TNT:

Tishwash:  Oil prices drop below $70 a barrel

Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel today, as they came under pressure after the White House called on "OPEC" and its allies to boost production, in an effort to curb the rise in gasoline prices in the United States.

By 13:55 Moscow time, US crude futures "West Texas Intermediate" fell by 1.14% to $ 67.51 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures fell by 1.02% to $69.91 a barrel, according to Bloomberg website data   link

The Iraqi government: The regional conference in Baghdad will discuss various economic and political files

The Iraqi government announced today, Tuesday, that the regional conference to be held in the .capital, Baghdad, at the end of this month, will discuss various economic and political files

Government spokesman and Iraqi Minister of Culture Hassan Nazim said in a press conference that the main axes of the conference are related to Iraqi diplomacy and what guarantees the stability of Iraq, which will therefore be reflected on the stability .of the entire region, and will witness the discussion of political and diplomatic files

He stressed that the conference will also discuss the economic files that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi had previously .focused on in his recent visits to Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia

The Iraqi government has officially invited the leaders of a number of neighboring and regional countries to attend the conference to be held at the end of this month, which is expected to witness a European presence as well.    link

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Tishwash:  The Council of Ministers decides Iraq's accession to the Asian Investment Bank agreement for infrastructure

The Council of Ministers decided to authorize the Minister of Foreign Affairs to sign the application for the accession of the Republic of Iraq to the Asian Investment Bank’s Infrastructure Agreement, after preparing the authorization from the Ministry of Finance, and paying Iraq’s contribution to the aforementioned bank’s capital, among the allocations of the general federal budget to the Ministry of Finance (for the year 2021). ) by making a transfer.

The decision also included determining the share of Iraq’s contribution from the shares in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to the upper limit, with (250) shares of the capital, consisting of (50) paid-up shares, equivalent to (20%) and remaining (200) shares, which equals (80%). ) is not paid and on call   link

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Tishwash:  I just thought this was interesting

RBZ sets 2016 benchmark for notesRBZ sets 2016 benchmark for notes

THE Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a crack investigations arm under the purview of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), will move to take “corrective action” against traders rejecting bank notes, central bank governor John Mangudya has said.

Zimbabwe’s informal sector has assumed significant influence in the aftermath of an industrial bloodbath that has seen many formal businesses collapse.

Controlling over 60% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), informal operators rule everything from trade in goods and services to a thriving black market for currency.

But, in the most shocking phase of market delinquency that has exposed serious weaknesses in central banking, informal market traders have recently been rejecting several ranges of Zimbabwe dollars, claiming they have ceased to be legal tender.

In a mid-term Monetary Policy statement released on Thursday last week, Mangudya said all notes issued from 2016 remained legal tender and threatened unspecified action against informal market rulers.

“All bank notes and coins issued by the bank since 2016 remain legal tender in Zimbabwe,” Mangudya said.

“The bank notes and coins have not expired and hence the behaviour by some traders to reject some of the notes in circulation to the detriment of members of the public is deplorable and an unfair way of conducting business.

“That wayward behaviour is spurred by negative ulterior motives which are associated with arbitrage and the practice of not banking money.

“The bank encourages the public not to be short-changed by such traders and to report such unbecoming behaviour to the bank or the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) or the Zimbabwe Republic Police for corrective action to be taken against such malpractices,” Mangudya said.

Consumers have had to contend with a sea of payment modes when paying for goods and services.

This includes at least four currencies such as South African rand, Zimbabwe dollar, real time gross settlement system and several mobile-based payment systems.

With each method that a consumer chooses, traders across markets demand different prices, triggering market mayhem.

The first casualty of the market’s attitude towards the domestic currency was the $5 note, which was rejected as the RBZ began issuing several denominations of notes from 2019.

The $2 note was also rejected, but mostly after hyperinflation rendered trade in smaller denomination notes impractical.

 The central bank has generally withdrawn the smaller denominations, after failing to crack down on market manipulators who take advantage of currency volatility.   link

Mot:   --- the New Math can be Tricky at times!! ~~~

Teacher: “If I gave you two cats and another two cats and then another two, how many would you have?”

Johnny: “Seven!”

Teacher: “No, no, listen carefully… If I gave you two cats, and another two cats and another two, how many would you have?”

Johnny: “Seven.”

The teacher gets frustrated , rubs her temples and takes a deep breath.

Teacher: “Come on, Johnny, you’re better than this. Let me put it to you differently. If I gave you two apples, and another two apples and another two, how many would you have?”

Johnny: “Six.”

Teacher: “Good. Now, if I gave you two cats, and another two cats and then another two, how many would you have?”

Johnny: “Seven!”

Teacher: “Johnny, where in the heck do you get seven from?!?”

Johnny: “Because I’ve already got a freaking cat!"

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Mot:  --- Hmmmmmmm --- the Brrrrrrrr Time Line!! ~~~