Some "International News" Posted by Samson at KTFA Wednesday 11-2-2022
KTFA:
Samson: Iraqi premier to raise Iraqi dinar value
2nd November, 2022
Iraqi government with the help of the Central Bank of Iraq, do its best to increase the price of Iraqi dinar against US dollar, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Iraq’s new premier, said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“The interests of the needy were not taken into consideration in devaluing Iraqi currency. We tend not to repeat that in this cabinet,” he said.
Tackling endemic corruption in the country is one of the priorities of this cabinet, he said.
The Iraqi government work with other neighboring other countries to return Iraq’s “stolen money,” he added.
Faced by financial crisis caused by low oil prices amid COVID-19 pandemic, the Iraqi Central Bank decided to devalue the currency, setting the exchange rate at 1,460 dinars per dollar to the public.
Before the decision, each dollar was traded at 1,182 Iraqi dinars.
As Iraq’s market is heavily relied upon imports, the decision sparked public outrage and demonstrations, outcrying the rising prices of commodities.
The former Finance Minister Ali A. Allawi argued that the rising commodity prices was part of the global inflation, defending the devaluation decision as it had increased the state revenue amid liquidity crisis.
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Samson: Turkey ranks first in the world in buying gold.. 95 tons in just 9 months
1st November, 2022
Central banks broke the quarterly record in gold purchases, and the Turkish Central Bank was among the largest banks to adopt purchases, according to the World Gold Council report for the third quarter of 2022
Huge rise in gold purchases
Gold purchases by global central banks rose 115% in the third quarter, as the quantity approached 400 tons, the highest quarterly purchases in the last 22 years. This amount also nearly doubled from 241 tons in 2018
Turkish Central in the lead
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey bought 95 tons of gold this year. The central bank bought 31 tons of gold in the third quarter of the year. In the first nine months of the year, it bought 95 tons and increased its total gold reserves to 489 tons. This figure corresponds to 29% of the total reserves
Turkey's central bank chief, Kavcioglu, answered questions from journalists and economists in his presentation of the inflation report last week. One of the questions that arose was related to the increase in gold reserves. Kavcioglu also made the following assessment regarding the gold purchases
When you increase, you get angry, when you fall, you get angry… How big are our gold reserves, and what’s wrong with that? The central bank is mostly criticized for its reserves, but the reserves of the world’s central banks have fallen by more than a trillion dollars since the beginning of the year. While the reserves of the Turkish Central Bank have increased, and gold has a share in that
Kavci added, “Also, the increase in our gold reserves is not a huge number, but we have taken encouraging decisions to store gold. As a result, the reserves of the Turkish Central Bank are increasing. There is no point in linking the matter to anything.” This is a process that started much earlier, as a result of these decisions very important, our gold reserves have reached an important point today. We are trying to continue these policies with additional actions and contributions
Larger reserves
The Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey also said, “Our gold reserves will increase even more. Turkey has a very important potential in terms of gold. Therefore, as the central bank, we are working with other institutions and the Treasury to contribute to supporting the economy. We will achieve good results LINK
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Samson: The Russian Foreign Ministry awards the Iraqi ambassador the Interaction Medal for his prominent role in strengthening and strengthening relations between the two countries
2nd November, 2022
The Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq in Moscow, Ambassador Abdul Rahman Hamid Al-Husseini, met with the Special Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and North Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, on the occasion of the end of his duties as the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the Russian Federation.
A Foreign Ministry statement stated that during the meeting, a set of issues related to the further development of traditional friendly relations between Russia and Iraq were discussed, and the firm position of Moscow and Baghdad in maintaining an active political dialogue on Middle Eastern issues and international issues of common interest was also emphasized.
In the end, Mikhail Bogdanov awarded Ambassador Abd al-Rahman al-Husseini the "Interaction" medal, in recognition of his great contribution to strengthening Russian-Iraqi relations. LINK
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Samson: The collapse of the Iranian currency to a record level
2nd November, 2022
The price of the dollar in the open market increased, on Wednesday, by 500 tomans compared to Tuesday, to reach more than 34,300 tomans.
According to the "Iran International" website, "After the dollar's price hit another record, Iranians lined up in long queues in front of exchange offices in a number of cities, including Tehran and Mashhad, to buy dollars."
The Iranian currency market witnessed turmoil over the past days, in conjunction with the continuation of demonstrations in Iranian cities, and the insistence of the Western authorities to stop negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement.
On Tuesday, the price of the dollar in the Tehran open market reached a new historical record, exceeding the number 33,500 tomans. The upward trend of the dollar price in recent days has been such that its price has seen a big difference in the past 10 days.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Iran announced that the official rate for the dollar is 4200 tomans. According to the official reports of the Central Bank, the buying and selling of dollars in the market also recorded the highest level in the past month, reaching more than 18 million dollars on Monday.
The turmoil in the dollar market came as news was published on Sunday that more than 3,650 billion tomans had been withdrawn from the Tehran Stock Exchange in the previous ten days.
It is noteworthy that during the past three months, the Tehran Stock Exchange lost a quarter of its value, and its market value decreased from 100 thousand billion and 6 million tomans to 600 thousand billion and 4 million tomans.
On the other hand, the withdrawal of more than 3,650 billion tomans comes from the funds of natural persons, while government economic officials and market managers expected a positive reaction from real shareholders to the 10-point support package announced by the government on Saturday. LINK
Samson: Iran imposes sanctions on 14 US entities and individuals
1st November, 2022
The Iranian Foreign Ministry imposed sanctions on 14 US individuals and entities for their violations of human rights, incitement, support for terrorist practices, and promotion of violence in Iran.
In a statement, the ministry stated that it had imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and 4 entities, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US National Guard, in implementation of the Law (Confronting Violation of Human Rights and Terrorist Practices of the United States of America in the region).
She stressed that the sanctions were taken due to committing activities against human rights, interfering in Iran's internal affairs, promoting violence and chaos in Iran, inciting and encouraging terrorist practices, obstructing the country's efforts and activities in combating terrorism, and finally increasing pressure on the Iranian people, which is one of the sources of economic terrorism.
She indicated that the sanctions will include preventing the issuance of non-entry into Iranian territory, freezing their bank accounts in the financial and banking system, and freezing funds and assets within the framework of the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran. LINK
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Samson: Dubai to host the Iraq British Business Council conference this month
01/11/2022 18:13:30
The conference of the Iraqi-British Business Council (IBBC) will be launched in Dubai this month, under the auspices of the President of the Council, Baroness Emma Nicholson, under the slogan (Iraq and identifying business opportunities for the private sector).
Director of the Iraqi British Business Council IBBC Christoph Michaels said in a press statement that the conference will bring together official government figures from Iraq, the UAE and the United Kingdom, in the presence of the Iraqi ambassador to the UAE and the UK ambassador to Iraq, in addition to representatives from major companies operating in those countries and other international companies.
Michaels confirmed the participation and presence of the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq as a key speaker in this conference, in addition to the President of the Trade Bank of Iraq TBI. He added, that the conference sessions will cover the sectors of energy, industry, finance, water resources and the environment.
And Michelis pointed out that the main objective of the conference is to advance the reality of the private sector in Iraq to build an economy capable of providing job opportunities for all Iraqis away from the public sector. LINK
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Samson: A manager at Iraqi Airways was caught red-handed with a $40,000 bribe
2nd November, 2022
The Federal Integrity Commission announced today, Wednesday, the implementation of an arrest warrant against an airline director who requested a bribe from a private airline of $40,000.
In a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, the Integrity Commission said that its staff managed to arrest an employee of the Iraqi Airways company red-handed; In return for granting one of the companies approval for the flight license, an arrest warrant was executed against the director of the commercial department of the company.
The statement quoted the commission’s investigations department, that the commission’s investigation directorate in Baghdad had set up a team to investigate information contained in a complaint it received from an employee of one of the companies contracting with Iraqi airlines to contract “Garter” aircraft lease contracts from the airline company. For the purpose of transporting the passengers of the Chinese company (Maywei) to and from Iraq, stating that the director of the commercial department and a reservation employee at one of the airlines’ offices in Baghdad bargained with him and requested a sum of money; In exchange for obtaining "approval to fly".
The department continued, explaining that the team investigated this information and communicated with the complainant; In order to catch the accused in flagrante delicto, as he set up a tight ambush for the accused after obtaining a judicial note to conduct a search and arrest them, and they moved to the Al-Arasat area in Karrada, where an agreement was reached between the complainant and the complainant, and as soon as the detention officer received the bribe amount in Baghdad, the Commission's Investigation Directorate team was able to who caught him in flagrante delicto.
She added that the preliminary investigations, which were conducted by the team after implementing the operation that took place in accordance with the provisions of Resolution (160 of 1983), showed that the accused works as a reservation employee in the Adhamiya office of Iraqi Airways, and that it was agreed between the director of the commercial department and the complainant to split the bribe amount on He formed two payments, the first amounting to (40) thousand dollars, the amount of which was seized in the process, and the second payment of (30) thousand dollars, and based on what he said, an arrest warrant was issued against the second accused in the case, the director of the commercial department at Iraqi Airways, confirming that its staff were able to carry out The arrest warrant issued against him at Baghdad International Airport.
It noted the organization of two fundamentalist minutes; In order to present them, accompanied by the accused, and the seized documents, including the amount of the bribe, and video footage of the agreement concluded between the two parties (the complainant and the complainant), and the phone of the first accused, to the competent investigative judge; to take appropriate legal measures. LINK