"Tidbits from TNT" Tuesday Morning 11-17-2020

TNT:

Tishwash:  The Iranian Central Bank allows banks to establish investment funds on the stock exchange

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Abdel Nasser Hemmati, announced that local banks will be allowed to establish investment funds with fixed income on the stock exchange.

In a post on social media today, Tuesday, he considered that the presence of active investment funds in the capital market is an appropriate opportunity for investors, recommending increasing the investment potentials of such funds.

He pointed out that the Central Bank does not mind raising the volume of investment funds to 300 trillion riyals (officially the dollar = 42 thousand riyals), while specifying fixed incomes (for investors). link

Tishwash:  Memorandum of Understanding for the Advancement of The Iraqi Banking System

The Association of Private Banks and the U.S. Information Systems Audit and Control Association have signed a memorandum of understanding on governance, security and IT auditing.

"The signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Association and the American-based Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) is to strengthen cooperation in the areas of governance, security and it audit, and this step will add new to the national financial sector, which is in the transition to a new and more developed reality despite the challenges," said Ali Tariq, executive director of the Association.

Big numbers

Tarek pointed out that "communication with international institutions in the financial sector strengthens the world's confidence in the national banking system, which has a central task in supporting the economic activities that the country seeks during the next phase, especially since the volume of work in the country is large and needs an effective banking apparatus capable of dealing with the numbers.

 The big one.

"Through the memorandum of understanding, the development of human resources for financial sector workers will be carried out in a prepared plan for this matter, including training, workshops and awareness programs to comply with the Central Bank of Iraq's instructions in compliance with IT standards and controls and digital security," he said.

Information security

"The Executive Director of the Association of Private Banks Ali Tariq and the Director of the Iraq Branch of the Global Information Systems Audit and Control Association, Ali Mustafa, signed a memorandum of understanding in Baghdad in the areas of qualification, training, workshops, consulting, governance and information security," the Association of Private Banks of Iraq said in a press release, adding that the memorandum will help the financial sector meet global requirements in the field of information technology, information security and sparni."  link

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Tishwash:    Economists: Changing some institutional positions is an important step towards reforms

Economists have promised to make changes to some of the positions of economic institutions, an important step towards financial and economic reforms, and while they pointed out that reforms need to be restructured in institutions, they stressed the need to develop practical plans to fight corruption and stop the waste of public money.

 "The process of change in some important institutions, particularly economic institutions, is required to achieve real reforms in the state apparatus," economist Safwan Qusay told Al-Sabah.

 Functional structure

"If a competent person is selected to head a department, there will be a change for the better in the work and management of this institution.

He stressed "the need to form the Federal Service Council to impose its will in the appointment process, away from the various influences," pointing out that "financial and economic reform can be achieved through the redrawing of the functional structure within each state institution, as well as defining the relationship between ministries and bodies." Independent."

Financial reforms

"The accumulation of mistakes in previous years and the existence of corruption files have led to administrative structures defending themselves and preventing real changes in order to hide past mistakes," he said.

"We hope to see effective financial reform through reducing operational spending and diversifying the economy through increasing Iraqi resources," he said, adding that "the top of the pyramid in the institution helps in the process of developing reforms, especially when it develops economic development programs and works transparently."

Fighting corruption

"The changes made by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in some important positions in the state, notably the governor of the central bank, the head of the National Investment Authority, the head of the Securities Commission, bank managers and others, are part of the real economic reforms promised by the government," said Ahmed Al-Majdi, a financial expert. 

Make it happen."

"The vision of the prime minister and his cabinet is to maximize the state's financial revenues in terms of diversifying the economy and reducing operational spending, as well as eliminating corruption," he said Corruption.

"The government is determined to fight corruption and these are good indicators towards achieving financial and economic reform in The country."  link

Tishwash:   A new reform paper from Parliament ... to be combined with the white paper

The House of Representatives intends to present a new reform paper that is synonymous and consistent with the "white paper" proposed by the Council of Ministers last October.

Soon, the first round of negotiations between the government and parliament will start, with the aim of merging these two papers and turning them into a unified draft law regulating the financial and economic reform process.

The new paper that was prepared a few days ago by the Parliamentary Finance Committee after receiving more than fifty proposals and a note from Council members will be brief and not lengthy, and it will depend on setting up a mechanism to regulate collection and work at border crossings and review the licensing rounds.

Thamer Thebian, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, explains that in the next few days, joint dialogue sessions will start between the Parliamentary Finance Committee and the Ministry of Finance to discuss the terms and paragraphs of the reform white paper, pointing out that the meetings aim to convert the reform paper into a draft law for approval in Parliament.

The white paper that the government sent to Parliament last October, consisting of about a hundred pages, is a plan for financial and economic reform that has been deteriorating for years and aims to invest the country's vast and large resources and manage them in a discreet manner over a period of three to five years.

"The reform white paper bill will include observations and proposals by the House of Representatives and work on adding articles that oblige the government to send a number of draft laws to the legislative authority to organize the process of economic and financial reform."

The White Paper identified the defects in the Iraqi economic system for several years, and proposed solutions represented in restructuring the public companies owned by the state and converting them into private companies, and fixing the defects in the ration card system in a way that secures the protection of those with limited income and withholding them from families whose income exceeds the ceiling. a certain.

As soon as the Parliamentary Finance Committee began reviewing the articles and paragraphs of the reform paper, the parliamentary blocs and a number of parliament members began to send their comments and proposals to be included in the white paper before returning it to the government.

Regarding the remarks of parliamentary committees and political blocs, Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, a deputy from the KDP bloc, confirms that "the number of proposals and observations of political blocs and parliamentary committees on the white paper amounts to about fifty proposals," adding that "the Parliamentary Finance Committee will begin reviewing these proposals soon."

Financial experts and specialists consider the reform paper that it seeks to transform the Iraqi economic system from a rentier state that relies on oil revenues by 90% to an agricultural industrial country that opens its doors to foreign and domestic investment. 

Al-Dulaimi, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, explains that "the political blocs, parliamentary committees and members of the House of Representatives submitted (35) proposals to the Parliamentary Finance Committee, which in turn put forward about (15) proposals and notes on the white paper."

Despite optimism about the content and terms of this reform paper, there are political and parliamentary parties who doubt its procedures and consider it cruel and difficult to implement in light of the current economic crisis, and the high rates of unemployment and poverty due to the Corona pandemic.

The paper also included a review of fuel subsidies for state-owned oil companies, and the proceeds from selling black oil should return to the state treasury, issuing national bonds and instruments and offering them for public circulation in the Iraq Stock Exchange, as well as studying the current exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar and taking into account the requirements of financial and monetary stability. And to achieve the competitiveness of the Iraqi economy.

In this context, a parliamentary source, who refused to be identified, states that “the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives has formed a sub-committee of its members to review the content of the reform white paper and unify it with the vision of parliamentary reform that will be presented soon,” stressing that the relevant parliamentary committees will discuss the new reform paper with the government.

For his part, Yahya Al-Issawi, a member of the Parliamentary Economy and Investment Committee, confirms that "the parliamentary financial and economic committees have begun preparing a parliamentary paper that will be in harmony with the government paper to overcome the financial crisis that Iraq is going through." 

The circumstances of the financial crisis and the collapse of oil prices in global markets and the repercussions of the Corona virus pandemic prompted Mustafa Al-Kazemi's government to review the financial policy in Iraq in order to overcome the financial distress threatening the Iraqi economy.

Al-Issawi added, "The parliamentary paper will be limited to how to collect and organize work at the border outlets and call for a review of licensing rounds," considering that "these steps are a short-term plan."

The white paper included a plan to reduce public sector salaries and reform the state's financial sector in order to ensure an end to the system of quotas and patronage that political elites rely on to consolidate their powers.

The MP from Baghdad governorate continues his speech by saying that "the two parliamentary financial, economic and investment committees will work together and in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance to merge these two papers (government and parliament) into a unified draft law that sets solutions and remedies to overcome the financial crisis that Iraq is going through," adding that "the parliamentary paper will be brief." And not lengthy. "

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Mot:  ~~~~~ Don't Forget !! ~~~~~~