Wednesday Evening Iraq Economic News Highlights 8-31-22

Citizens' Fear Of The Financial Situation...And Specialists Are Reassured

Sumerian special 2022-08-30 | 08:10 Source:   Sumerian  2,403 views   Citizens are increasingly concerned about the repercussions of the political conflict and its impact on their livelihood, despite the assurances of specialists that the financial situation will be stable even in the event of delays in approving the budget.

There is increasing fear among citizens that the political conflict will have a negative impact on their livelihood, especially after talking about the difficulty of government spending at the end of this year, statements in which many find nothing but an attempt to win over the citizen and influence his positions by threatening such matters.

The specialists do not find any economic danger in the delay in approving the budget, especially since the country's financial matters are going according to Law 12/1 in force, which shows that the employees' salaries will not be subject to prejudice under all circumstances.

In the street, popular circles demand the necessity of keeping the citizen's livelihood away from the political battlefield, while stressing that any attempt to harm people's livelihood will have unwelcome consequences. LINK

Customs: 19 Trucks Carrying Illegal Materials Were Seized At The Central Region Customs

Economie| 10:08 - 31/08/2022   Baghdad - Mawazine News   The Customs Authority announced, on Wednesday, that the Investigation and Anti-Smuggling Department in the Central Region Customs Directorate seized 19 trucks carrying various materials in violation of the controls and instructions in force.

In a statement received by Mawazine News, the authority explained the details of these materials, which are: (alabaster, plastic materials, foodstuffs, iron, furniture, forklifts, motor oils, cement plant, decorative cork, and various other materials).

She added, "The operation was carried out in cooperation with the customs police, and all necessary legal measures were taken against violations in accordance with the effective Customs Law No. 23 of 1984, as amended." Ended 29/N33    https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=204061

He Stressed That Approving The Budget Prevents The Disposal Of The Financial Surplus..

A Government Advisor Denies Not Paying Salaries At The Beginning Of Next Year

Posted On2022-08-30 By Sotaliraq   Baghdad/ Firas Adnan    A government advisor denied the inability to pay the employees' salaries at the beginning of next year, stressing that the failure to pass the budget does not impede the regular expenditures, but it prevents the disposal of the current surplus.

The Economic Adviser to the Council of Ministers, Haitham al-Jubouri, said, “The budget delay prevents spending from the surplus oil prices, which can only be controlled through the budget law or another law similar to emergency support for food security and development.”

Al-Jubouri added, “The issue of salaries and the fulfillment of the financial obligations contained in the operational aspect, has nothing to do with the budget law.”

He pointed out that "Article 13 of the amended Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019 stipulates the continuation of spending on a monthly basis at a rate of 1/12 of the last approved budget until the new budget law is approved."

And al-Jubouri, "the investment budget for the governorates and ministries is financed by the same mechanism, depending on the achievement achieved."

The government advisor pointed out that "salaries are not affected by the existence of the budget or not, and it is clearly stipulated in the Federal Financial Management Law."

And he believed, "This does not mean that the budget is not important, because we are facing an increase in spending with the increase in the number of employees and the population, and there are new aspects of spending that will appear to the state. On investment projects, even if there is a surplus that has been achieved as a result of high oil prices.”

He stressed, "The existence of the budget is not only related to salaries, or it is limited to the operational aspect of maintenance and the provision of commodity and service requirements, but it is related to continuing to deal with population growth and high inflation rates and other aspects."

He noted, "The government is not technically incapable of preparing the budget bill, but the Federal Supreme Court's decision prevented it from sending the bill to the House of Representatives for approval."

Al-Jubouri added, "The possible solutions are either for the government to obtain a mandate from Parliament that allows it to send the two bills, or to wait for the new government."

Al-Jubouri went on to say that “the situation remains as it is, which will prompt the government to demand the House of Representatives a law allowing it to spend, as happened with the Emergency Food Security Support Law, which authorizes it to dispose of some surplus funds.”

Professors specialized in financial and constitutional law denied the possibility of the state stopping paying salaries at the end of this year, stressing that the legislation in force obliges the state to continue spending on all its facilities even in the absence of a budget for more than a year.

A professor of financial legislation at the University of Mosul, Qabas Al-Badrany, said, "The Financial Management Law No. (6) of 2019 (amended) regulated the budget preparation process, what it includes, and the cases that may occur there." Al-Badrany added, “The third chapter of this law consists of several articles, including Article 13, which stipulates two cases. The first is the delay in approving the budget beyond the date set before December 31.”

She indicated, "The solution is through the Minister of Finance to issue a circular according to which he will spend monthly on the basis of the budget for the previous year."

Al-Badrany reported, "The law allows spending according to this mechanism until the approval of the federal budget, and this means that there is a legal extension even if the approval of the budget continues to be disrupted."

Al-Badrany stated, "The second case, referred to by the law, is the failure to approve the budget for a full fiscal year, and in this case, the final financial statements for the previous year are the same for the year that did not witness the approval of the budget."

She stressed, "The last budget approved in Iraq is for the year 2021, and therefore its data is approved on the basis of exchange, and the Minister of Finance in this case does not need approval, but merely issues a circular, and these data are submitted to the House of Representatives for the purpose of approval."

Al-Badrany went on to say, “No country in the world can dare to stop public spending, especially current expenditures such as salaries, maintenance, and daily and monthly exchange, and therefore the law in force allowed for monthly spending to be repeated on the basis of the 2021 budget in 2023.”

For his part, Professor of Constitutional Law at Al-Mustansiriya University, Wael Munther, stated that “the claim that Article 13 of the Financial Management Law cannot be applied to the next year is incorrect.”

Munther continued, "Those who support this trend have interpreted the article literally, which is incorrect, and said that the exchange on a monthly basis according to the previous budget is for one year only." He pointed out, "Adherence to this literal interpretation contradicts the principle of the permanence and continuity of the state, especially when we are under a caretaker government with daily tasks."

]Munther believes, “The interpretation closest to the legal reality is to rely on the monthly percentages of the nearest approved budget if the fiscal year in which we are not witnessing the adoption of a budget.”

He stressed, "It is incorrect to say that salaries will stop at the end of the current year, because the budget has not been approved for two consecutive years."

Munther concluded, “The government should be committed to paying salaries and spending from the operating budget, because we are facing a basic principle on which the state is based, which is the principle of permanence and continuity of the public utility represented by the state.” LINK

Statistics: Plastic And Electrical Equipment Are The Most Important Iraqi Imports From Egypt

Money and business   Economy News _ Baghdad   "Plastic and electrical materials" were considered the most important Iraqi imports from Egypt during the year 2021, according to the trade map website, which provides a map of countries' trade for exports, imports, international demand, alternative markets and competitive markets.

And the website stated in a statistic on its website seen by "Economy News", that "Iraq imported 24 items of goods from Egypt during the past year, with a value of 460,784 million dollars," noting that "the growth of imports from Egypt decreased by 4% between 2017 and 2021. ".

He added, "Plastic and such items came first in Iraq's imports from Egypt with a value of 80 million dollars, followed by machinery and electrical equipment with a financial value of 79 million dollars, followed by iron or steel products with a value of 49 million dollars, followed by vegetables with a value of 37 million dollars. ".

The site also indicated that "Iraq's exports to Egypt amounted to 322,808 million dollars," noting that "these exports decreased by 24% between 2017 to 2021."

He stated that "the most important Iraqi exports to Egypt are mineral fuels and mineral oils, with a financial value of $314 million, followed by edible fruits and nuts, with a value of $7 million."

16 . views   Added 08/31/2022 - 9:31 AM  Update 08/31/2022 - 1:08 PM

https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=29514

The Judiciary Warns Against Digital Money And Reveals Methods Of Money Laundering In Iraq

Money and business   Economy News _ Baghdad   Today, Wednesday, the Rusafa Investigation Court, which is specialized in issues of integrity, money laundering and economic crime, confirmed the ability of the regulatory and judicial authorities to reduce the crime of combating money laundering, warning of a new phenomenon that has occurred in the financial sector in Iraq, which is the phenomenon of virtual money or virtual money that has no real existence. and entering them without any legal or official control, which could be a conducive pathway for the money laundering process.

Regarding the extent of the control level over funds and the mechanism for their follow-up, Judge Munjid Ghazi Faisal said, in a statement followed by "Economy News", that "transfers carried out by all financial institutions, both internally and externally, are subject to the (national division) system established by the Central Bank as a component of the infrastructure of the system.

Retail payment in Iraq, which one of its objectives was to create a (database) for these transfers, as well as the information obtained from the Real-Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), which provides a mechanism through which processing and settlement of high-value payment orders and any information about that".

Judge Ghazi pointed out that "the Anti-Money Laundering Law, in Article 14, stipulated that all governmental and private financial institutions, whether related to banks or automated payment companies, create an anti-money laundering department in order to activate the governance procedures in these institutions,

but the work of this section Observations at the practical level, specifically with regard to private financial institutions, are tainted in that it does not have the independence necessary to exercise its supervisory work, since the wages owed to its employees are paid through the institution itself, which needs more precise regulation by the Central Bank.

On the other hand, Ghazi touched on "a new phenomenon that has begun to occur in the financial sector in Iraq, which is the phenomenon of virtual money, which does not have a real existence and is traded only through mathematical algorithms on the Internet and works without any legal or official control," warning of “It is a conduit for money laundering and tax evasion.”

He pointed out that "this money differs from electronic money, which is the subject of automatic payment systems, and it is legitimate money that refers to real cash," calling on the legislator "to address this phenomenon by issuing appropriate legislation to deal with it, especially with the historical collapse of its value that we have witnessed recently. ".

Ghazi promised that money laundering is one of the “most dangerous crimes,” noting that “the reasons for the danger lie in its extremely negative impact on the national economy, as well as being a transnational organized crime, in addition to the money obtained from it is often used to finance other serious crimes such as terrorism and drugs.” "The seriousness of this crime also comes from the criminals' use of high-tech means that intelligently and deliberately try to circumvent the national and international legal texts that criminalize it."

He stressed, "These reasons prompted the world to seek to confront them, whether at the level of international cooperation or through national legislation undertaken by individual countries."

Al-Qadi added, "One of the most prominent forms of international cooperation to confront this crime is the establishment of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), an international organization established in Paris and working to enact international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and it also conducts permanent assessments.

To assess the extent to which countries comply with these legal and regulatory standards, this group has developed a series of recommendations that have become international standards to combat this crime and is also working to identify weaknesses at the international level with the aim of protecting the international financial system.

He added: "As a result of important judicial efforts undertaken by the Supreme Judicial Council through its various circulars and the efforts of the competent courts, including the Court of Integrity, Money Laundering and Economic Crime, in addition to other bodies such as the Central Bank of Iraq and the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and others, whose basis was to work on implementing the recommendations of the Financial Action Group,

All this recently resulted in the European Union issuing a decision to remove the name of Iraq from the list of high-risk countries, which increased the factor of reassurance in the Iraqi banking system towards the world and encouraged the opening of branches of foreign banks inside the country.

He pointed out that "Iraq is actively seeking to join these institutions as the (Egmont) group, which is an informal network of financial information units aimed at strengthening international cooperation and exchanging information, and this group provides a base for financial information units in the member states,

and the Supreme Judicial Council, aware of the importance and danger of this The crime has issued a set of circulars emphasizing the (parallel financial investigation) procedure, which is mainly concerned with the prosecution of the financial proceeds of the crime,” noting that “the crime of money laundering is an accessory crime that arises after the occurrence of an original crime from which illegal funds are realized. Courts are now pursuing illegal funds in Any place, even if it moved through several people and through a system of independent procedures.”

Al-Qadi continued: "On the national level, Iraq is proceeding with the completion of the legislative structure to combat this crime, in addition to the set of legislation and regulations that have been issued so far, as the Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 39 of 2015 required financial institutions to undertake a set of procedures related to performing due diligence to verify the sources of funds and the extent Their legitimacy, the identities of clients, knowing the nature of the work, as well as monitoring financial transfers, maintaining the necessary records to restrict these financial operations, and not opening accounts for unidentified persons.

And he called, "that the Anti-Money Laundering Office must be immediately informed of any operation suspected of involving money laundering or terrorist financing, which in turn studies and analyzes all these reports and prepares suspicious reports sent to it, noting that this office is in constant contact with other parties to complete the system of procedures as a department. Prevention in the Integrity Commission if the suspect is an employee or the proceeds of crime are related to public money.

To strengthen these procedures, the judge pointed out that “the exchange offices, as one of the financial institutions covered by the anti-money laundering law, are subject to the ongoing procedures of the Court of Integrity and the fight against economic crime and money laundering permanently to reduce the phenomenon of unauthorized exchanges, as well as to ensure the extent to which the authorized exchanges comply with the instructions and controls of the bank.

The Central Bank, where legal measures are taken against violators and referred to the competent courts in accordance with Articles (57 of the Banking Law No. 94 of 2004), as well as Articles (36, 39, 40, 41 and other Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. 39 of 2015).

And he spoke about “cases related to sums of money transferred by citizens legitimately, but sometimes some exchanges seize them and do not transfer them to the destination to which they were sent,” noting that “the court takes legal measures in accordance with Article (453 of the penal code in force) against the owners of those exchanges.” He stressed that "not every transfer of money abroad through exchange offices is a crime.

Sometimes a sum of money is transferred through exchange offices whose source is legitimate, but this transfer is marred by violations related to the legal validity of the exchange in the foreign transfer, so the legal description differs, as for the money smuggled outside Iraq. Being one of the proceeds of crime, this is what the description of the money laundering crime applies to.”

Ghazi identified the most important obstacles facing the work of the court and other regulatory bodies in combating this crime, foremost among which is the “weak international cooperation and the lack of responses from counterpart units of anti-money laundering offices in other countries, especially those that are safe havens for smuggled funds, in addition to the lack of full application of the regulations Automation in some important departments, such as the Real Estate Registration Department,

explaining that “most of the perpetrators of money laundering crimes buy real estate with huge amounts to hide that money or camouflage from their sources of income, as well as to legitimize those funds by selling these properties later and transferring those funds abroad to give the illusion that they come from sources legitimate or use them to finance projects and investments at home because of the difficulty of converting them due to control measures or because of the economic deterioration in the regional environment and the depreciation of the currency of those countries, which contributed to a significant increase in real estate prices in Iraq. He continued, "    Views 21   Added 08/31/2022 - 1:34 PM   Update 08/31/2022 - 2:54 PM https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=29519

Worth More Than A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars.. Iraqi Fuel And Fruits To Egypt

WED, 08-31-2022, AM 10:59  TAYSEER AL-ASSADI   The trade map economic website revealed that Iraq exported fuel and fruits to Egypt with a value of more than 322 million dollars during the past year 2021.

The trade map website, which provides a map of trade for countries for exports, imports, international demand, alternative markets and competitive markets in its statistics, stated that Iraq’s exports to Egypt It amounted to $322,808 million,” indicating that “these exports decreased by 24% between 2017 to 2021.”

He added, “The most important Iraqi exports to Egypt are mineral fuels and mineral oils, with a financial value of $314 million, followed by edible fruits and nuts with a value of 7.7 million dollars. He explained that "Iraq imported 24 items of goods from Egypt during the past year, with a value of $460,784 million," noting that "the growth of imports from Egypt decreased by 4% between 2017 and 2021."

http://non14.net/public/150441

The Judiciary Warns Of “Digital Money” And Reveals Methods Of Money Laundering In Iraq

2022.08.31   Baghdad - people    The Rusafa Investigation Court, which is specialized in issues of integrity, money laundering and economic crime, confirmed the ability of the regulatory and judicial authorities to reduce the crime of combating money laundering, warning of “ a new phenomenon that has occurred in the financial sector in Iraq, which is the phenomenon of virtual money or virtual money that has no real existence, and its entry without Any legal or official control that may be a conduit for the money laundering process.

Regarding the extent of the control level over the funds and the mechanism for their follow-up, Judge Munjid Ghazi Faisal said in a statement to the newspaper “ Al- Qada ”, which was followed by “Nass”, (August 31, 2022), that “ transfers carried out by all financial institutions, both internally and externally, are subject to the ( National Divider ) system. ) , which was established by the Central Bank as a component of the infrastructure of the retail payment system in Iraq, and one of its objectives was to create a ( database ) for these transfers , as well as the information obtained from the Real-Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) , which provides a mechanism through which to obtain Both the processing and settlement of high-value payment orders and any information thereon .

Judge Ghazi also points out that the Anti-Money Laundering Law, in Article 14, stipulates that all governmental and private financial institutions, whether those related to banks or automated payment companies, must create an anti-money laundering department in order to activate the governance procedures in these institutions, but that “ the work of this section Observations at the practical level, specifically with regard to private financial institutions, are tainted in that he does not have the independence necessary to exercise his supervisory work, since the wages owed to its employees are paid through the institution itself , " which needs more precise regulation by the Central Bank .

  On the other hand, Ghazi touched on " a new phenomenon that has begun to occur in the financial sector in Iraq, which is the phenomenon of virtual money or digital money , which does not have a real existence and is traded only through mathematical algorithms on the Internet and works without any legal or official control, " warning of the consequences of That “ it is a conducive pathway for the process of money laundering and tax evasion ,

” noting that “ this money differs from electronic money, which is a substitute for automated payment systems, and it is legitimate money that refers to real cash , ” calling on the legislator to address this phenomenon by issuing legislation It is appropriate to deal with it, especially with what we have witnessed recently of a historical collapse in its value, and the money laundering crime is considered one of the most serious crimes.

  And he indicated that " the reasons for the danger lie in its very negative impact on the national economy and also that it is a transnational organized crime, in addition to the fact that the money obtained from it is often used to finance other serious crimes such as terrorism and drugs , " noting that " the seriousness of this crime also comes from the criminals' use of high means.

The technology that intelligently and thoughtfully tries to circumvent the national and international legal texts that criminalize it , ” stressing that “ these reasons prompted the world to seek to confront them, whether at the level of international cooperation or through national legislation undertaken by individual countries .”

  Al- Qadi added that " one of the most prominent forms of international cooperation to confront this crime is the establishment of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) , an international organization established in Paris and working to enact international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. It also conducts permanent evaluations to assess The extent to which countries adhere to these legal and regulatory standards, and this group has developed a series of recommendations that have become international standards to combat this crime and is also working to identify weaknesses at the international level with the aim of protecting the international financial system

  He added : " As a result of important judicial efforts undertaken by the Supreme Judicial Council through its various circulars and the efforts of the competent courts, including the Court for Integrity, Money Laundering and Economic Crime, in addition to other bodies such as the Central Bank of Iraq and the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and others, whose basis was to work on implementing the recommendations of the Financial Action Group,

All this recently resulted in the European Union issuing a decision to remove the name of Iraq from the list of high-risk countries, which increased the factor of reassurance in the Iraqi banking system towards the world and encouraged the opening of branches of foreign banks inside the country .

  He stressed , " Iraq's relentless endeavor to join these institutions as the ( Egmont ) group , which is an informal network of financial information units that aims to enhance international cooperation and exchange information, and this group provides a base for financial information units in the member states, and the Supreme Judicial Council is aware of the importance and seriousness of this crime.

He issued a set of circulars emphasizing the ( parallel financial investigation ) procedure , which is mainly concerned with the pursuit of the financial proceeds of the crime , noting that “ the crime of money laundering is an accessory crime that arises after the occurrence of an original crime from which illegal funds are realized. Courts are now pursuing illegal funds in any A place even if it moved through several people and through a system of independent procedures .”

Al- Qadi continued, " As for the national level, Iraq is continuing to complete the legislative structure to combat this crime, as well as a set of legislation and regulations issued so far, as the Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 39 of 2015 required financial institutions to undertake a set of procedures related to due diligence to verify the sources of funds and the extent Their legitimacy, the identities of clients, knowing the nature of the work, as well as monitoring financial transfers, maintaining the necessary records to restrict these financial operations, and not opening accounts for unidentified persons .”

He called for " the obligation to immediately inform the Anti-Money Laundering Office of any operation suspected of involving money laundering or terrorist financing, which in turn studies and analyzes all these reports and prepares suspicious reports sent to it, noting that this office is in constant contact with other parties to complete the system of procedures such as the Prevention Department." In the Integrity Commission if the suspect is an employee or the proceeds of the crime are related to public money .

  To strengthen these procedures, the judge also pointed out that “ the exchange offices, as one of the financial institutions covered by the anti-money laundering law, are subject to the continuous procedures of the Court of Integrity and the fight against economic crime and money laundering permanently to reduce the phenomenon of unauthorized exchanges, as well as to ensure the extent to which the authorized exchanges comply with the instructions and controls of the bank.

The Central Bank, where legal measures are taken against violators and referred to the competent courts in accordance with Articles (57 of the Banking Law No. 94 of 2004) as well as Articles (36 , 39 , 40 , 41 and other Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. 39 of 2015).

And he talked about " cases related to sums of money transferred by citizens legitimately, but sometimes some exchanges seize them and not transfer them to the destination to which they are sent , " noting that " the court takes legal measures in accordance with Article 453 of the penal code in force ) against the owners of those exchanges . He stressed that, " Not every transfer of money abroad through exchange offices is a crime.

Sometimes a sum of money is transferred through exchange offices whose source is legitimate, but this transfer is marred by violations related to the legal validity of the exchange in the foreign transfer, so the legal description differs, as for the money that is smuggled outside Iraq." Being one of the proceeds of the crime, this is what the description of the money laundering crime applies to .”

Ghazi identifies the most important obstacles facing the work of the court and other regulatory bodies in combating this crime, foremost among which is the “ weak international cooperation and the lack of answers from counterpart units of anti-money laundering offices in other countries, especially those that are safe havens for smuggled money, in addition to the lack of full implementation of automation systems.”

In some important departments, such as the Real Estate Registration Department , " explaining that "Most of the perpetrators of money laundering crimes buy real estate in huge amounts to hide these funds or camouflage their sources of income, as well as to legitimize those funds by selling these properties later and transferring those funds abroad to give the illusion that they come from legitimate sources or use them to finance projects and investments at home because of the difficulty of transferring them due to the following procedures oversight or because of what the regional environment is witnessing of economic deterioration and a decline in the value of the currency for those countries, which has contributed to a significant increase in real estate prices in Iraq .”

  The existence of an electronic database that classifies real estate by names, not just by real estate numbers, allows the supervisory authorities to know the total real estate owned by each person accused of money laundering. For everything that is imported, and this would, if achieved, reduce the fictitious purchases of the dollar in the currency auction .”    https://www.nasnews.com/view.php?cat=92971