The British Grain Law.. And The Naive Iraqi Economy

The British Grain Law.. And The Naive Iraqi Economy
Dr. Bilal Al Khalifa 272 2021-06-24
Dr. Bilal Al-Khalifa ||

Britain's first grain laws forbade the export of grain.
In the sixteenth century, it was permitted for landowners to export grain if prices had fallen too low.
After the population grew in the eighteenth century, the import of grain was permitted if the prices rose to a very large extent

In the 1830s, factories developed in Britain, and support for the free trade proposals advocated by the economist Adam Smith grew.

The landowners lost support in Parliament.

The Anti-Grain Association, a group of factory owners and workers, wanted the law to be repealed so that bread could be cheaper. Parliament abolished the grain laws in 1846.
Since then food imports have increased and British agriculture has declined.
The results of withdrawing the grain law decision on Britain

1 - The significant drop in grain prices as a result of importing grains from other countries, especially from India, which used to reach Britain very cheaply as a result of the low price of labor in it, and thus the Irish and British farmers were unable to keep up with those prices.
2 - One of the consequences of the decision is the abandonment of the land by the farmer.
3- The great poverty that afflicted the farmer
4 - Poverty increased in British society and the gap between the aristocrats and the poor increased day by day.

As you know, raising the grain decision is an implementation of the policy pursued by the British Empire, which relied on Adam Smith's economic theory, which is the freedom of international trade, and thus resulted in the end of the British industrial leadership on the world and the emergence of other powers such as Germany.

But if we return to the current Iraqi reality in its reliance on the open commercial principle, which harmed the agricultural and industrial reality to the extreme, because it took several steps that were capable of deteriorating the economic situation, including:

1 - The open sale of foreign currency
2- Not imposing the appropriate tax on goods that have a local competitor
3 - Uncontrolled border crossings, especially those located in northern Iraq, i.e. in the region.

Although the government has taken several steps to address the bad situation of the economy, including raising the exchange value of the foreign currency, which greatly harmed the simple citizen, the remedies were useless and this chaos will produce the following

1 - Poverty has increased dramatically, which has led to an increase in suicides.
2 - Elimination of domestic agriculture, which cannot compete with foreign ones
3- Elimination of local industry
4 - An increase in the money of officials and the emergence of aristocratic classes that control the economy and then politics.

The treatment for this should be as follows:

1 - Activating the National Product Support Law
2 - Adding fees and taxes to products that have a local competitor in agricultural, industrial and other products
3 - Controlling the border crossings, especially the northern ones, as we noticed in the previous period that the government decided to prevent the import of some goods, but the region did not abide by the decision, and therefore those goods entered through the north.
4 - Great interest in the agricultural and industrial sector through investment
5 - Expand security and protect the investor from blackmail and bribery that are taken from him in the event he applies for an investment license by opening a single window to simplify procedures and reduce time.
6 - Protecting the investor from blackmailing the economic committees of the parties

https://burathanews.com/arabic/economic/394981