Tuesday Evening Iraq Economic News Highlights 10-4-22

The Cycle Of Conflicts Is Plunging Iraq's Economy: The Collapse Of Infrastructure And The Rise In Poverty To 30%

Arab economy   Baghdad  Zaid Salem   04 October 2022

Conflicts have contributed to the destruction and displacement of millions of Iraqis (Getty)

The war against ISIS in Iraq has ended , but other wars between yesterday’s partners and today’s parties erupted, amidst the chaos of arms and continuous political unrest and tensions, as happened a few days ago, which led to the deterioration of economic and living conditions, and even threatened to stop the payment of salaries.

Instead of successive governments facing the effects of the devastation of the war on ISIS, the military and political conflicts, especially during the recent period, have increased the sabotage operations of various sectors.

This comes as a continuation of the ongoing crises in Mesopotamia, where Iraq has not witnessed stability since the nineties of the last century due to the economic embargo imposed on it after the invasion of Kuwait.

The sectarian crisis after the US occupation in 2003 also contributed to more economic hardships as a result of the emergence of extremist groups and militias, until the situation reached an almost complete collapse of the infrastructure and the poverty rate in the country reached about 30 percent of the total number of Iraqis, which is estimated at 40 million people.

Which leads, as a natural result, to an escalation of congestion among Iraqis from the ruling parties, accused of corruption, embezzlement of funds and preventing investment, and reliance on the provision of imported food, specifically from Iran, according to observers.

Energy

The jump in oil revenues saves Iraq's economy from collapse

Recent periods have witnessed political struggles and armed battles, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, and attempts to calm down are threatened with failure.

Huge spending on armaments, a member of the "Wisdom" movement, Muhammad al-Lakash, pointed out that "the deteriorating security conditions, as well as the great corruption of the parties in Iraq, have led to the draining of Iraq's wealth in order to arm the security forces, the army, the police and the popular crowd, even if the Iraqis elected a government that represents them and not Governments serving abroad at the expense of the people, the situation would have been different, without seeing Iraqis eating garbage and not having the lowest levels of services.

Al-Lakash explained to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that:

The Depletion Of State Resources

While Muhsin al-Shammari, a member of the National House Party, explains, "The Iraqis are not comfortable with life in Iraq, and there is a great sense of despair, especially with the militias' overreach and depletion of state resources after they have political bases, and in some liberated cities these militias have become fully in control. on the economic sectors,” stressing to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the parties are the ones that create crises, wars and fighting because they live on them, and every time a clash occurs, the Iraqis are getting famine and deprivation.”

As for the expert in economic and business affairs in Baghdad, Salam Sumaisem, she explained to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “mismanagement in Iraq and neglect of people’s demands led to the loss of tens of billions of dollars, and the process of loss continues, as long as the regulatory authorities are in the hands of the parties themselves, and that Iraq lost large sums of money, which were earmarked for service and energy-related projects, building schools and hospitals and rehabilitating infrastructure, but it went into the pockets of the corrupt.

Arab Economy

Oil revenues ease the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the Iraqi economy

During the past years, the poverty rate in Iraq did not exceed 19 percent of the total population, but it jumped last year to more than 30 percent, according to official data, while no infrastructure is available in the country, with a decline in natural resources, including water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. With the collapse of the industrial and agricultural sectors, and the presence of about 4 million people unemployed.

Fragments Of Conflicts Over The Economy

Bassem Khashan, an independent member of the Iraqi parliament, said, "The wars and conflicts that Iraq witnessed led to a significant damage to the local economy, and perhaps what led to the collapse of the economy was the post-2003 governments that transformed Iraq from the richest Arab country into a state. It depends on debts in some circumstances, and asks for aid in times of war, and this is what we witnessed in the war against ISIS until the Corona crisis.”

Khashan explained to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that "conflicts, sectarian wars, and political neglect of the security file in important moments in Iraq's history, caused Iraq to lose billions of dollars, in addition to the migration of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi minds abroad in search of safe areas."

He added that "due to the political and military turmoil, especially the latter, Iraqis continue to live in deteriorating conditions currently," noting that the high rates of poverty, the decline in services, and the collapse of energy systems and infrastructures have reached a stage that may lead to a popular explosion at any moment, because the parties are busy arranging their conditions. This has left the Iraqis facing difficult calamities.”

Bassem Khashan, an independent member of the Iraqi parliament, said, "The wars and conflicts that Iraq witnessed have severely damaged the local economy.

And he considered that "all the governorates of Iraq are witnessing a significant decline in the economic sectors, as Mosul is one of the poor governorates, in addition to the governorates of Maysan and Muthanna and large parts of the governorates of Babil and Basra, in addition to Diyala."

The Iraqi Ministry of Planning had announced earlier that the cost of the destruction caused by the occupation of large parts of Iraq by ISIS amounted to more than 88 billion dollars.

The war destroyed the city of Mosul alone, about 80 percent of it, as the battles caused the death, injury and absence of at least 40,000 citizens of the city.

Which means almost complete destruction of infrastructure, factories, and private and governmental laboratories. Although the cities of southern Iraq have not witnessed any battles during the past years, they also appear to be afflicted by the control of religious parties and armed factions, which clearly impede investment operations and are involved with local companies in obtaining most of the projects that are often not completed correctly, according to observers. .   LINK

Al-Kazemi Told The French Newspaper..Iraq Is An Important Source Of Energy Production, And We Have Important Contracts With Major Oil Companies

The Prime Minister of the Federal Government, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, stated that his government has contracts with major oil companies to develop infrastructure in the energy production sector in the country.

Al-Kazemi said in an interview with the French newspaper "Le Figaro", "Iraq is an important country in the field of energy production, and we have worked on developing energy infrastructure to be able to secure the energy market with high flow. We have signed important contracts with Total to expand the flow of energy, extract associated gas in our oil fields, and develop clean and alternative energy projects.”

He added, "We have changed the title of the Ministry of Electricity to the Ministry of Electricity and Alternative Energy, indicative of our government's directions towards moving towards clean energy that is suitable for the environment."

Al-Kazemi continued, "We have other important contracts with major oil companies to develop the infrastructure in Iraq, and Iraq will remain an important source of energy production in the world. At the same time, we are working hard to adapt our energy production to modern environmental standards to protect it and maintain its safety.”  LINK

World Gold Council: Limited Demand For The Yellow Metal And Iraq Maintains Its Rank

Shafaq News/ The World Gold Council announced, on Monday, that there is a limited demand for buying the yellow metal, while noting that Iraq has maintained its 30th rank globally among the largest countries in possession of gold reserves.

The council said in its latest schedule for the month of October 2022, which was seen by Shafak News Agency, that "purchasing gold from central banks slowed, as three banks increased their gold reserves by a ton or more, while there were no prominent sellers with the same scale in the available data.

He pointed out that "Iraq maintained its global position after it rose ten ranks last July after purchasing 34 tons of gold to rank 30 out of the 100 countries listed in the table with the largest gold reserves, reaching 130.4 tons of gold, which represents 9.6% of the total gold reserves." other precautions.

The council stated that "the total gold reserves of the first five Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq and Egypt, rose to 1,039 thousand tons as a result of Iraq and Egypt purchasing large quantities of the yellow metal."

Globally, the United States of America is still on the list with the largest possession of gold in the world, at 8133 tons, followed by Germany, 3,355 tons, then Italy, 2451 tons, while the Lao People’s Republic ranked 100 with 900 kilograms, preceded by the Republic of Cape Verde by one ton.

On June 27, last June, Iraq announced the purchase of new quantities of gold, amounting to approximately 34 tons, an increase of 35% over what was in its possession.

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

Currencies And Markets Catch Their Breath With The Dollar's Decline

Arabic and international   Economy News / Baghdad  The dollar fell on Tuesday, with US Treasury yields halting their rise after a wave of increases, which provided an opportunity for stock markets and helped the euro and the pound sterling to breathe and recover.

The Australian dollar was also noticeable, dropping by about 1% after the country's central bank surprised the markets by raising interest rates less than expected, before recovering and joining the broad recovery wave.

The euro rose 0.5% to $0.9876, after hitting a 20-year low of $0.9528 on September 26. The British pound also rose 0.6% to $1.1390, after hitting an all-time low of $1.0327 on the same day.

The 10-year US Treasury yield was 3.5677%, sharply down from last week when it briefly rose above 4%.

The recent rises in US bond yields, along with aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, are among the factors behind the dollar's recent gains.

In Asia, the dollar changed little against the yen, reaching 144.7, staying below 145, which it briefly crossed yesterday for the first time since the Japanese authorities intervened to support its currency on September 22nd.    The Australian dollar rose 0.15% to $0.6525.

14 . views   Added 10/04/2022 - 2:44 PM Update 10/04/2022 - 2:59 PM

https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=30033

Deputy: Korek Company Refuses To Pay One Billion Dollars To The Iraqi State

Korek Telecom refuses to pay the amounts owed to the Media and Communications Commission.

According to Representative Aqil Al-Fatlawi, the company refuses to pay the financial dues, estimated at up to one billion dollars in favor of the Media and Communications Authority, despite the Court of Cassation's decision to oblige it to do so.    https://n.annabaa.org/iraq/80594