KTFA:

Samson:  Can the Taliban control the central bank's $10 billion stockpile?

24th August, 2021

The Taliban managed to take control of Afghanistan in record time, but the movement is not likely to quickly reach most of the roughly $10 billion in assets of the Afghan Central Bank.

The Central Bank of Afghanistan keeps foreign currency, gold and other treasures in its vaults, according to an Afghan official quoted by CNBC.

Most of the assets are outside Afghanistan, so this could make it difficult for the Taliban to control them, according to Afghan officials, including bank governor Ajmal Ahmadi, who fled Kabul. Ahmadi said in a tweet on "Twitter" that these assets may be frozen, given that the Taliban is still on the international sanctions lists.

The US network stated that the funds that can be accessed by the Taliban represent 0.1% to 0.2% of the country's total international reserves.

The latest online financial statement shows that the Central Bank of Afghanistan has total assets of about $10 billion, of which $1.3 billion are gold reserves and $362 million are foreign currency reserves, based on currency conversion rates as of June 21, the date of the report.

Central banks, especially in developing countries, often deposit their assets abroad with institutions such as the Federal Bank of New York (FRBNY) or the Bank of England

On Saturday, the Taliban said the treasury, public utilities and government offices belonged to the nation and "must be closely guarded   LINK

Samson:  Banking expert: Jordanians' money in Lebanese banks has evaporated

22nd August, 2021

The Lebanese banking expert, Elie Zwain, confirmed that many foreign deposits in Lebanese banks, including Jordanian deposits, no longer exist.

Zwain's statements came in response to a question on the Economic Indicator program, which is broadcast on the Jordanian "A onetv" channel, about Jordanians' money in Lebanese banks

The banking expert said he believed that much of the money that was deposited in Lebanese banks before 2019 no longer exists, describing its fate as "evaporated

The funds of Jordanian depositors in Lebanese banks are estimated at more than one billion six hundred million dollars, according to local reports

Lebanon is living on the impact of a political crisis manifested in the inability of the authorities to form a government, which triggered economic crises that began with a “historic” collapse of the price of the Lebanese pound, which was reflected in other crises in the basics of life such as electricity, medicine and others   LINK

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Samson:  Rising oil prices in world markets

24th August, 2021

Oil prices rose, today, Tuesday, after the US authorities granted full approval for the use of the “Pfizer-Biontech” vaccine against Corona, which boosted investors’ hopes of increasing demand for fuel

Brent crude futures rose 0.7 percent to $69.21 a barrel, by 06:48 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.5 percent to $65.98 a barrel

The two benchmark crudes jumped more than five percent yesterday, supported by the dollar's decline, after it suffered the largest weekly loss in more than nine months, last week

And the US Food and Drug Administration, which granted the Pfizer vaccine approval for emergency use, announced its full approval to vaccinate those 16 years of age or older with the aforementioned two-dose vaccine

Expectations of a decline in US crude inventories were also supported by prices, and a preliminary survey showed that crude and gasoline inventories in the United States are expected to decline last week, while distillate inventories are expected to have increased   LINK

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Samson: Integrity reveals the number of senior officials accused in the criminal cases it investigated in 2020

08/24/2021 11:24:04

 The Federal Integrity Commission revealed, on Tuesday, the number of senior officials accused in the criminal cases it investigated in 2020.

In a statement received by Al-Furat News, the commission stated: "In response to a statement by one of the deputies, which included the inability of the Integrity Commission to hold ministers and general managers accountable, and it was satisfied with holding junior employees, and in order to clarify the facts and remove ambiguity, the commission would like to point out some facts related to the statement

Noting that its annual report for the year 2020, which it announced on the eleventh of last February, and despite the outbreak of the Corona virus and its impact on the activity of the commission and the rest of the state institutions, shows that the number of accused ministers and of their rank in the criminal cases that the commission investigated in the year 2020 reached (63). Minister and those of his rank, while the number of accused persons of special grades and general managers reached (449).

The report, copies of which were sent to the House of Representatives and its committees, indicated that (15) ministers and those of their rank, and (125) of those with special rank and general managers, were referred to the judiciary. The right of ministers and those of their rank, and (369) an order against those with special grades, general managers and those of their rank.

The authority stated that it "would like to shed light on the defendants in the criminal cases related to the ministries of electricity, commerce, industry and minerals, which the representative touched upon in his statement," noting that "the number of defendants in those cases specifically are those who hold the position of minister, those of his rank, those with special ranks and general managers (220 directors).  accused".

While she noted, "the presence of a support team in the investigative committee composed under the chairmanship of the first deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and the membership of the heads of the Federal Integrity Commission and the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau and the Director-General of the Investigations Department in the authority, in addition to a number of heads of parliamentary committees, which undertake the task of investigating special criminal cases in the Ministry of Electricity." which numbered (14) cases.

And she confirmed, that she had previously "approached the Supreme Judicial Council, for the purpose of authorizing it to provide members of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee with details of the investigative procedures in the criminal cases presented before the investigating judge without obtaining his approval, so the council's answer was that it was not possible in the event that the information was important and considered at the heart of the investigative work; This is with the guarantees of Article (15/Second) of the Commission’s Law, and the discretionary authority of the investigative judge, and in implementation of the provisions of Article (57) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.”

The authority noted "its keenness to communicate effectively with the House of Representatives and all its committees, especially the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, to answer the inquiries it receives after approaching the investigation directorates and offices, and to carefully verify the existing database in order to complete the answers and their accuracy." “Some answers to inquiries related to criminal cases require submission to the competent court to obtain approval and in the aforementioned detail.” LINK

Samson:  Representatives accuse parties and personalities of receiving millions of dollars in foreign funds for electoral financing

24th August, 2021

Candidates for the elections revealed that large and influential coalitions and blocs received financial support from countries to finance their electoral campaigns to ensure that they obtain the largest number of seats in the next parliament.

Representative Amer Al-Faseer said, on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, that political blocs and parties received external support to finance their electoral campaigns, adding that these parties finance their propaganda campaigns through their rampant financial corruption in state institutions.

The winner revealed that these blocs and parties began distributing Jaxar-type cars, firearms such as pistols or machine guns and plots of land, to clan heads or influential figures in exchange for a pledge to grant their candidates in their regions electoral votes.

On Monday, August 9, 2021, the Department of Political Parties and Entities Affairs in the Independent High Electoral Commission promised external funding to parties as a red line. And publishing media and social networking sites and instant messaging about political figures who receive millions of dollars per month from a neighboring country, in support of them in the elections. And financing abroad is governed by Article (3) of the Parties Law No. (36) of 2015, which includes submitting an official request to his department to decide whether or not there are foreign funds.

Parties need money to launch and manage television channels, purchase advertising materials, finance celebrations, organize conferences, and hold electoral banquets, in order to mobilize voters. The parties' law was prepared with texts that are more effective than the decisions of the electoral commission to determine electoral money and its sources, but observers question the feasibility of the law in light of the parties' dominance.

Legal expert and political analyst Ahmed Ebadi said that no one is able to know the source of funding for large or small parties. Accusations are leveled against parties that they obtain funding from companies established under their sponsorship, and that they have great facilities from state institutions and ministries to facilitate their work.    LINK

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Samson:  What does it mean for Iraq to raise its balance from buying US Treasury bonds?

24th August, 2021

The US Treasury Department stated that Iraq raised its holdings of US bonds to 2.21 billion dollars during the month of June, bringing the total to more than 21 billion dollars, after it was nearly 17 billion dollars in December of last year 2020.  

Adviser to the Prime Minister for Financial and Economic Affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said, "Raising Iraq's balance of purchasing US Treasury bonds by 23.98% to reach $21.187 billion is something expected, especially since Iraq is among the dollar region because of the nature of oil exports and their pricing in dollars, in addition to the largest commercial transactions in Iraq are within the dollar area, whether in Asia or in the regional environment, at a rate of 80 to 85% of Iraq’s foreign transactions in dollars,” noting that “Iraq’s possession of the dollar is normal, noting that the US dollar constitutes about two-thirds of the official reserves of countries, and there are about 60% of the global loans granted in dollars, about 84% of global trade is repaid in dollars.

He stressed that "the dollar has global dominance as well as dominance over Iraq's banking payments, and because Iraq is a dollar area, it always keeps bonds because other transactions may cause losses, so the proportion of reserves in the dollar is kept in the external centralization with the United States until it is invested as a predominant investment - that is short term - from three months to six months, and it can be transferred during this period without losses and returns for managing these bonds.

And the government advisor added, “The process of investing and managing reserves in Iraq and in foreign currency is either by placing them within a fixed deposit that has interest or current accounts, if there is a withdrawal or part of it, by diversifying it, such as investing in American bonds and their returns,” and he explained that American bonds are classified as (A3). ) meaning that it does not accept loss and is 100% guaranteed, and this is universally recognized and many oil countries deal with it.” 

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