TNT:

CandyKisses:  The Central Bank confirms its openness to strengthening its banking relations with the countries of the world

 The Central Bank of Iraq confirmed on Monday its openness to strengthening its banking relations with countries of the world.

"The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mustafa Ghaleb Makhif, received the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Iraq, Cui Wei, to discuss aspects of bilateral cooperation between Baghdad and Beijing and facilitate the movement of banking transactions and trade exchange in accordance with international standards," a statement by the bank said.

The governor stressed that "the Central Bank of Iraq is open to strengthening its banking relations with the countries of the world in the interest of the Iraqi banking sector

Tishwash:  Central Bank: Hard currency reserves amounted to more than $99 billion

The Central Bank of Iraq announced, today, Monday, the launch of the electronic platform for foreign trade, while noting that hard currency reserves amounted to more than 99 billion dollars.  link

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Tishwash:  Parliamentary Finance expects the budget to reach Parliament next week

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee expected the arrival of the draft federal budget law for the year 2023 to the House of Representatives next week.

"We expect the budget law to arrive with the beginning of the legislative term, that is, a week from now," Moein Al-Kadhimi told the Euphrates News Agency.

He added, "The government is supposed to now put the final touches to be referred to the House of Representatives, that is, up to the ninth parliament of this month."

And the Minister of Finance, Taif Sami, announced in a press statement last Friday that the 2023 budget had not been sent to the Council of Ministers - yet - and that work is underway to complete it, "noting that" the general budget will focus on the health sector, supporting vulnerable classes, and raising the ceiling of loan capital for small projects.

Sami explained that "the price of a barrel, which has been placed so far in the budget, amounts to 65 dollars and may reach 70 dollars," pointing out that "the draft general budget law may include a study to impose some taxes on the oil derivatives sector."  link

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CandyKisses:  Financial advisor: 93% of the demand for dollars goes abroad

Economy News-Baghdad

Financial adviser to Prime Minister Mazhar Mohamed Saleh revealed on Monday that 93% of the demand for the dollar goes to foreign remittances, stressing that the new central bank measures imposed discipline on the currency market.

Saleh told "Economy News", "What is happening from the rise and slight volatility in the exchange rate in favor of the dollar in the parallel market is not caused by a problem in the adequacy of foreign reserves as a force that enters the exchange market and provides sufficient supply to meet the demand for foreign exchange (as everyone knows that the net reserves of the Central Bank of Iraq of foreign currency, which amounted with government reserves to approximately ١٠٠ Billion dollars, which is the highest in the history of Iraq financial), especially in reaching levels of Their adequacy, as these foreign reserves cover the value of the national currency exported to circulation by about (one and a half times) and these reserves cover about 20 months of import, while the global standard does not exceed 3-6 as a maximum.

He explained that "what happened from a slight decrease in the external value of the dinar or the exchange rate represents a temporary phenomenon dictated by regulatory conditions in the procedures for managing external transfer requests (submitted by local banks) on foreign currency, as an advanced electronic platform linked the request for transfers by local banks with correspondents from international banks and relevant global compliance bodies at the same time because oil revenues in dollars at the Federal Reserve Bank are due to a previous decision of the International Security No. 1483 in May 2003."

He continued, "During the start of the experimentation of the external transfer requests audit platform a few weeks ago (and at the stage of submitting applications for foreign currency by private banks to the window of selling foreign currency at the Iraqi Central Bank in order to transfer it to their correspondents around the world), it became clear that there are information deficiencies and deficiencies that are inconsistent with the governance of the flow of remittances through the global banking system, which brought some of them back or were rejected to complete the standard application requirements again and follow the standard principles in disclosing the final beneficiary. and other requirements for bank disclosure and compliance."

He pointed out that "the new measures have imposed a temporary discipline on the supply of foreign currency, which requires an adjustment period until private banks exercise global compliance rules in transferring for the benefit of beneficiaries of foreign trade financing operations for the private sector."

He pointed out that "the problem is rooted in the regulation of the supply of foreign currency and not in the availability of foreign currency, which is, as we mentioned, abundant and more efficient, as the percentage of surplus in the free account of the balance of payments touched positive 15% to GDP, which is a high indicator of external economic stability, and thus it takes some time to reorganize requests and their consistency with the global requirements for conversion through the digital platform, which has become the new tool in dealing with the central bank window. Iraqi to buy and sell foreign currency."

The financial advisor stressed that "the sales of the Central Bank of Iraq window still meet the demand for foreign currency in full, including the cash dollar for travel and tourism purposes, but the demand of private banks remains mostly on behalf of the bank's customers from merchants and others, which focuses on foreign transfers from the dollar, which represents a demand for foreign goods, services and benefits, as the percentage of requests for external transfer in dollars to foreign banks is 93% of the total demand for foreign exchange from the central bank window and transferred To correspondent banks to pay import bills or the so-called foreign trade financing for the private sector. The problem is very temporary and purely technical in the transfer procedures through the digital platform, not in the conduct of the country's monetary policy at all

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Tishwash:  Do international audit firms contribute to curbing financial corruption in Iraq?

Questions are raised about the role of financial control and auditing companies in state institutions, after increasing cases of corruption and looting of public money, especially after the theft of tax money, at a time when the mechanisms of financial and banking operations are outdated, in light of an economic system that is backward in origin, while the infrastructure The banking outlets are dilapidated and do not rise to the levels of those in developed countries.

The economist, Salam Sumaisem, had said during a televised interview on 12/15/2022 that Iraqi banks had expelled international companies that audit their accounts, and that Iraq had not taken measures to preserve its currency.

And a special source revealed to Al-Masalla that the oldest international auditing companies in Iraq after 3003 are E & Y, Ernst & Yang, as well as KPMG, and they mostly acquire the majority of audits in Iraq, and Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which most likely audit oil companies, work in Iraq. Kurdistan.

The source, an expert in Iraqi financial affairs, said that the Iraqi Auditors Union law gives priority to Iraqi auditing companies, and with the exception of that, the foreign auditing company should partner with an Iraqi office.

And he went on: Things did not go well, revealing two parties in Iraq that bring in a foreign auditor directly, as stipulated in their laws: the Central Bank of Iraq and the Iraqi Trade Bank, and there may be another party as well.

And the economist went on about giving America waiver permission for Iraq to buy electricity and gas from Iran, and whether that includes allowing Iraq to pay the dues for those purchases in a specific currency, that it is not permissible to pay in any currency and an Iraqi company was established to supply (neighbors) with wheat, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals under the supervision of relevant local and international parties Relationship….

He said: There are reports that this same company has faltered because of deficiencies in transparency, pointing out that the issue is confusing, solutions are few, and dues accumulate every minute, as we consume gas supplied to power plants inside the country, as well as electricity imported from neighbors.

The consulting engineer interested in economic affairs, Jacob Al-Khidr, had asked the question via Twitter: Why does the Prime Minister not meet with the general managers of the seven government banks, especially the Rafidain and Al-Rasheed Banks, and ask them to work on modernizing banking methods, diversifying banking services, training and qualifying its cadres, and restoring And modernizing the buildings of the branches and increasing their number, and equipping them with the latest electronic systems within 6 months, while the academic and political activist Laith Shubar says that the banking system in Iraq is backward and represents a major obstacle to development and the development of the Iraqi economy, and an integrated and detailed plan must be drawn up to develop the work of the banking system.

The financial adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, says that the rentier nature in the work of the governmental and private banking system is one of the biggest restrictions on the development of banking culture and the push towards expanding banking opportunities.  link

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