Tuesday Afternoon Iraq Economic News Highlights 9-13-22

Tuesday Afternoon Iraq Economic News Highlights 9-13-22

America Reveals The Meeting Of 11 Embassies To Support Iraq

Shafaq News/ The American Ambassador to Iraq, Elena Romanowski, revealed on Tuesday, a meeting of diplomats from 11 embassies and international organizations to help increase trade and investment in Iraq.

Romanowski said, in a statement issued by the embassy,​​which was received by Shafaq News Agency, that the United States "supports economic reform and a strong private sector in Iraq, which creates more job opportunities for the people, more investment opportunities, and a prosperous Iraq."   LINK

Oil Announces The Imminent Implementation Of Seismic Surveys Of The Marine Patch In Regional Waters

Economie| 11:22 - 09/13/2022   Baghdad - Mawazine News, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar stressed, on Tuesday, the importance of conducting seismic surveying of the marine area in the Arabian Gulf, which is the "first experience and actual activity" in a site in the regional waters of the Arabian Gulf, with its land and sea parts.

Abdul-Jabbar said in a statement received by Mawazine News, that "the ministry's efforts have borne fruit over the past years to reach a contract formula for a joint study with the Chinese company Cinoc in 2019, aiming to identify the points and locations of land and sea exploration."

For his part, Director General of the Oil Exploration Company Ali Jassem said, "The plans of the ministry and the National Oil Company aim to maximize and invest the national reserve of hydrocarbon wealth, through intertwining the national effort, and joint work with sober international companies in transforming expectations into an actual reserve added to the national production. ".

Jassim pointed to "the importance of oil exploration in regional waters, and that his company is preparing to conclude a contract in the coming days with the Chinese company CNOOC to begin soon the work of exploratory surveys." Ended 29/N33    https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=205328

In Numbers: An Expected Decrease In Iraq's Imports From Iran By 27%... And Iranian Ambition Contradicts Reality

2022-09-13 Yes Iraq: Special  Iran is looking to regain its export share in the Iraqi market, after it declined by 13% during the current year. At a time when Iranian exports during the past two years exceeded $9 billion, and it aspired to raise it to $20 billion, Iran hopes that its exports to Iraq will reach $10 billion. This year, however, digital indicators indicate that this number will be achieved only 70% of it.

The head of the Iranian-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, Yahya Al-Ishaq, expected that Iran's exports to Iraq would reach nearly 10 billion dollars in the field of joint trade by the end of the current Iranian year, specifically by the end of next March of the new year.

He considered that "economic diplomacy plays a key role in international and political relations, confronting threats and seizing opportunities," calling for "more focus on this aspect in relations with the State of Iraq."

He added that economic diplomacy "is able to confront countries that want to obstruct Iran's active presence in Iraq," noting that this diplomacy "focuses on employing the ancient historical ties that unite the two countries, in the context of developing bilateral trade and economic cooperation."

Iran is talking about achieving $10 billion in exports within a year, after it was talking about its quest to raise exports to $20 billion, as Iran's ambition declined as Iraqi imports from Iran actually declined.

In 2020, despite the closure of Corona, Iran exported to Iraq with a value of 8 billion dollars, and in 2021, which witnessed the opening of the closure, exports only increased by 1.5 billion dollars, and Iran’s exports to Iraq amounted to 9.5 billion dollars.

In 2022, Iran's exports during the past five months amounted to $2.961 billion, a decrease of 6% compared to the same period last year. It is not expected that Iran's exports to Iraq will reach more than 7 billion dollars, a decrease that may reach 27 percent compared to last year.   LINK

To Escape From The Weak Export Capacity Of 6% .. The Minister Of Oil Presents A “Strange” Information And Is Attributed To OPEC Unless It Interferes With It!

2022-09-13   Yes Iraq: Special   According to the Minister of Oil, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, information that is “incomprehensible” and cannot be described as logical, when he stressed in a statement widely circulated in the media that Iraq is committed to exporting its quota specified under the “complete” OPEC agreement.

This statement is considered by specialists as a “shading” of public opinion, as OPEC does not primarily interfere with setting Iraq’s export quotas, but only interferes with the production quantity, and Iraq remains free to export the entire quantities, half or a quarter.

Abdul-Jabbar's statement came perhaps to cover up Iraq's deficit by raising its export capacity, and the existence of an oil surplus product that cannot be exploited due to the inability to export it.

Abdul-Jabbar says that his country aims to increase its production and export capabilities in the coming years, by promoting investments in the oil and energy sector.

Iraq produces 4.5 million barrels of oil per day, of which more than 400,000 barrels per day are produced by Kurdistan, which means that the Ministry of Oil’s production is only 4.1 million barrels per day, of which 600,000 barrels per day are consumed locally, and the remaining 3.5 million barrels per day are supposed to be ready for export. .

However, Iraq's maximum export capacity is only 3.3 million barrels per day, which means that 200,000 barrels per day are stored by Iraq in tanks because it is unable to export them, meaning that Iraq does not export its entire quantities ready for export, but rather exports only 94% of the exportable quantities.

Reuters had touched on this problem, which it described as a "setback", while Iraq seeks to increase the operational export capacity in Basra to 3.45 million barrels per day from 3.3 million barrels per day.

Reuters said that the failure of the development plan threatens to strain Iraq's ability to increase production and mean missing the opportunity for an increase of 150,000 barrels per day.

While SOMO expected to increase the southern export capacity to 3.35 million barrels per day in August and reach 3.45 million barrels per day by September, nothing has materialized, and Reuters quoted a source as saying that there is a delay in the project (pumping stations). )” Noting that without modernization work, Iraq’s exports could remain around 3.3 million barrels per day. LINK

More Than 130 Tons.. Iraq Is The Fourth Arab Country With Gold Reserves

2022-09-13   Yes Iraq: Baghdad  The World Gold Council announced, on Tuesday, that five Arab countries, including Iraq, possess more than a thousand tons as reserves of the precious metal.

The council said in a statistic published on its website during the month of September that "Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq and Egypt have the largest gold reserves among other Arab countries, as the total of these reserves amounted to 1.039 tons."

He added that "the amount of gold reserves for Saudi Arabia amounted to 323.1 tons, while the gold reserves of the State of Lebanon amounted to 286.8 tons, while the amount of reserves of the State of Algeria amounted to 173.6 tons," noting that "the gold reserves of the State of Iraq amounted to 130.4 tons, while the amount of gold reserves for Egypt amounted to 125.2 tons." tons.”

He pointed out that "Iraq still maintains its 30th position globally with the largest gold reserves out of the 100 countries included in the international financial statistics for global gold reserves and for the second month in a row after purchasing 34 tons last June, where these reserves amounted to 130.4 tons, which represents 9.5% of the remaining his other currencies.

It is noteworthy that the World Gold Council, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom, has extensive experience and deep knowledge of the factors that cause market change, and its members consist of the largest and most advanced gold mining companies in the world.  LINK

Oil Meets To Secure Oil Derivatives For Service Sectors And Visitor Processions

Calendar 9/13/2022  Baghdad / Al-Mawrid News   Today, Tuesday, the Ministry of Oil discussed the flow of securing oil derivatives for the service sectors and for the processions of visitors.

A statement by the ministry stated, "The Undersecretary for Liquidation and Distribution Affairs, Hamid Younis, discussed, while presiding over the leadership operations meeting, in the presence of the general managers of companies, relevant departments and the media office, issues and topics related to providing oil derivatives to service sectors, visitor processions, government departments and electric power stations, as well as providing fuel of all kinds. during the fortieth visit.

The agent valued "the efforts of the workers in the ministry's formations who are responsible for providing oil derivatives and liquid gas cylinders, securing storage and local consumption for the fortieth visit, which reached its climax, in addition to the great efforts to contribute to transporting visitors with the ministry's vehicles and mechanisms."

He stressed, "the necessity of following up the flow and movement of gasoline and gas oil to the fuel processing outlets spread throughout the governorates in order to achieve the required flow of vehicles for transporting visitors and other services, in addition to following up on the supply of fuel to private generators for supplying residential areas with electric current."    https://almawrid.news/contents/view/details?id=54361

The Service Council Addresses The Finance To Endorse The Endorsement Of The Grades Sent From The Health Calendar 9/13/2022

Baghdad / Al-Mawrid News   Today, Tuesday, the Service Council addressed the Ministry of Finance for the purpose of endorsing the approval of the grades sent by the Ministry of Health.   https://almawrid.news/contents/view/details?id=54360

Iraq's Cash Reserves Are Expected To Reach $100 Billion

414   Today, Monday, the technical advisor to the Prime Minister, Haitham al-Jubouri, explained the mechanism for submitting a proposal for a law that includes a financial aspect, while noting that the currency reserves rose to more than 85 billion dollars that the Iraqi state had not previously witnessed.

Al-Jubouri said in a statement to Al-Iraqiya News, that “there is a decision by the Federal Court that prevents the government from submitting any bill that contains a financial aspect,” noting that it is possible for the House of Representatives, through one of its committees or 10 deputies and more, to submit a law proposal and take the government’s opinion on it because it will be in it. financial consequences.”

He added, "The government cannot submit bills according to the decision of the Federal Court," noting that "we do not want too many laws related to financial consequences or additional allocations, and we expect that there will be a government to approve a new budget."

And on the rise in currency reserves, al-Jubouri said that “the rise in reserves to more than 85 billion dollars is an important indicator for the Iraqi economy and growth,” noting that “this rise was not witnessed by the Iraqi state previously.”

He continued, "We expect the reserve to reach 100 billion if oil prices remain high until the end of the year," explaining that "this figure will support the stability of the Iraqi currency." LINK