Thursday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 12-22-22

Al-Kazemi Confirms The Existence Of A Real Trend To Return The Dollar Exchange Rate To Its Normal State

Thursday, December 22, 2022 10:01 am   National news center / private   Today, Thursday, a member of Parliament, Mueen Al-Kazemi, confirmed that there is a real tendency to return the exchange rate of the dollar to the normal price of 145 thousand. 

Al-Kazemi said, in a special statement to the National News Center, that “the basic measures must be from the executive authority, the government represented by the state of the prime minister responsible for the central bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning, and the economic strategic plan. All of this is the responsibility of the executive government, not It is the responsibility of the House of Representatives.

He added, “The government has a balance of no less than (100 billion dollars) and it does not have a scarcity in dollars, and there is no crisis in this matter,” noting that “the issue of reducing the dollar is in the direction of verification, especially if the exchange rate of the dollar is fixed at 151 after it was 153.”

Al-Kazemi suggested “distributing 50% of the employees’ salaries in dollars, and thus there will be an abundance of dollars in the markets and inside Iraq, and this measure will lead to a rapid reduction in the exchange rate.”   https://nnciraq.com/173994/

Iraqi Chambers Of Commerce Make Proposals To End The "Daily Massacre" Of The Dollar In The Market

2022-12-22 01:22   Shafaq News/ The head of the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, Abdul Razzaq Al-Zuhairi, presented, on Thursday, proposals to stop the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar against the local currency, considering at the same time that the volume of currency auction sales to the Central Bank is not commensurate with the amount of goods traded in the market.

Al-Zuhairi said in a statement today that the volume of currency auction sales is not commensurate with the quantity of goods traded in the market, and the estimate of the actual need of the market does not exceed half of the amount that is sold daily in the currency auction.

He added, "The recommendations were listened to, and we found the brave man who can stop this massacre through some simple decisions, including not paying the tax on dollar sales, which means that the merchant has the right to transfer the purchase invoice through Iraqi banks and in Iraqi dinars if he wishes."

Al-Zuhairi explained, "This decision will be implemented at the beginning of next year, and in the coming days, the Iraqi currency will be available in the banks," adding, "There are decisions that we hope will be taken so that we can end this daily massacre of the dollar."

The head of the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce suggested "diversifying the foreign currency commodity within the central bank and not remaining a monopoly of the dollar only, the strict monitoring by the Federal Bank on the movement of the dollar from Iraqi banks to intermediary banks."

He concluded by saying that by applying these proposals and decisions, the sale of the currency auction would decrease from 200 million and more to 66 million.    LINK

Popular Discontent In Iraq Against The Government Because Of The High Price And The Rise In The Dollar

Posted On2022-12-21 By Sotaliraq    The Iraqi market is witnessing a record rise in the prices of food and consumer goods compared to what it was less than a month ago, which resulted in a significant decrease in purchasing power.

Citizens complained that the new wave of high prices negatively affected their living conditions, and the wholesale markets became almost empty of buyers, which merchants and economists see as linked to the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar in the parallel (black) markets.

And the exchange rates of the dollar in the Iraqi market rose to more than 153 thousand dinars for every 100 dollars, at a time when the central bank sells one dollar for 1460 dinars.

Citizen complaints

Many citizens are unable to meet the needs of their families due to the sudden rise in the prices of food and consumer goods in the Iraqi local markets. A number of citizens confirmed the exacerbation of their suffering during the past periods, blaming the Iraqi government for the continuous high prices.

The citizen, Ali Al-Shammari, says that the high prices affected their lives economically and socially, as they are unable to buy goods at these standard prices. As for the citizen, Uday Bashir, he confirmed that the price of a 50-kilogram bag of flour jumped to more than 60 thousand dinars, in addition to the high prices of meat, milk, oil and sugar, as well as the high cost of electrical appliances and winter heaters.

In turn, citizen Saeed Muhammad Jabr believes that the government neglects to control prices, hold speculators accountable and refer them to the judiciary, and inspection committees do not roam the markets in order to limit the manipulation of prices by merchants.

loss of confidence

The growing discontent among the Iraqi street due to the failure of the government of Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani to fulfill its promises through its government program and to restore balance in the financial market. The researcher in economic affairs, Nabil Al-Shammari, believes that the rise in food prices in the local market has caused popular discontent with the government, as a result of its failure to adhere to its slogans that it had launched, including reducing poverty and addressing the dollar crisis.

Al-Shammari added that the economic problems that emerged at the beginning of the current government's journey reflect a lot of doubts and a loss of confidence in its ability to fulfill its obligations towards the Iraqi citizen.

He explained that the rise in market prices is linked to the practices of commercial monopoly and the fears of traders about rumors that talk about another rise in the dollar against the dinar, and this is due to the lack of trust between the citizen and the ruling authority.

Al-Shammari pointed out that the rise in materials and commodities prices resulted from the apparent slowdown in the procedures of foreign remittances, following the change in the mechanisms of the Central Bank for remittances, which themselves caused a marginal rise in the dollar in the local markets, as the rise reached 2 percent compared to its normal rates.

Dollar crisis

The Federation of Chambers of Commerce in Iraq revealed that merchants are facing major problems due to government measures and the central bank's monetary policy that controls the currency rate in the Iraqi market.

The former vice president of the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, Hassan Sheikh Zaini, said that the Central Bank of Iraq should set reasonable mechanisms and limits for the exchange of hard currency for merchants and industrialists to cover their commercial expenses and limit currency smuggling through banks, exchange companies and offices that acquire the quantities offered in the market.

Sheikh Zaini explained that the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar had a negative impact on the citizens, because a large proportion of consumer and food items were imported from abroad, and as a result their prices rose to a large extent that exceeded the purchasing power of the citizen.

For his part, the advisor to the Federation of Iraqi Industries (private sector), Karrar Al-Qaisi, said that the price hike is the result of the international impact represented by the rise in oil prices, as well as the geomilitary factor resulting from the war between the largest suppliers of basic commodities (Russia, Ukraine).

Al-Qaisi added that these factors have caused double pressure on prices for importing countries, foremost of which is Iraq, where national production is absent due to corruption, bureaucracy and mismanagement.

He pointed to "the deterioration of market conditions, since the decision to change the exchange rate in 2020, and the government must now review its decisions and work to produce strategic policies and urgent measures to confront the current crisis."

Al-Qaisi revealed that “the private sector is absent from the Iraqi economic scene, due to its lack of support by the state in order to become productive and bridge the widening gap between supply and demand, and reduce the depletion of foreign exchange through the import bill, and the government and parliament must support the industrial and agricultural sectors with financing, training, development, decision and legislation in order to become A product of high quality, and thus supports the economy and diversifies the sources of financing the public treasury and undermines the high level of unemployment and poverty, which has become dire.”

Platform errors

The Central Bank of Iraq confirmed, in a statement, that the rise witnessed by the exchange rate of the dollar in the local markets during the past days is due to some technical factors, including building a modern electronic platform through which banks raise the requests of their customers to buy the dollar.

The bank stated that it had started, months ago, to build that platform in coordination with international bodies for the purpose of tightening and organizing the operations of the buying and selling window of foreign currency and ensuring effective control over it, by assigning an international company specialized in building it and linking banks with the central bank through it, and the platform requires providing information about customers requesting transfers and authorities. The beneficiary and correspondent banks.

The bank revealed that there are many errors discovered through the work of the platform, which requires the bank to re-download it, and these procedures take additional time to accept the request and pass it through the global financial system.

He pointed out that the current supply of foreign currency is not related to resources, but rather to administrative and audit procedures, which will be exceeded in the coming days, announcing that a number of decisions have been taken to expand the foreign exchange supply with the aim of meeting the market demand for cash dollars, and directing the management of the currency sale window to meet the requests of banks for the coming days. Faster.

For its part, the government affirmed its commitment to maintaining the stability of the local market, by supporting the stability of the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Media Office stated that the current rise in the dollar exchange rate is temporary, and the necessary remedies will be taken, especially since Iraq's financial situation is at its best.

The government called on all dealers, including investors and merchants, to cooperate with official banks and the central bank by working in accordance with global commercial contexts, and importing under documentary credits, as it provides a guarantee for the importer, preserves his rights, secures imported goods, and enables him to benefit from banking facilities to cover the value of the credit.

Source: “The New Arab”  LINK