KTFA:

Clare:  The Central Bank disables all electronic payment cards.. and a source of {Euphrates News} explains

 5/18/2023

An informed source revealed that the Central Bank of Iraq suspended most of the electronic payment cards, including the Master Card, due to a regulatory process.

The source told {Euphrates News} agency that: "All banks and banks to which cards were issued by electronic payment companies, including {Soj}, Ishtar Gate and Qi Card, are currently suspended according to the decision of the Central Bank since last Thursday."

He added, "Maybe there are three banks that are still working with their electronic cards, since they are the ones issuing them, and they are also awaiting settlement."

The source pointed out that "MasterCard's entry into Iraq was delayed due to the Central Bank auction, and it is paid in dollars, which are issued exclusively to companies by the Central Bank."

He explained that "Master Card and [Suge] have been suspended, including palm cards, pending instructions from the Central Bank," noting that "most of the cards issued in Iraq are suspended due to a change in the central bank's system and may return to work in the next two days."  LINK

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Clare:  Economist: The government is moving towards eliminating the parallel market for dollars

Baghdad... 

The researcher in economic affairs, Muhammad Attia Al-Saadi, considered the security and control campaigns to deter dollar dealers in the commercial markets as the right step towards reducing the gap between the official and parallel price. 

Al-Saadi told Al-Maalooma, "The problem of the dollar's high price did not end with merchants and company owners entering the electronic platform to buy dollars from the Central Bank." 

He added, "Many car and electrical companies and merchants were dealing in the process of buying and selling in dollars with citizens, which prompted the government to impose dealings in dinars by force by taking legal pledges." 

Al-Saadi expected that "the exchange rate will witness a decrease in prices in the coming days," pointing to "the importance of intensifying government measures, monitoring manipulators, and blocking the path towards any speculators who constantly update their methods to speculate in dollars and exhaust citizens with high prices."    LINK

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Clare: Finance announces the settlement of most articles of the 2023 budget law, in preparation for its approval

Baghdad

On Thursday, the Parliamentary Finance Committee held its forty-sixth meeting within a series of important meetings to complete the federal general budget law for the fiscal years 2023-2024-2025, as it finished voting on most of the budget items and paragraphs in preparation for submitting it to the Presidency of the House of Representatives.

The head of the committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, said in a statement that "the fate of large segments of citizens is related to voting on the budget law," adding that "the committee is keen to expedite its completion, to proceed in an appropriate manner that meets the aspirations of the people."

The committee completed "reading the items of the budget that include determining a percentage for the payment of arrears dues to the provinces as due due to the increase achieved from the difference in the price of selling oil, and the disbursement of dues for project implementation according to completion rates, as well as the mechanism for listing projects according to the investment plan for the development of regions, and the ripening of ideas regarding them."

The committee also continued "discussing articles related to the provision of municipal services to neighborhoods adjacent to the basic design based on specific procedures, as well as subsidizing electric power and installing generating stations for all regions, and projects consistent with the government's priorities according to the government program, and voting on them in a way that meets the public interest."

And the Parliamentary Finance Committee ended "voting on many provisions of the Federal General Budget Law after the ripening of visions and ideas in line with the requirements of implementing the government program."  LINK

Clare:  The European Bank for "Reconstruction and Development" is expanding in Iraq

5/18/2023

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced, on Thursday, the shareholders' approval of the bank's expansion in Iraq and Africa, while confirming a study of a proposal to increase the capital by between three and five billion euros.

"A detailed proposal for increasing the paid-up capital will be prepared by the end of this year," the bank said, in a statement, pledging at the same time to "more support for war-torn Ukraine."

The loan, which focuses on emerging markets, has already allocated 3 billion euros to Ukraine and is to be invested in 2022-23.

The bank's president, Odile Reno Basso, said during the bank's annual meeting that the assistance would continue, and that the increase in paid-up capital would give the bank the way to maintain this level of investment.

Last March, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced the allocation of $1.6 billion over the next two years to support reconstruction and recovery in areas hit by the earthquake in Turkey three months ago.   LINK

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Clare:  The Kurdistan Region is building the "largest" solar power plant in Iraq

5/18/2023

Today, Thursday, the Kurdistan Regional Government will start laying the foundation stone for a new solar power plant, the largest in Iraq.

The Ministry of Electricity in the Kurdistan Regional Government said in a statement received by Shafaq News agency; "It will be the largest solar power plant in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq."

The statement indicated; He pointed out that the capacity of the station is 25 megawatts of electricity and contains a large number of panels, and it is environmentally friendly and the electricity it generates is connected to the national electricity grid.

He pointed out that currently, "20% to 30% of the electricity in the Kurdistan Region will be generated from solar energy, and the Kurdistan Regional Government wants to increase this amount and is implementing similar projects for this purpose."

And that "the project costs 100 million dollars, on an area of ​​590 dunums, and it will be completed within a year."

There are two solar power stations in the Kurdistan Region with a capacity of 3 megawatts, while the government decided to build a power station "at a cost of 235 billion dinars with a capacity of 100 megawatts" in the Soran region.   LINK