Thursday AM Iraq Economy News Highlights 6-2-22

A slight increase in the exchange rates of the dollar in the local markets

Economie  2022-06-02 | 03:21   1,182 views  Today, Thursday, the dollar exchange rates witnessed a slight increase in the local markets.  The selling prices of the dollar were 148,250 dinars per 100 dollars, while the purchase prices of the dollar were 148,150 dinars per 100 dollars.

Earlier, the Central Bank of Iraq decided to adjust the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, as the purchase price of the dollar from the Ministry of Finance amounted to 1450 dinars, while the price of selling it to banks was set at 1460 dinars per dollar, while the selling price to the citizen is 1470 dinars per dollar.   LINK

Oil Prices Are Falling Again

Economie   2022-06-02 | 02:15  934 views   Oil prices fell on Thursday by nearly $3 a barrel in early Asian trade as investors booked profits in a rally ahead of a meeting of major oil producers later on Thursday to clear the way for expected increases in production.

By 0024 GMT, Brent crude fell $2.76, or 2.4 percent, to $113.53 a barrel. Crude rose 0.6 percent on Wednesday.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell $2.89, or 2.9 percent, to $112.37 a barrel. Crude rose 0.5 percent on Wednesday.

The two benchmarks recorded gains for weeks due to the pressures on Russian oil exports as a result of European and US sanctions on the oil market Moscow after its conquest of Ukraine.   LINK

Less Than $15 A Barrel.. The Average Price Of Iraqi Oil Exported To Jordan

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Oil Marketing Company "SOMO" announced on Thursday that the average price of crude oil exported to Jordan amounted to 97 dollars per barrel during the month of May, after starting for the second month in a row to export oil to this country during the current year.

Thus, Iraq has sold the price of one barrel of crude oil to Jordan for less than 15 dollars, compared to the official selling price announced by the Ministry of Oil, which amounts to more than (111.79) dollars, according to the statistics issued yesterday by the ministry regarding the total exports and revenues generated from selling crude. for the month of last May.

Somo said in a statistic on its website, which was seen by Shafak News, that "the total oil exports to Jordan during the month of May amounted to 353 thousand and 973 barrels," indicating that "the export rate amounted to 11 thousand barrels per day."

The company added that "the average price of a barrel sold to Jordan amounted to 97.25 dollars," noting that "the value of imports from Jordan's oil exports during one month amounted to 34 million and 423 thousand and 874 dollars."

In September 2021, Jordan received oil shipments under an agreement to buy 10 thousand barrels per day of crude oil from the Kirkuk fields to meet part of the domestic demand, before stopping it in February 2022 as a result of the contract expiry, to start again last April.

It is noteworthy that Iraq exports crude oil at preferential prices to Jordan via tanker trucks, at an approximate rate of 10,000 barrels per day.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Ministry of Oil announced the total oil exports and revenues achieved for the month of May, indicating that they amounted to 100 and two million, (303) thousand and (20) barrels, with revenues of (11.436) billion dollars.   LINK

Oil Prices Fall As Investors Take Profits Ahead Of The OPEC + Meeting

Shafaq News/ Oil prices fell today, Thursday, as investors reaped the latest recovery with major producers meeting later in the day to pave the way for expected increases in production.

Brent crude fell $2.09, or 1.80 percent, to $114.20 a barrel at 04:43 GMT, after rising 0.6 percent the previous day.

US West Texas Intermediate crude fell $2.26, or 1.96 percent, to $113.00 a barrel, after rising 0.5 percent on Wednesday.

Benchmarks have been climbing higher for several weeks as European Union and United States sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine squeeze Russian exports, and China's gradual exit from strict COVID-19 lockdowns further supports prices.

However, the rise of the US dollar led to a decline in oil prices on Thursday as it makes crude oil more expensive for those holding other currencies.

On Wednesday, five OPEC+ sources said that OPEC+ was ready to stick to its modest monthly increases in oil production, despite tightening global markets.

Two sources from OPEC + said that an OPEC + technical committee cut its forecast for the oil market surplus in 2022 by 500,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.   LINK

"Iraq's Financial Market" .. A Modest Indicator Of The Economy And Companies With Limited Profits

Posted On2022-06-02 By Sotaliraq   Economists and specialists demanded to expand the work of the Iraqi Stock Exchange, and to attract additional companies to offer their shares to investors, in proportion to the size of the Iraqi economy, especially since the companies listed within the market are estimated at 100, which does not fully reflect the size of the country's economy.

And the Iraq Stock Exchange, located in the capital, Baghdad, and was established in June 2004, and operates under the supervision of the Iraqi Securities Commission, which is an independent body established along the lines of the American Securities and Exchange Commission.

Specialists believe that the Iraqi Stock Exchange - the Iraqi Stock Exchange - is not commensurate with the size of Iraq, the trade balance and the national income, stressing the importance of amending the law of the Securities and Companies Commission to expand the work of the Iraqi financial market.

A member of the Companies Law Writing Committee, Mustafa Hantoush, told Al-Mada that “the Iraqi stock market is not commensurate with the size of Iraq, the trade balance and the national income, as the national income of Iraq reaches 230 trillion, and government spending alone amounts to 127-130 trillion, As for the trade and import balance, it is 50 trillion at least, and it amounts to 60-70 trillion dinars, but the Iraqi stock market has 100 companies, and if the Central Bank had not forced banks, brokerage and financial transfer companies to be included in the stock market, we would not have seen only 20 companies ».

Hantoush added, "This situation came about because of corruption; In 2019, the Companies Law was prepared, a paragraph was drawn up, and it was discussed with legislators and those responsible for registering companies in the Ministry of Commerce to write a new law, stipulating that the company that imports more than one billion must be a joint stock company, and the company that imports more than 10 billion will be A listed joint stock company, and that a company whose capital is more than 12 billion imports or not, must be listed on the stock exchange,” noting that “with this law, the number of companies in the Iraqi Stock Exchange will reach a thousand and more, but due to corruption and corruption in committees. The parliamentarian, who wrote the law, this paragraph was banned and removed from the law.”

He continued, "Now we see that companies import with tens of billions, and they are limited companies, so which company is limited, and it imports 10 and 20 billion a year? Then you see the Iraqi stock market is empty and there are no companies, the weakness of companies led to weak investment, and the lack of companies means the lack of investors and profits.”

The market trades on a daily basis, the number of shares reaching more than one billion shares per day, with different values, sometimes reaching about 4 billion dinars.

For his part, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, believes that “the Iraqi Stock Exchange enjoys a capable and highly efficient technical management in managing market operations, regulating its trading and preserving its property rights, as well as entering the market in the digital age, and establishing the best technical relations.” with global financial markets.

Saleh explained, in a statement to (Al-Mada), that “the main problem and defect is in the institutional structure in the productive activities undertaken by the private sector contributing to that market, as the contribution of these companies whose shares are traded in the market is still low compared to the GDP of Iraq, Or the ratio of the contribution of the activity of listed companies to the total activities of the Iraqi private sector in the GDP itself, which is estimated to be the contribution of the entire private sector so far at about 37% of the national income.

Salih pointed out that «the development of the role of the Iraqi stock market depends primarily on the development of real contributing activities to the gross domestic product, and perhaps the principles of the private sector development strategy, which the private sector is supposed to contribute to the country's GDP in the future, are aware of more than from 50%.

In the period prior to the change of the previous regime in 2003, the current market was called the “Baghdad Stock Exchange”, which was managed by the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, but now it is a self-regulatory body, and as of 2005 the Iraq Stock Exchange became the only stock exchange in Iraq.

When it opened in 2004, there were only 15 companies listed in the market, but now 103 Iraqi joint stock companies are listed, representing sectors; Banking, telecommunications, industry, agriculture, insurance, financial investment, tourism and hotels.   LINK

Only 5 Million Dollars Incurred By Iraq During May As A Result Of Selling Oil Subsidized To Jordan...An Amount Equivalent To Iraq's Revenue Within One Hour!

Yes Iraq: Baghdad   The amount of money that Iraq lost as a result of selling oil to Jordan at a subsidized price during last May amounted to more than 5 million dollars, which is equivalent to Iraq's revenues within only one hour.  The total Iraqi oil exports to Jordan during last May amounted to 353 thousand and 973 barrels, with an export rate of 11 thousand barrels per day.

According to Somo, the average price of crude oil exported to Jordan reached $97 per barrel during the month of May, after the start of the second month in a row that oil was exported to this country during the current year.

The company added that "the average price of a barrel sold to Jordan amounted to 97.25 dollars," noting that "the value of imports from Jordan's oil exports during one month amounted to 34 million and 423 thousand and 874 dollars."

These realized revenues are less than about $5.2 million, i.e. the total revenue was supposed to be more than $39.6 million, but the loss of the $5 million came as a result of selling oil to Jordan less than the price by about $15 per barrel, as the average selling price reached According to SOMO, a barrel of oil to the rest of the countries was more than $111 a barrel, meaning that the revenues generated were about 12% less than the assumed revenues.

The revenues coming from Jordan, amounting to about 35 million dollars, amounted to 0.03% of the total total revenues obtained by Iraq during last May, which amounted to about 11.5 billion dollars.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Ministry of Oil announced the total oil exports and revenues achieved for the month of May, indicating that they amounted to 100 and two million, (303) thousand and (20) barrels, with revenues of (11.436) billion dollars.

The 5 million dollars lost to support Jordan .. equal to Iraq's revenues within one hour!

This represents the $5 million lost by Iraq as a result of selling oil at $15 per barrel less than the world price, equivalent to Iraq's revenues within one hour.

According to the oil expert, Nabil Al-Marsoumi, the total oil revenues until May 2022 = 50 billion dollars, the average monthly revenue = 10 billion dollars, the daily average revenues = 331 million dollars, the average revenue per hour = 5.517 million dollars, the average revenue per minute = $92,000, rate of return per second = $1,533,000.”   LINK

Swedish Ambassador: We Are Thinking Of Iraqi Oil As An Alternative To Russia

Posted On2022-06-02 By Sotaliraq     Basra: Saad Al-Sammak   The Swedish Ambassador to Iraq, Jonas Lofven, announced that his country and the European Union countries are considering buying Iraqi oil as an alternative to Russian oil, stressing the great importance of Basra Governorate as an energy center in the Middle East. Ambassador Lovin said during a press conference held at the Basra Investment Commission, which was attended by “Al-Sabah”:

“This is his second visit to Basra in two months, and the focus during the meeting with the head of the Basra Investment Commission was on the commercial aspect, while our dialogue on the first visit focused on investment opportunities in the promising city of prosperity.” commercial and industrial,” and indicated that “his country considers Iraq an important commercial country, with several links, most notably the Iraqi community in Sweden, which will help advance the commercial reality between the two countries.” In response to the question of the “Al-Sabah” correspondent about the volume of Swedish investments in Basra and Iraq, Lofven described it as “very weak,” and said:

Disclaimer: All published articles represent the opinion of its authors only   LINK