Wednesday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 1-11-23

Coordination Framework: A Move To Relieve The Director Of The Central Bank Because Of The Dollar - Urgent

Economy    Baghdad today – Baghdad   Today, Tuesday, the leader in the coordination framework, Jabbar Odeh, spoke of a move to relieve the director of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mustafa Ghaleb Makhaif, after recent currency market developments.

Odeh said in an interview with (Baghdad Today) that "the dollar exchange rate crisis is worrisome, especially with its reaching the threshold of 160,000 dinars for every 100 dollars, which leads to strong pressure on the markets and pushes prices up, not to mention its impact on the poor and middle classes through devaluation." It has no liquidity for the local currency because of the price fever.”

He added, "There is an actual move to dismiss the head of the Central Bank of Iraq due to the lack of success in controlling the situation," pointing out that "3 candidates are currently taking over the position, all of whom are from the womb of the Central Bank."

He pointed out that "the framework gave the Sudanese authority to choose a candidate for the position of head of the Central Bank," pointing out that "the change may occur within a short period."

Dollar exchange rates rose to the threshold of 160,000 dinars for every $100, despite government pledges to move to restore the exchange rate to its original price. 145 thousand dinars for every 100 dollars.    Edit: G. F     LINK

The Markets Are Boiling In Dollars, And Parliament Intends To Open Its Session By Discussing The Crisis

Posted On2023-01-11 By Sotaliraq   Baghdad / Hussein Hatem   The House of Representatives intends to open its first session in the new legislative term by discussing the “dollar crisis,” while the Central Bank of Iraq confirmed that the exchange rates are “temporary and will return to normal within two weeks, i.e. 1470 for every 100 dollars.”

Members of Parliament held the Central Bank of Iraq responsible for the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar, especially after it crossed the barrier of 160,000 dinars for every $100 for the first time in the year 2023, yesterday, Tuesday.

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Nazem Al-Shibli, says, “The House of Representatives has sought more than once and is still trying to reduce the exchange rates of the dollar.”

Al-Shibli added, "The great responsibility lies with the Central Bank of Iraq, and parliament is a legislative authority that does not have a trick in its hands to manipulate prices."

He pointed out, "The Central Bank of Iraq is primarily responsible for financial policy in Iraq," noting, "If there are previous or new mistakes, the bank is the one who bears those mistakes.

Al-Shibli put forward solutions to control the exchange rates of the dollar, represented by “increasing sales outlets, and controlling receipts that were provided fraudulently to banks and the central bank.”

In turn, a member of the House of Representatives, Baqir Kazem Al-Saadi, says, "The first session in the new legislative term of Parliament will be related to discussing and finding solutions to the crisis of the high exchange rate of the dollar."

Al-Saadi added, "The House of Representatives will submit a report and proposals to the Ministry of Finance in order to study the issue of dollar exchange."

He explained, "The work of the parliamentary committees in the previous period focused on finding solutions and proposals in order to work to reduce the exchange rate of the dollar after the speculations it witnessed."

Al-Saadi stressed, "The next session will be an emergency to solve the dollar exchange rate crisis, and all aspects that will contribute to preserving the value of the Iraqi dinar will be studied."

For his part, another member of the House of Representatives, Kazem Al-Touki, says, “Most members of the House of Representatives collected signatures in order to hold an extraordinary session to discuss the rise in the exchange rate of the dollar in the local markets and to find out its causes and repercussions.”

Al-Touki added, "Parliament intends to start its new legislative term by holding a session in which the aforementioned issue will be discussed in order to summon the authorities concerned with financial affairs in order to find out the real solutions to the rise and restore the situation to its predecessor."

And he pointed out, “The government’s treatments regarding the dollar exchange rate did not produce the desired results, despite the distribution of the currency to banks authorized with the same value, as it was temporary and was unable to restore the exchange rate to its previous position.”

In addition, the advisor to the Central Bank of Iraq, Ihsan Shamran al-Yasiri, said, “The central bank is committed and compliant with the decisions of the international community, and as long as there are countries that are prohibited from receiving the dollar, then the central bank cannot bypass that and not violate the controls.”

And he emphasized that “the turmoil in dollar prices is a temporary situation, and within two weeks the dollar price will return to its normal stable position of 1470, that is, before the end of this month of January,” noting that “the central bank’s resources are now at their highest levels in decades.”

Al-Yasiri explained, "The state's financial situation is very comfortable," noting that "the controls that were put in place to sell the dollar on the platform came in order for the dollar to go to the real beneficiary, and it is a regulatory process." LINK

"It Has Become Higher Than The Capacity Of The Iraqi Individual." The Dollar Blight Hits Local Eggs And Soars Their Prices

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2023-01-11 05:10  Shafaq News/ Despite the increase in the prices of some imported commodities to about two thousand and five thousand 5 dinars as a result of the increase in the exchange rate of the dollar in the parallel market in the Iraqi local markets, some food products, including "eggs", were also affected by the exchange rate despite being produced locally.

Its rise surprised Iraqi citizens, after it exceeded 10 thousand dinars, which raised some questions about the reasons for that, and the reason for the disappearance of the importer from the market, despite the Ministry of Agriculture’s talk of opening the import of foodstuffs, including table eggs.

The Iraqi government had allowed the import of some agricultural crops, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, in addition to chicken and eggs, from the land border crossings in August of 2021, after their prices increased.

"Khawat" In The Controls

Ahmed Khalil, an egg wholesaler in the Jamila commercial area in Baghdad, told Shafaq News agency, "The box of eggs, which contains 12 layers, has increased during the current week to reach 80,000 dinars, after it was 72,000 dinars at the beginning of the week," indicating The eggs that he sells are brought from the hatcheries of the Rania Company in Qalaat Dizah, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, to Baghdad, but the controls along this road take from them what is known as “khawat”, which amounts in total to 3 thousand dollars, and therefore these amounts are added to The price of the carton, which leads to an increase in the price of eggs, leads to an increase in the price of eggs in Baghdad."

He added, "The local product of eggs is not enough, and some fields were closed due to a loss, as a result of the lack of government support for fodder, which forced some to raise their prices."

Investment Encouragement

The economist, Muhammad al-Hasani, told Shafaq News agency, "The government is unable to manage food security properly, and therefore every food item faces problems from time to time," noting at the same time that "influential parties in the state are among the It manages or participates in these food-producing projects, including poultry fields, with the aim of monopolizing and obtaining large profits at the expense of the poor citizen.

He added, "Opening imports and supporting the national product with fodder at reasonable prices and encouraging local and foreign investors to establish such projects without bureaucracy will certainly lead to appropriate prices far from monopoly as we are witnessing now."    

Citizens: Open The Import  

Citizens whom Shafaq News met demanded to open the import of table eggs, as it was previously, with the aim of making it available and reducing its prices.

The citizen, Muhammad Salim, told Shafaq News agency, "The prices of eggs are now higher than the ability of some families to buy a layer of eggs, which forced them to buy individually by one thousand or two thousand dinars."

He added, "When import was open, there was competition, and thus created suitable prices. But without import, the monopoly will be present by the local producer."

For his part, the citizen, Mazen Muhammad, told Shafaq News agency, "Eggs are considered one of the main foodstuffs on the table, and therefore they cannot be dispensed with," noting that "their high prices in this way will force some to buy smaller quantities."

He called on the government to "provide the product by finding certain measures, such as opening imports and supporting local producers with what they need of fodder and electric energy."

Agriculture.. Quick Solutions

And the Ministry of Agriculture announced "allowing the transfer of table eggs produced in the poultry projects of the Kurdistan Region to the rest of the other governorates of Iraq and vice versa, after the price of a layer of this food item increased to 7 thousand dinars."

The ministry's spokesman, Muhammad Al-Khuzai, told Shafaq News agency, "The reasons for the high price of eggs came as a result of the increased demand for them, as the demand for them is seasonal, which is winter in particular, and therefore they are subject to the laws of demand and supply, and the insufficiency of the local product to cover the market, as well as the high exchange rate." The dollar led to the increase in the prices of this substance.”

Al-Khuzaie pointed out that "the ministry's recent action will lead to the return of the prices of this substance to its reasonable and acceptable levels for all parties, the citizen, the consumer and the producer."

The exchange rates of the dollar against the dinar in the Iraqi local markets are witnessing a continuous rise, reaching during the past two days about 161 thousand dinars, despite the government's measures to open outlets for selling the American currency at the official price, which is 146 thousand dinars. LINK

The Secret Of The Dollar’s ​​Rise In Iraq And The Central Bank’s Failure To Control… The Trade Dollar “Runs Away” From The Official Window To Avoid Taxes

2023-01-11 Yes Iraq: Baghdad  With the Central Bank of Iraq continuing to put the drug in its true place, the dollar continues to rise in the local markets, amid experts and specialists finding that the rise of the dollar in Iraq has nothing to do with cash sales and the demand for dollars for the purpose of travel, while the Central Bank continues to provide dollars for the purpose of travel, there is really no demand Too much for travel dollars, and the high demand for trade dollars continues to withdraw hard currency from the markets, which causes the dollar to rise amid the central bank's inability to do anything.

The Central Bank of Iraq was selling an average of 220 million dollars per day in the previous months, to drop recently to an average of 80-100 million dollars per day only, and sometimes much less than that, with a decrease of about 65%.

As a result, the exchange rates of the dollar in the local markets rose by nearly 10%, so that the Central Bank mobilized its efforts, which did not lead to anything, for one reason, as the bank began pumping money and dollars for travelers whose demand constitutes only a small percentage of the high real demand in the market, resulting from The demand for “trade dollars,” not travel dollars.

Experts point out that the owners of fictitious imports, as well as the real traders, have begun to buy dollars from the parallel market, no matter how high its price is, and prefer that to buying dollars from the central bank.

Where real merchants buy the dollar from the parallel market at its high prices, and thus the prices of the goods they import, only for one thing, which is “tax evasion”, where if they buy from the Central Bank, they will pay entry taxes for these goods that they import.

Economic researcher Mortada Al-Azzawi says, “Many merchants deliberately do not buy dollars from the central bank and go to the parallel market to secure their dollar needs, despite the 10% increase in the exchange rate in the parallel market from the official rate.”

And he adds: “All of this is for the sake of customs evasion by using forged invoices, as these merchants see that buying a more expensive dollar in the parallel market is cheaper for them than buying dollars from the central bank after applying the new mechanism and bearing the customs bill.”

And he considered that “the situation will not continue, and when the market is devoid of the dollar, these merchants will be forced to return again to the central bank.”

For his part, economic expert Abd al-Rahman al-Mashhadani says, “The high price of the dollar in the parallel market currently is not due to travel, because what the traveler needs per month is only 10 million. Banking in China is outside the (Swift) system, which led to the rise of the dollar, and the government cannot control it.   LINK