Saturday Evening Iraq Economic News Highlights 8-20-22

Al-Kazemi’s Advisor Excludes The Renewal Of The Emergency Support Law: This Is Its Expiration Date

The Financial Adviser to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, set, on Saturday (20 August 2022), the chronological age of the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development, while ruling out the repetition of the law after its expiration.

Saleh said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency, followed by IQ News: "The law of emergency support for food security and development concerns the fiscal year 2022 exclusively, and by the end of this year on December 31, 2022, the law will expire completely."

He added that "the second case in which the law ends is the issuance of the Federal Budget Law for the year 2022 in these months, and this law expires and becomes an integral part of the Federal General Budget Law in the event of its expansion in 2022, and this matter depends on the status of Parliament and its ability to legislate."

He pointed out that "the repetition of this law for another year depends on the presence of the legislative authority and its ability to re-pass laws and form a government," ruling out "the repetition of the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development after its expiry date."

https://www.iqiraq.news/political/41283--.html

Political Deadlock Exacerbates The Suffering Of Poor Families

Sabreen Khalil lost her husband after being infected with the Corona virus last year, leaving her alone to face the burden of raising 7 children, but the Iraqi government's funding for her family and hundreds of thousands of other poor families stopped, due to the political stalemate.

With politicians deadlocked over the formation of a new government since the elections last October, the followers of the Sadrist movement and the coordination framework in Baghdad continued, on Friday, their weeks-long protests, which prevented parliament from convening.

Explaining the impact of her husband's death on her, Sabreen said that she is a woman who suddenly found herself responsible for seven children, describing this as something that breaks the back. She can pay for her treatment for a chronic disease she suffers from,” noting that her children eat some meals and not others because of the high prices.

Nine months have passed since she submitted an application for a monthly pension from the government, but Sabreen did not receive anything from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and said that every time she went to inquire about the result of the application, she received a response that they were waiting for the approval of a budget.

A ministry official said that Sabreen deserves support, but confirmed that there is no budget for disbursing the pension to her. After requesting that his name not be published, he added, “Our hands are tied because there is no budget.” He added that “Sabreen Khalil’s family is one of 370,000 families who deserve a government pension, but None of them you get because of the political deadlock.”

attempt to dialogue

The crisis in Iraq since the elections were held 10 months ago is the longest period in which the country has lived without a fully-functioning government for nearly two decades since Saddam was toppled in the US-led attack in 2003, and the political blocs want to form the government, but they differ on the steps to achieve that.

The head of the caretaker government, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, met with political leaders last Wednesday, and called on Al-Sadr’s followers to participate in a national dialogue, and also called on all parties to refrain from any political escalation, and Al-Sadr did not attend the meeting, and his followers showed little enthusiasm for the initiative.

At the same time, Sabreen Khalil is still waiting in the village of "Al-Saada" for the government to come to her aid, and said that the political process is stalled.    LINK

Deputy Calls For Planning To Adopt The Tender System In The Assignment Of Emergency Support Projects

Representative Aziz Sharif Al-Mayahi called on the Ministry of Planning to adopt the tender system in the referral of projects included in the Emergency Food Security and Development Support Law for projects that cost less than five billion dinars instead of the current mechanism used through direct invitations.

Al-Mayahi said in a statement to his media office, “The current system approved by the Ministry of Planning in the assignment of contracts that were included in the Food Security and Development Law through the direct invitations system represents a door to corruption and waste of public money, and we find no justification for adopting such a system that has proven to be a failure in Many of the global economic systems have been laid off for a long time,”

noting that “there are some executive officials who have worked to divide projects that cost more than five billion dinars into smaller projects within the ceiling specified in the law to ensure that they are referred by direct invitations without tenders, which leads to favoritism. Corruption at the expense of the quality and quality of services for which the law was passed, and for which the citizen and the government treasury will pay.”

Al-Mayahi added, “The system of tenders in the assignment of contracting creates a door of competition that is in the interest of the state and its treasury, as it leads to the submission of competitive offers that provide money to the government by testing the lowest bids, in addition to choosing the most appropriate quality and quality to serve the desired goal of that contract.”    LINK

Planning: The Standardization And Quality Control System Did Not Check A Single Pack Of Cigarettes

Today, Saturday, the Ministry of Planning confirmed that the Standardization and Quality Control Authority did not examine a single packet of cigarettes, as these goods do not enter through official outlets.

The official spokesman for the ministry, Abdul-Zahra Al-Hindawi, said that “the talk that the standardization and quality control body did not examine a single packet of cigarettes imported to Iraq, and that all cigarette packs currently in the market are not subject to an inaccurate examination,” adding: “We did not say that it is not within the jurisdiction of the agency.” We said that it does not enter through the official federal outlets.”

He added, "The news was transmitted incorrectly and inaccurately, and the text was fragmented, which led to a distortion of the idea and meaning."

Al-Hindawi continued: "I was in a television interview, and I said: The device did not check a single packet of cigarettes, because it did not enter through the official border crossings, and I did not say that it is not within the authority of the device."    LINK

Trade: Iraq Is Among The Countries Least Affected By The Global Food Crisis

Money and business   Economy News-Baghdad   Today, Thursday, the Ministry of Commerce clarified the measures it applied to reduce food prices and the regular distribution of ration card items, while confirming that Iraq is among the countries least affected by the global food crisis.

The Director General of the General Company for Foodstuff Trading in the ministry, Lama Hashem al-Moussawi, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "During the past four years, the ration card materials were limited to oil and sugar, in addition to flour, which was distributed intermittently up to every 4 months, but after the launch of The food basket in July last year changed the situation a lot.”

She added, "As we started distributing the food basket that includes sugar, oil, rice, legumes and paste every 45 days, and at the beginning of this year, thanks to the allocations that were made available to us, we were able to distribute them on a monthly basis, and we are continuing to do so at a time witnessing a food crisis and a rise in prices."

And she added, "Iraq, according to the indicators of international organizations, is among the countries least affected by the global food crisis, at a time when the countries of the world suffered from the difficulty of reaching food ships due to the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, while 5 ships arrived in Iraq per month."

She stated that "this matter supports food and the people's livelihood and achieves stability in food security assets and affects market prices positively," pointing out that "according to our daily reports, food prices decreased due to the regular distribution of food basket items on a monthly basis and trade support despite its rise globally, as the The price of a bag of Thai rice has become 18,000 dinars, after it was 43,000 dinars.

She indicated that "this came after the ministry's endeavor from the beginning to maintain and balance prices, and then we went to reduce them," noting that "the Iraqi family has become highly dependent on the food basket materials, after the regularity of its distribution mechanism during the last months of this year and it became distributed at the beginning Every month through agents, these dates are fixed until the end of the year."

She stated that "there are greedy merchants who tried to reduce citizens' confidence in the basket and foodstuff materials that are distributed in terms of quality and quality in order to market what they have and keep prices high, but their attempts did not succeed because this project enjoys the satisfaction of the people," noting that "the quotas that are distributed to 40 million and 300 thousand. Nesma will not be affected by the methods of these weak-minded people."   Views 352  Added 08/18/2022 - 9:18 PM    Update 08/19/2022 - 1:21 PM https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=29386