing assumed by (3.7) billion dollars."
Tohme added: "Coupling such loans with harsh conditions shackles the Iraqi economy and restricts its programs, resulting in steps that are harmful to the general Iraqi citizens, and mortgage the economic decision with a strange and incompatible approach with the Iraqi situation, for example, raising the dollar exchange rate.
He explained: "The serious approach to collecting non-oil federal revenues from its many sources (ports, mobile phone companies alone) will provide four times the amount that is supposed to be borrowed."
He stressed the need to take courageous national decisions on the issue of oil licensing rounds, which average annual cost of (15) trillion dinars, as well as the issue of contracts in the Kurdistan region with foreign and unfair companies against Iraq and its economy, which will provide huge sums that will suffice us from the wrong borrowing policy and its economic, political and social consequences.
With the same justifications above, Tohme said: "We reject what was announced by Finance Minister Ali Allawi that the government, in cooperation with the Central Bank of Iraq, will issue government bonds amounting to 1.5 trillion dinars, equivalent to approximately (1) billion dollars." / End 3
https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?Key=920258
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