KTFA:

Samson:  The official working hours will be suspended tomorrow (today), Thursday, on the occasion of the Prophet’s birthday

28th October, 2020

The General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers announced, on Wednesday, that the official working hours will be suspended tomorrow, Thursday, on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet

The secretariat said in a statement that "it has been decided to suspend the official working hours for tomorrow, Thursday, on the occasion of the Prophet’s birthday

She added that "the holiday is included in the list of annual official holidays and does not need to be announced  LINK

Samson:  After A High-Ranking Officer Has Been Involved In Corruption ... The Minister Of Interior Cancels Out An Entire Directorate Of The Ministry's Owners

29th October, 2020

The Minister of Interior canceled the Directorate of Internal Affairs and Security on Wednesday, after revealing the involvement of a brigade officer in a corruption case.

A source said in an interview with one of the agencies that "Interior Minister Othman Al-Ghanmi canceled the people of the Personnel Security Directorate (Internal Affairs and Security) in the Intelligence Agency after it was proven that an officer with the rank of Major General in the Personnel Security Directorate was involved in the manifestations and forms of corruption."

The source, who declined to be named, explained that “based on what came in the book of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee.   LINK

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Samson:  Kurdistan Investment: We made a mistake by relying on oil and we have a plan to cure the "economic disease"

29th October, 2020

Muhammad Shukri, head of the Investment Authority in the Kurdistan Region, acknowledged the mistake of relying on the oil export sector to finance the region's budget and neglecting other sectors, pointing to a new plan to maximize non-oil resources and revitalize the private sector.

Shukry responded to a question asked by Shafaq News Agency, regarding the regional government's plans to diversify sources of income and develop sectors other than oil, saying, “We have fallen into the same mistake that is committed in all oil-dependent countries that only depend on the oil sector and marginalize and neglect other sectors and that is why you see their economy It is good when oil prices rise and deteriorate with lower oil prices. "

He pointed out that "the Kurdistan Regional Government, in its ninth formation, has set a focal point and essential in its government program, which is not to rely solely on oil, but to pay attention to other sectors and work to employ citizens in the private sector to keep the region from this economic disease."

He added, "We have announced investment plans to diversify the economy and sources of income, especially agriculture, because we have an atmosphere and agricultural lands in the region and after that comes industry, in addition to that the Kurdistan Region is also a suitable place for the establishment of tourism projects and we are now in the process of building various industrial zones to lay industrial foundations and through industry, interest in products. Agricultural."

The President of the Kurdistan Region Investment Authority stated that "from August of 2019 until August 2020 we granted the license to 60 investment projects at a sum of one and a half billion US dollars and this is a good amount, but not at the level of our ambition because our ambitions are greater, especially after providing more facilities to investors and we have an intention to accelerate the pace Granting licenses, and this is under the direction of the Prime Minister who ordered the elimination of red tape in government institutions, and we implement this directive. He revealed "plans to grant 100 licenses in the industrial sector to local investors whose projects were postponed during the past two years and did not obtain a license," pointing out that "this is to expedite the start of their industrial projects and to be supportive of the region's economy and industry."

Regarding the interest in infrastructure projects in the field of roads and transportation, Shukry said that "in the new formation of the regional government there is great interest in infrastructure projects, and undoubtedly among the government's plans to build a group of dams to produce electricity and also to build large irrigation projects on it in the future and also to store water for future use." Pointing out that "the regional government is working seriously to extend the railway line as well as extend a commercial line, so that in the future it will be a key factor to connect the Kurdistan Region with Iraq and other countries to facilitate commercial movement and other countries to facilitate commercial traffic while extending the highway." And he stated that "if we develop the industrial, agricultural and tourism sectors then we need to pay special attention to roads and work is currently underway on these projects and in the near future it will be a reality."

On the impact of the Corona pandemic on the plans and projects of the Investment Authority, he said, "The Corona pandemic has stopped some work, but with this we have tried to skip this stage as well."

LINK

Samson:  Iraq is cursed with its wealth .. so what to do? The World Bank answers

29th October, 2020

Two experts at the World Bank warned that Iraq is afflicted with a double curse through a mixture of government corruption and a sick private sector.

In a report by the American Brookings Institution, translated by Shafaq News, the two economists at the World Bank, Bledy Chiliku and Wael Mansour, said that the resource curse refers to countries rich in their resources in obtaining the benefits of their national wealth. “Countries cursed by their resources” tend to fall into conflict, corruption and economic turmoil.

The experts pointed out that in such countries, competition diminishes when the real exchange rate increases, governments adopt repeated fiscal policies, reliance on commodities expands, and exposure to external shocks increases.  And they considered that there may be curses less destructive than the mixture of the corrupt government and the sick private sector, and unfortunately, Iraq is completely connected to this curse, as a recent report showed. 

The "Brookings" report stated that the oil wealth of Iraq has allowed it to be in a position to achieve income at a high - medium level, but its institutions and the socio-economic results that it records indicate a low and fragile country.  He pointed to growth being driven by oil production and associated investment, not by productivity. The educational system, which was once at the top of the ranks at the Arab level, is now placed at the bottom of the list.

Iraq has one of the lowest rates of female participation in the workforce in the world, while the unemployment rate among young people is 36 percent, suffers from deteriorating infrastructure and working conditions, and ranks one of the poorest ranks among the high-middle economies. The recent conflicts have had a significant economic cost, as the level of GDP in 2018 was 20 percent lower, due to the ISIS war. 

Nearly two decades after the 2003 war, Iraq is still caught in the trap of fragility and facing increasing political and social unrest. Amid multiple crises, including the oil shock and the Covid-19 epidemic, in addition to the results of poor economic policies, and the inability to address corruption, Iraq is now facing the worst performance in its annual growth in 2020 since the fall of Saddam Hussein. 

The two experts at the World Bank considered that there is a consensus that sustainable growth, job creation and improvement of the standard of living for Iraqis all require peace and stability, reducing dependence on oil and directing the state towards a market in which it relies more on the private sector, strengthening regional integration, and improving the general management of oil revenues. 

While these goals remain in place from a technical point of view, successive attempts to achieve them by the government and donors have remained elusive. "We believe, mainly, that this is because the reform programs in Iraq are prepared outside a strong political framework," the two economists said. 

The two experts believed that in order to understand the fragility, violence and limited development, careful analysis of the country's political system, the nature of the social contract and social divisions in society is required.  They suggested that the best way to do this is through an analytical framework that looks at three competing levels: between political elites, between state and society, and between social groups. Applying this framework to fragile states suffering from conflict and violence helps them understand why reforms have not gone wrong. 

As for Iraq, these three levels have turned violent in recent history. Conflict erupted over competition for power and resources. And Iraqi elites have exploited ethno-sectarian divisions in their quest for power. Also, large foreign interventions reinforced these lines of division and turned Iraq into a field for greater geopolitical competition. 

In addition, the heavy dependence on oil has strengthened conflicts at all levels, exacerbated competition among elites, and undermined the principle of holding the state accountable for its responsibilities to the people. Also, the oil wealth reduced the incentives to collect other types of income for the government, especially from taxes. This, in turn, weakened the need for the principle of compromise - accountability between the state and society, which forms the basis and essence of state building processes. 

While 64 percent of Iraqis say the country is divided, the political balance will become more fragile in the coming years in light of the available demographic data. In Iraq, one of the largest proportions of youth in the world, and a regional gap in terms of poverty rates and service provision. Homogeneity and social trust are low in the areas liberated from ISIS, while poverty rates are greater in the south, despite the fact that it pumps most of the oil wealth. 

In conclusion, the two economists asked what could be done at the level of change in thinking, and indicated three aspects: a policy refocusing that includes all social groups, re-working the social contract in a way that enhances confidence, and a review of the economic model to be more diversified. 

Progress in Iraq will be elusive unless the political elite stimulates change through an alliance between elites and people, and this country has a common political vision that recognizes the need for a system that provides development for all Iraqis.

For the sake of the social contract, there is a need to build trust between citizens and the government, strengthen institutions, strengthen citizens' involvement in infrastructure and services, and find the way for an investment climate that creates jobs for young people. There is a need to invest in people first, to develop infrastructure and strengthen institutions in providing social services to citizens, and to organize the macro-economy and the work of the private business sector.   LInk