"Tidbits From TNT" Monday Morning 11-16-2020

TNT:

Tishwash:  Parliamentary Finance: Iraq's wealth abroad amounts to $ 87 billion

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Thamer Theban, revealed, on Monday, the numbers of the amount of money and real estate in Iraq, which disappeared outside Iraq, stressing that the value of cash outside Iraq amounts to $ 87 billion, except for farms, hotels and real estate.

Theban said in a press interview, "The House of Representatives formed in 2011 a parliamentary committee to count the Iraqi funds outside Iraq, to ​​show that 87 billion is the value of cash money."

He added that "Iraq owns tea and rice farms in Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Iraq also owns tourist properties and potato farms estimated at 36,000 hectares," indicating that "Iraq has first-class restaurants and hotels in Spain, Italy and France, and most of these tourist facilities are rented."

Theban, who is a deputy for the Al-Fateh Alliance, pointed out that "due to the weak diplomatic representation, Iraq could not claim or obtain its looted property abroad."  link

Tishwash:   Iraq pays $ 230 million in compensation to Kuwait

On Monday, the United Nations Compensation Committee stated that Iraq paid at the end of last month $ 230 million in compensation to the State of Kuwait.

The official Al-Sabah newspaper, in a news seen by Al-Iktissad News, quoted a responsible source in the committee as saying, “The eighty-seventh session of the committee’s board of directors, which was held last month, expressed its appreciation to the Iraqi government for its continued respect for its commitment to deposit 3 percent of the resulting revenues. On the export sales of oil and petroleum products in the Compensation Fund.

The source added, “The council has studied the reports of the committee’s work, since its last session in November 2019, in various cases, where 5 payments were made, with a total total of $ 1.38 billion, including a payment of $ 230 million on October 27, 2020, with this last batch. Approximately $ 2.4 billion remains owed in connection with the Kuwait Oil Company claim.

He explained that “the council studied the various issues that will be addressed to achieve an orderly reduction of the committee,” stating that “by closing the environmental compensation program in 2013, the Kuwaiti, Jordanian and Saudi Arabian governments participating in it made a written promise to provide them with annual progress reports as long as the committee is in place, and after the end of its work, It submits annual reports to the Security Council unless it decides otherwise, ”affirming that“ the issue of submitting reports after closure is under consideration by the Council, and it welcomes before the decision is made that it receives from the government of Iraq in writing its views on submitting reports after closure. ” .

Resolution No. 1483 issued in 2003 stipulates that Iraq will pay 5 percent of its exports from sales of oil, its products and gas, in a UN fund established under the name (United Nations Compensation Fund), where an international compensation committee was formed in 1991, which obligated Iraq to pay $ 52.4 billion in compensation. For individuals, companies, governmental organizations and others, who suffered direct losses as a result of the occupation of Kuwait   link

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Tishwash:   FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITS TO 320 BILLION IQD BUDGET TRANSFER TO KURDISTAN REGION: SPOKESPERSON

Iraqi government Spokesperson Ahmed Mulla Talal said on Sunday (November 15) that there is an agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government that Baghdad will transfer 320 billion Iraqi dinars to the Kurdistan Region after Erbil submits 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Baghdad.

In April, Baghdad cut off all budget transfers to Erbil in retaliation for its failure to send the federal government any of the oil it was required to under the 2019 federal budget law, causing a severe disruption in the Region’s finances.

The two sides reached a temporary agreement in early August where Baghdad would send 320 billion Iraqi dinars, in return for bringing customs procedures at the Region’s international border crossings under federal control.

During a televised interview, Talal said that the government requested 41 trillion Iraqi dinars to secure salaries of public servants until next year, but that it does not include the salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s public servants.

On Thursday, the federal legislature approved the Fiscal Deficit Financing bill to fill deficits through borrowing 12 trillion Iraqi dinars (some $10 billion) in internal and external loans.

Talal said that the government currently works with the 2019 Federal Budget Law, as the 2020 budget has not yet been approved. Under the Law, the Kurdistan Region is entitled to 12.67 percent of the budget, should it abide by the terms of the law.

"According to the 2019 budget, one billion dollars should go to Kurdistan,” he said, adding that “The current government deducts the Region’s oil money by 250,000 barrels, along with the revenues of the border crossings and expenditure, while the remaining 320 billion Iraqi dinars are paid as salaries to the Region’s employees, and this is an agreement between the central government and the Region,”

On Sunday, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said the Region is poised to hand over the whole of its oil to the federal government so that the latter transfers 900 billion Iraqi dinars ($753.87 million) to the Region on a monthly basis.

“It is not possible to accept harm to the Region’s employees due to political differences, and it is also not possible to go to the policy of slogans when elections are near and harm the interests of citizens,” Talal said.

"Soon we will present the 2021 budget, specifically within a week or more, and definitely before the beginning of next month,” he added  link

Cutebwoy: Al-Kazemi orders the army to close the unofficial border crossings

2020-11-16 06:42

Shafaq News / On Monday, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi ordered the Joint Operations Command in the army to close unofficial border crossings to put an end to smuggling operations.

This order was issued during a meeting of the Council of Entities not affiliated with a Ministry and the independent bodies, according to a statement issued by the Chairman of the Border Ports Authority, Omar Adnan Al-Waeli.

Al-Waeli said that Al-Kazemi praised the role and performance of the Border Ports Authority and the measures taken by them to control provisions and maximize government revenues.

He added that the Prime Minister agreed to enhance the human resources of the authority by transferring the employees from the intelligence service to the authority’s owners, and to emphasize that all members of the authority’s board are bound by the decisions issued by its meetings, which include representatives of ministries, agencies and governorates concerned with border crossings.

Al-Waeli pointed out that Al-Kazemi stressed the importance of developing border crossings and encouraging investment in them, and accelerating the process of automating customs procedures to eliminate administrative and financial corruption.Al-Waeli said that Al-Kazemi directed the Joint Operations Command to close unofficial crossings to stop smuggling operations, harm the national economy and protect the local product.

Al-Kazemi orders the army to close the unofficial border crossings

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