TNT:

Tishwash:  Al-Kazemi's government plans to indirectly raise the purchasing power of citizens

The General Customs Authority revealed the existence of a comprehensive review of amending and reducing customs duties, which is scheduled to be presented to the Council of Ministers, while revealing positives that would reduce unemployment rates and raise the purchasing power of citizens.

Director-General of the authority, Shaker Al-Zubaidi, said that "determining the value and customs duties for personally imported materials is among the reasons leading to the decline in the trade record in ports and federal ports, as well as double taxes and a lack of logistical support in ports."

He added, "The audit that is being worked on includes a review of the fees of all categories, especially with regard to reading the numbers of imports, which can accommodate up to 5,000 categories ranging from those covered by fees and exempted, as well as production inputs that constitute an average percentage of the total of these items."

He continued, "The proposed regulation for this review comes in implementation of the directives of Finance Minister Ali Allawi, based on the provisions of Article / Second of the amended Customs Tariff Law No. 22 of 2010, in which the Minister of Finance was authorized to amend the percentage of fees and present it to the Council of Ministers for a vote."

He revealed Zubaidi , at the same time directed the customs to work on the adoption of the import value of the invoice certified in the embassies of Iraq in the countries of origin and to the fact that the customs value of imported goods to the country deal represents the value of the price actually paid or payable on the sale of such goods for export. "

And that" the Commission will adopt Calculating the speculative rate of customs in the event of detecting a case of willful manipulation or forgery in the certified certificate of origin.

With regard to determining the value by the customs officials responsible for this file, Al-Zubaidi explained, “The clear discrepancy in determining it came due to the adoption of custom and personal diligence among the employees in our customs centers when clearing goods because of the reliance on the higher measurement than the value established in the certificate of origin, which leads to a breach in The legal powers and the margin of personal judgment for the assessed employee, taking into account the possible suspicions of forging certificates of origin, as well as the accusation of job corruption.

In turn, the Director of the Legal Department at the Customs Authority, Adel Al-Metiouti, stressed that reducing customs duties and activating the law by calculating the official estimated value will lead to settling gaps and reducing the risk of stumbling in the commercial development program between Iraq and countries of the world, and the most important advantage that will be achieved lies in restoring the interface of the ships’ route to our ports, and land trade. To our federal outlets, and to encourage the logistics sector and the segment of entrepreneurs in the field of trade at all levels.

He added, "There is a gap in the application of customs tariff laws during the past period, especially Law No. 22 of 2010, which weakened the means of governance and control at the outlets for monitoring and follow-up, monitoring the entry of goods, audits and revenue collection."

He added, "The proposed measures aim to raise the purchasing power of citizens by reducing unemployment rates due to the revitalization of the economic movement, raising the treasury's revenue and supplying it with losses that go to the ports of neighboring countries and illegal outlets, corruption and customs evasion."

 Al-Metiouti stressed that "the customs reform programs of the current government can be accompanied by programs to stabilize the national economy in the customs sector."

He pointed out that "South Korea's experience can be a catalyst by liberalizing trade from restrictions and adhering to a clear policy aimed at achieving efficient economic growth based on comprehensive reforms."   link

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Tishwash:  The Central Bank activates external banking relations with Arab and regional banks

In 2020, the Iraqi economy suffered from cumulative and complex challenges and repercussions due to the decline in international oil prices and the slowdown in growth in the global economy due to the effects and repercussions of the Corona pandemic.

In addition to Iraq’s suffering, its special circumstances, dispersal of policies, lack of planning, ambiguity and confusion in the methodological vision of managing the economy, which led the government to diagnose the requirements for overcoming that suffering by drawing its strategy for the next three and five years in the white paper. 

Since the Central Bank is primarily responsible for monetary policy and its applications that contribute to achieving economic stability and overcoming the challenges of instability in the financial system due to the lack of clarity in financial policies, one of the most important tasks of the Central Bank in these two years 2020 and 2021 at the local level was to restore balance in the market Stimulating the economy, revitalizing the economic cycle, and facing the repercussions of reducing the Iraqi dinar exchange rate on low-income groups.

By launching the many financing and lending initiatives and activating the procedures for applying monetary policy and at the external level, building banking cooperation and coordination relations with the banks of Arab and regional countries based on continuous and permanent communication with the governors of banks and financial and banking institutions in these countries, starting with charting a promising economic and financial future with them. 

Therefore, these relations culminated in activating the banking relations with the Saudi side by visiting the Governor and his accompanying banking delegation and reaching agreements and understandings with the Saudi Central Bank and financial institutions in a way that enhances banking transactions between the two sides and benefit from the successful experiences in both countries.

In continuation of this approach, the meetings of the Governor, the banking delegation formed by the Central Bank, the Association of Banks and a number of heads of boards of directors of private banks continued over the past few days to discuss ways of banking cooperation between the Central Bank of Iraq, the Turkish Central Bank and the Turkish Licensing and Supervision Authority, which had previously been discussed in Baghdad in the presence of the Ambassador The Turkish and the regional managers of the Turkish banks operating in Iraq, which contributed to diagnosing the problems of the daily banking work of the branches of Turkish banks and the efforts of the Central Bank to overcome them and facilitate the work of Turkish banks operating in Iraq. Turkey’s meetings resulted in the following:-

1‐ The necessity of establishing a joint mechanism for cooperation with the Central Bank of Turkey to regulate the control, control and supervision of banking transactions for the broad commercial exchange between the two countries through the banking system.

2‐ The Central Bank expressed its readiness to overcome the observations and difficulties facing Turkish banks in Iraq and to provide them with flexibility and exceptions regarding the instructions issued by the bank in the field of foreign transfers and crude oil credits.

3- Opening channels of understanding and cooperation with Turkish banks to implement banking operations between the two countries.

4‐ Requesting the Turkish Central Bank to cooperate in facilitating the opening of branches of Iraqi banks in Turkey that are nominated by the Central Bank of Iraq, and to be treated in the same way we deal with their branches in Iraq.

The results of the meetings of the two delegations can be summarized by discussing the development of banking and financial relations, the development of banking relations between the two countries, support for the opening of branches of Iraqi banks in Turkey and the opening of mutual accounts, which contributes to the development of trade relations between the two countries on the basis of reciprocity.

Inviting the Turkish Central Bank to provide facilities to Iraqi banks to facilitate the settlement of the trade balance between the two countries and the transfer of funds belonging to Iraqis residing in Turkey.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey praised the efforts made by the Central Bank of Iraq in developing the national economy, stressing that he is ready to open the doors of cooperation and facilitate banking operations between the two countries.

Economic and banking consultant*   link

Tishwash:  The Minister of Digital Economy discusses with his Egyptian and Iraqi counterparts ways of cooperation

Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship Ahmed Hanandeh discussed in Cairo yesterday evening with Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Amr Talaat and Iraqi Communications Arkan Shihab Al-Shaibani, ways to enhance cooperation and strengthen tripartite relations in the fields of communications and information technology.

The meeting was attended by the Kingdom's ambassador to Egypt, Amjad Al-Adayleh, and the deputy chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Jordan Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Dr. Nayel Al-Adwan.

The discussions are based on the results of the tripartite summits held throughout the year under the auspices of the leaders of the three countries, which emphasized the importance of implementing a package of cooperation projects between them, as well as strengthening partnership and deepening coordination, cooperation and joint strategic integration.

A statement by the ministry said today, Monday, that it was discussed that the three brotherly countries cooperate with each other to study the possibility of establishing an "interconnection system" between Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, to exchange international traffic to and from Europe and the countries of the world.

The discussions also included the possibility of cooperation in joint projects and initiatives in the field of artificial intelligence applications through the exchange of experiences and best practices between the three brotherly countries, and exploring possible cooperation opportunities in the field of digital skills and support for entrepreneurship, in order to build a wide range of young talents in the field of technologies. Emerging and collaborating on ICT strategies for capacity building.

During the talks, the ministers stressed the importance of maintaining coordination to serve the relations between the three brotherly countries, and the importance of consolidating these relations in the field of communications and information technology, and for the benefit of the peoples of the three countries, in light of the technological development and the fourth industrial revolution that the world is witnessing. It can be used to address the challenges facing societies.

For his part, Al-Hanandeh explained that this tripartite meeting is a very important opportunity to work on finding real partnerships, programs and projects that are in the interest of all parties, by taking advantage of the strengths and advantages that are unique to each of the three countries, in a way that contributes to supporting our youth and our economy all.

He stressed that the ICT sector in the three countries can play an important role in strengthening the historical ties that unite these countries, pointing out that the world is witnessing a stage of intellectual, social, political and digital transformation, where digital transformation is the basis of transformation processes in light of the new concepts that it is witnessing. the world, stressing the importance of empowering and supporting young people in the framework of strengthening the partnership between the three countries.   link

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