Tuesday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 5-23-23

Parliamentary Finance Holds A Crucial Meeting To Complete The Vote On The Budget

Information/Baghdad..  The Parliamentary Finance Committee held a meeting, on Tuesday, in preparation for settling the general budget law.  A representative source said in a statement to Al-Maalouma, "The committee continues discussions to pass the budget, and it held a crucial meeting to discuss bridging the deficit within the budget."  He added, "The most prominent dispute over the budget centers on determining the proportion of the Kurdistan region and granting oil-producing provinces their financial entitlements within the budget."

 A member of the Parliamentary Legal Committee, Aref Al-Hamami, confirmed that great progress had been made during the negotiations to pass and amend the budget, suggesting that the approval of the budget be delayed until the end of this month to complete the negotiations.

In an interview with Al-Information Agency, Al-Hamami said, “The Parliamentary  Finance Committee has reached its final stages regarding the amendment negotiations. Budget.”    LINK

Al-Maliki's Coalition: The Central And Southern Representatives Vote On The Budget Conditionally

Information/Baghdad..  The deputy of the State of Law coalition, Muhammad al-Ziyadi, confirmed, on Tuesday, that the representatives of the central and southern provinces expressed their objection to the failure to achieve justice by distributing financial shares to their provinces, similar to the Kurdistan region , while he indicated that in the event that the central and southern governorates are not fair, they will not vote on the budget.

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Al-Ziyadi said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, that "the imbalance is clear in the distribution of financial shares for the central and southern governorates if they are compared to the governorates of the Kurdistan region," pointing out that "the necessity of redistribution according to the population percentage and the poverty rate, in addition to the oil-producing governorates obtaining 5%.” of petrodollars.

He added that "the representatives of the central and southern provinces expressed their objection to the failure to achieve justice by distributing financial shares to their provinces, similar to the provinces of the Kurdistan region."

Al-Ziyadi indicated that "in the event that the central and southern governorates are not fair, they will not vote on the budget."

The Parliamentary Finance Committee has been in intensive meetings for weeks to resolve the items of the 2023 budget, which includes very complex items, with a fiscal deficit of more than 30%.

The deficit rate amounted to 63.275 trillion dinars, with the adoption of a price of 70 dollars per barrel of oil, given that more than 95 percent of budget revenues depend on oil sales.   LINK

Al-Maliki's Coalition: The Central And Southern Representatives Vote On The Budget Conditionally

Information/Baghdad..  The deputy of the State of Law coalition, Muhammad al-Ziyadi, confirmed, on Tuesday, that the representatives of the central and southern provinces expressed their objection to the failure to achieve justice by distributing financial shares to their provinces, similar to the Kurdistan region , while he indicated that in the event that the central and southern governorates are not fair, they will not vote on the budget.

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Al-Ziyadi said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, that "the imbalance is clear in the distribution of financial shares for the central and southern governorates if they are compared to the governorates of the Kurdistan region," pointing out that "the necessity of redistribution according to the population percentage and the poverty rate, in addition to the oil-producing governorates obtaining 5%.” of petrodollars.

He added that "the representatives of the central and southern provinces expressed their objection to the failure to achieve justice by distributing financial shares to their provinces, similar to the provinces of the Kurdistan region."

Al-Ziyadi indicated that "in the event that the central and southern governorates are not fair, they will not vote on the budget."

The Parliamentary Finance Committee has been in intensive meetings for weeks to resolve the items of the 2023 budget, which includes very complex items, with a fiscal deficit of more than 30%.

The deficit rate amounted to 63.275 trillion dinars, with the adoption of a price of 70 dollars per barrel of oil, given that more than 95 percent of budget revenues depend on oil sales.  LINK

A "Dangerous Indicator" .. Iraqis Are Ranked 50th Among The Most Miserable Peoples

2023-05-23 Shafaq News/ Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, Steve Hanke, published a list of the "misery index" for the past year 2022, showing that Iraq ranked 50th among the most miserable peoples, while an economist demanded the need to quickly address this "dangerous indicator".

According to a report and table published by Hanke, seen by Shafaq News Agency, "The human condition lies in a wide spectrum between "miserable" and "happy", in the economic field, indicating that misery comes as a result of high inflation, exorbitant borrowing costs, and unemployment.

"The surest way to alleviate this misery is through economic growth," Hanke noted, noting that country metrics can tell us a lot about where people feel sad or happy.

The Hankey Index measures the misery, based on unemployment, inflation, the lending rate, and the change in per capita GDP.

According to Hankey, Iraq ranked 50 out of 157 countries listed in the table with the most miserable people, with an index of 42.3 points, indicating that unemployment is the main factor in Iraq behind this misery.

According to Hankey, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon and Sudan occupied the first five ranks as the most miserable people, followed by Argentina sixth, Yemen seventh, Ukraine eighth, Cuba ninth, and Turkey tenth.

He added that the least miserable people and the happiest were Switzerland, which ranked first, followed by Kuwait, then Ireland, then Japan, followed by Malaysia, followed by Taiwan.

For his part, the economist, Muhammad al-Hassani, told Shafaq News agency, "The classification is close to the truth and correctly reflects the reality of Iraq," noting that "what citizens in Iraq suffer from is the increase in unemployment, especially among young people, which may reach more than 30% and may increase to more." From 40% in some governorates, especially the southern ones, which is what the report focused on.

He added, "Unemployment is considered one of the main and serious problems for any country that suffers from it, because of the many problems that result from it, including crime, theft, backwardness in education and many other things," calling on "the government agencies responsible for that to address this indicator more seriously by developing a five-year plan that can be met." implementation, and not a five-year plan on paper only.

He pointed out that "the Iraqi society does not suffer greatly from inflation, which is considered appropriate for the rest of the world, in which it increased significantly, especially after the Russian and Ukrainian wars, in addition to the fact that the economic growth of Iraq is currently considered high after the rise in oil prices in relation to the rest of the neighboring countries."   LINK

Planning: Items In The Budget To Address The Impact Of The Dollar Exchange Rate

Money   and business  Economy News _ Baghdad  The Ministry of Planning revealed that the budget for the current year includes new items that address the impact of changing the exchange rates of the US dollar on the Iraqi citizen. 

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning, Maher Hammad Johan, said in an interview with the official newspaper, followed by "Al-Iqtisad News", that "many items have been included in the general budget for the current year in favor of the citizen, as a result of the damage incurred by him as a result of the change in exchange rates in the past months." 

He added, "The response was made by adding these items according to human and food security, as well as the economic impact, the general situation of climate change, global economic inflation, and the expected recession." 

"If the new budget is approved in accordance with the items discussed, a large part of it will represent a response to providing food and covering the requirements of the social protection network, in addition to supporting the private sector in specific areas," Johan stressed. 

He explained that "serious discussions were held by the ministry, with the participation of the Investment Authority, government agencies, the Federation of Industries and other concerned authorities, regarding exchange rates and their impact on the market and therefore on citizens," noting that "the Ministry of Planning worked under the guidance of Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani in this field."     Views 87   Added 05/23/2023 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=34360

Member Of Parliamentary Finance: We Were Expecting To Settle The Budget In The Middle Of This Week, But..

Money  and business  Economy News – Baghdad  A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, said, on Tuesday, that the committee is still on the same disputed points in the budget.

Cougar explained, in an interview with the official newspaper, that "the region's share has not yet been decided, nor have the transfers been completed, nor have the additional materials been included until this moment."

He added, "We expected that the budget would be settled in the middle of this week, but the committee is still working on settling these points."

And he continued, that the paragraph "reducing the number of the region's employees is still being discussed, and we hope to return it to what it was."   Views 294  05/23/2023 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=34363

New Figures On The Budget.. This Is What The Government Needs To Cover Its Operational And Investment Expenses

Economy  2023-05-23 | Alsumaria News – Economy  The draft federal budget law, which has been prolonged as a result of political differences over some files, is still waiting for popular circles, at a time when economists revealed what the Iraqi government needs to cover its operational and investment expenses if it approved its current situation, amounting to 199 trillion dinars.

The economist said  Manar Al-Obaidi  In a post I followed  Alsumaria News If the budget is approved in its current state of 199 trillion dinars, the Iraqi government will need an average of 552 billion dinars per day to cover its operational and investment expenses.

He added, "The source of the Iraqi dinar for the Iraqi government is the central bank, and in order to provide this amount of dinars, the central bank has two options: *

Either sell the value of 420 million dollars per day through the window of selling hard currencies to save the dinar, which is complicated during this period, or increase the cash currency." issued by the bank.

And the expert continued, "If the central provides an Iraqi dinar in exchange for selling 280 million dollars per day, then it will provide a daily dinar for the Iraqi government at a value of 370 billion dinars, so the remaining amount of 180 billion must be provided through an increase in the cash currency issued, which will reach within a year if this option is adopted, up to 60 trillion."

An additional dinar of the cash currency, and this means that the cash currency issued within a year from now will reach more than 160 trillion Iraqi dinars, compared to the current situation of 96 trillion dinars of the cash currency issued, and this means the possibility of increasing inflation rates and rising prices during the next stage. .

Earlier, the Parliamentary Finance Committee announced that it would vote on most of the items and paragraphs of the budget, in preparation for submitting it to  Parliament .

He would have agreed  Iraqi Council of Ministers  On March 13, he approved the draft budget law for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025 and referred it to  Parliament .

and finished  Parliament , the first and second readings of the draft federal budget law for  The Republic of Iraq  provided by the government  Mohamed Shiaa Al-Sudani For the fiscal years (2023, 2024, 2025)

and the 2023 budget is the largest in the history of Iraq after 2003, the Prime Minister said Mohamed Shiaa Al-Sudani  Its total amounts to more than 197 trillion dinars (135 billion dollars), including an operating budget of more than 150 trillion dinars, and an investment budget of about 47 trillion.

The estimated deficit rate is close to 63 trillion Iraqi dinars, and the total expected revenues are equivalent to more than 134 trillion dinars, while oil revenues are estimated at 117 trillion dinars based on an oil price of $70, while non-oil revenues amount to 17 trillion.

The last budget approved in Iraq dates back to April 2021, while one was not adopted in 2022 due to the political turmoil that paralyzed the country for a year after the last legislative elections.  LINK