Wednesday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 3-15-23

Al-Sudani At The Sulaymaniyah Forum: The Budget Will Practically Translate The Government Program

Policy |Baghdad today – Sulaymaniyah Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani confirmed today, Wednesday, that the 2023 budget will be practically translated into the government program.

Al-Sudani said at the Sulaymaniyah Forum conference and its follow-up (Baghdad Today), that "the budget will be practically translated into the government program," stressing that "the government has adopted a ministerial program that pledges to provide services to citizens."

He added that "we have achieved great percentages in the items of the ministerial program," noting that "for the first time we have succeeded in making the budget for three years, and that the general Maronites will combat poverty and provide services."

He pointed out that "during the short life of Omar, we were able to accomplish many tasks," explaining that "the oil and gas law will see the light soon."

Al-Sudani affirmed that "Iraq is not subject to division, and we will not accept that the land of Iraq be a starting point for threatening neighboring countries."

He went on to say that "Iraq will not be a corridor for aggression against neighboring countries, and everyone must respect our sovereignty," stressing that "Iraq must be stable, far from conflicts." LINK

The Rise In The Exchange Rates Of The US Dollar Against The Iraqi Dinar

Today, Wednesday, the exchange rates of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar rose on the main stock exchange in the capital, Baghdad, and in the Kurdistan Region.

The central Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges in Baghdad recorded 157,100 Iraqi dinars for 100 US dollars this morning. While the prices on Tuesday morning were 154,750 dinars for 100 dollars.

In addition, the buying and selling prices decreased in the exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad, where the selling price reached 158,000 Iraqi dinars per 100 US dollars, while the buying prices amounted to 156,000 Iraqi dinars per 100 US dollars.

As for Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, the dollar prices also recorded an increase, as the selling price of the dollar reached 157,100 dinars per 100 US dollars, and the purchase price reached 156,100 dinars per 100 US dollars.  LINK

Parliament Is Waiting For The Budget To Arrive Early Next Week And Is Not Satisfied With Its Deficit

2023-03-15 By Sotaliraq   Baghdad / Firas Adnan The Parliamentary Finance Committee expects to receive the draft budget law early next week, describing the deficit that it included as large, but indicated the possibility of extinguishing it through the abundance of oil, stressing that the previous agreements between the state administration coalition are sufficient to pass the law quickly and not disrupt it.

Committee member Mueen Al-Kadhimi said, "The Council of Ministers voted yesterday on the draft budget law for three years."

Al-Kazemi added, "Parliament will receive the project at the beginning of next week, and thus the Finance Committee is studying it."

He pointed out, "The project includes an amount of 197 trillion Iraqi dinars, 150 trillion dinars has been allocated for the operational part, and this amount will go to salaries, ration cards, social care and operating expenses of the ministries."

Al-Kazemi pointed out, “The allocation of 47 trillion dinars to the investment part, and it relates to large projects from the port of Faw, electricity contracts signed with Siemens and General Electric, the development of regions and governorates, projects of ministries, and the construction of schools and hospitals.”

He explained, "The deficit will be about 63 trillion dinars, which is a large amount that the government will seek to cover through the price of oil or raising production quantities from Iraqi wells, in addition to the previous financial abundance."

And Al-Kazemi added, "Parliament will have a period ranging from one month to 45 days to ratify the draft budget law in order to implement it."

And he stressed, “The new thing that happened is to make this budget for three years,” stressing that “this measure is taken for the first time after 2003, and this is permitted in accordance with what was stipulated in the amended Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019.”

Al-Kazemi hopes that “the deputies will feel responsible and speed up the approval of the budget,” stressing that “the government took about five months when preparing the budget.”

He sees the possibility of “passing the budget easily, depending on the political agreements of the state administration coalition, which has the largest number of deputies.

And Al-Kazemi continues, “The previous dilemma, which was regarding the share of the Kurdistan region and its obligations, has ended in this budget, after providing a number of guarantees.”

And he added, “The budget has allocated a fund and sufficient sums of money for the reconstruction of the liberated areas, and other funds have been allocated for the reconstruction of the poorest areas in the center and south.”

Al-Kadhimi stressed, "The financial distribution of the project between the governorates creates a kind of consensus between the large political blocs that helps pass the budget." He finds that “resorting to passing a budget for three years is new,” but he considers this development to be positive, as it “leads to a state of stability in the annual budget, which is always disrupted.”

Al-Kadhimi expressed his optimism about what has been achieved so far, and he expects that “things will proceed in a positive way until the law is passed in this encouraging atmosphere.”

And he added, “The contents of the budget have not reached us until now, so what we received is a summary prepared by the Ministry of Finance regarding the foundations of this law, but we do not know the details related to job grades and others.”

And Al-Kazemi concluded, that “detailed matters related to job grades, decisions, and instructions have not been reviewed by Parliament until the present time, and they are awaiting the draft to be officially received from the Council of Ministers.” For his part, MP Muhammad al-Ziyadi stated that “drawing the state’s financial policy is one of the tasks of the Council of Ministers.”

Al-Ziyadi continued, "The House of Representatives is the one who approves the government's financial projects, especially the draft budget law."

He pointed out, "Iraq suffers from many problems in the liberated and deprived provinces, and it needs to speed up the budget law."

Al-Ziyadi stressed, “The House of Representatives is discussing the draft that the government sent for the budget, by presenting it for the first reading and then proceeding with the discussions until the vote.”

And he believes, “The law does not prevent the government from submitting a draft budget that is allocated for three years, the first of which is compulsory, and the remaining two years that the Council of Ministers may amend based on a draft that Parliament votes on.”

Al-Ziyadi concluded that “Parliament will discuss the law carefully and hold meetings with all concerned before voting on it.”   LINK

An Economist Warns: The Budget Will Enter The Critical Path In This Case

Economy| 12:24 - 03/15/2023  Baghdad - Mawazine News,  economist Nabil Al-Marsoumi revealed today, Wednesday, that the two paragraphs of employee salaries and social care in the 2023 budget amount to more than 87 trillion dinars.

Al-Marsoumi wrote on his Facebook page, “The budget will enter the critical path if the price of Brent crude drops to about $60 a barrel, as the oil revenues will then be sufficient to cover only the two paragraphs of employee salaries and social welfare, which amount to more than 87 trillion dinars in the 2023 budget! !!”

And Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani announced, yesterday, Monday, that the total budget for the year 2023 amounts to more than 197 trillion dinars, with a fiscal deficit of 63 trillion dinars. Ended 29/N33   https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=221953

Al-Sudani: Iraq Is Indivisible.. We Refuse To Use Our Lands To Threaten Neighboring Countries

Policy  2023-03-15 | 03:49   1,275 views  Alsumaria News – Politics The Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, confirmed that Iraq is indivisible, and the Iraqi force follows from the constitution, while refusing that Iraqi lands be a starting point for threatening neighboring countries.

Al-Sudanese said at the Sulaymaniyah Forum, which was followed by Al-Sumaria News: "We pledged in our government program to provide services to our people and build a strong, cohesive economy, and we were able to achieve large percentages of the ministerial program."

He added, "The agreement on the draft budget law represents a bold step that avoids previous failures, and expresses clarity in the vision drawn for our declared goals in serving the citizen."

He pointed out that "the budget is an important key to opening the doors to a solution to several problems, achieving priorities for addressing unemployment, combating poverty and corruption, and initiating economic reform."

Al-Sudani stated, "Financial and political stability paves the way for an optimal investment of our country's primary wealth, the legislation of the oil and gas law, and the understanding with the region."Kurdistan Iraq In this regard.”

He continued, “Let us leave the term “unresolved problems” and replace it with terms of sustainable projects and joint economic opportunities for the sake of a sustainable and just welfare for all Iraqis.

Al-Sudani added, "The painful memory of the heinous crime committed by the dictatorial regime against our Kurdish people in the city of Halabja is a sad occasion. Our vote is in Council of Ministers Two days before the project to transform it into a governorate, which is the least we can offer in return for their huge sacrifices.”

And he added, “Our meetings in Erbil were fruitful, and I met a group of party heads and representatives of the components, and we talked without restrictions, because we are - in word and deed - children of one nation, and one destiny One.”

Al-Sudani praised the “efforts made to reconcile the Kurdish political leaders to unify the ranks, and we support these efforts.”

He pointed out that “sectarianism distorted unity Iraq, which believes that the strength of one of its parts is to weaken the federal government or to weaken the other components in the country, was a gateway to the terrorist organization ISIS to pounce on the heart of the state, threatening all components without exception.

"We look forward to deep and sustainable economic partnerships that bring us together with peoples Brotherly and friendly, and we exchange concern for security with them, with effective and fruitful economic cooperation, only the foundation for sustainable security can be established

.Iraq A starting point for threatening the security of the neighborhood, and our constitution obliges us not to interfere in the affairs of others, just as we do not accept that the dignity of our land and our sovereignty be affected from the neighborhood or from others.”

And he indicated that “his government attached, early on, special importance to strengthening the border guard forces, and increased efforts to control them and prevent infiltration , and the elimination of any force that seeks to destabilize, whether in a region Kurdistan or anywhere else in the world Iraq

Al-Sudani added, “ History Iraq Its geographical location, its economic potential and capabilities, and the human resources it possesses, qualify it to play a pivotal role in the Middle East and the world; in order to become a regional focal point.

”Iraq In its regional and international surroundings, through our holding of the Climate Conference in Basra.”

He added, “We sought, within our government program, to give priority to confronting the effects of climate change through a number of projects that contribute to reducing emissions, including the establishment of renewable energy stations, the rehabilitation of closed sanitary landfill sites, desertification control projects, and technologies

We have recently signed contracts for the fifth licensing round to invest associated gas and stop burning it, in order to reduce carbon emissions by large proportions, and we will continue to develop projects that convert associated gas into a source of electric energy

. major plantation of 5 million trees and palm trees in all governorates Iraq Accompanied by the launch of a national guide to urban afforestation for the first time in Iraq The Prime Minister concluded ,

"The world can learn many lessons from the battle of the Iraqi people, with their various races and religions, in their war against terrorism."   LINK

Counselor Mazhar Saleh: Preparing A Budget For 3 Years Provides A Vision For Iraq's Financial Future

March 14, 2023  Baghdad / Obelisk: The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed that the government's preparation of a budget for 3 years provides a vision for Iraq's financial future.

During his attendance at a conference organized by the College of Administration and Economics at the University of Karbala, Saleh said that the amended Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019 in force talks about the annual budget, and that it is okay for the state to present a financial plan, containing estimates and forecasts for the coming years, so that the House of Representatives and legislators have a vision On how the state's financial affairs are going, pointing out his support for this trend.

He added that the draft approval of the budget for the coming years by the Council of Ministers remains indicative and is subject to modification depending on oil prices and the nature of revenues and expenditures in the coming years.

As for the budget for 2023, it remains the law, indicating that the initiation of approving a budget for the next three years gives the legislator a vision for the future of Iraq. finance in the medium term to prepare for all possibilities.

For his part, the President of the University of Karbala, Bassem Khalil Al-Saeedi, confirmed during his participation in the conference that one of the university's goals is to contribute to solving community crises and communicating with state departments and ministries, explaining that the College of Administration and Economics this year sought to contribute to how to find solutions and maximize the state's resources away from oil.

He pointed out that the participating researches in the conference are proposals that contribute to maximizing the country's resources, expressing his hope that the government will take these proposals into consideration to start developing the country's economy in the near future.

The Deputy Secretary-General of the Husseiniya Shrine, Ala Diaa Al-Din, said that Iraq possesses human and financial energy, and the Husseiniya Shrine sponsored this conference and gave it great attention, and through it it seeks to find economic programs that are in the interest of the Iraqi economy, as well as benefiting from the minds, research and reports participating in the conference to develop its projects.    https://almasalah.com/archives/46673

Expert On Preparing Budgets For 3 Years In One Go: Lack Of Accuracy

2023.03.14 -  Baghdad - people  On Tuesday, Professor of Economics at the University of Basra, Nabil Al-Marsoumi, commented on preparing budgets for 3 years in advance. 

Al-Marsoumi said in a clarification followed by “NAS” (March 14, 2023), that “there are four rules in public finance that govern the preparation of the budget, namely: unity, generality, balance, and annuality, and the purpose of the last rule is to facilitate the legislative authorities’ control of the budget, especially since all economic variables are calculated on An annual basis, such as rates of economic growth, employment, poverty, debt, and others, and because organizing them on an annual basis gives them more accuracy in estimates of expenditures and revenues that are characteristic of modern budgets, which is lacking in budgets that are established for periods of time greater than the year. Therefore, the world prepares its general budgets on an annual basis. ".    

He added, "Otherwise, they are budgets that lack accuracy, especially in rentier countries such as Iraq, whose budgets control the price of oil, which is an external variable that is difficult to control and determine its directions."

And the Council of Ministers announced, earlier, its approval of the draft budget law for the fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2005.

A statement by the media office of the Prime Minister, of which "NAS" received a copy, stated (March 13, 2023), that "the Council of Ministers approved the draft federal budget law for the fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2025, in its regular session held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia'a Al-Sudani and refers it to to the House of Representatives.   

Earlier, the Council of Ministers held its regular session, headed by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani. A statement by the media office of the Prime Minister, of which "NAS" received a copy, stated (March 13, 2023), that "the Council of Ministers held its regular session headed by Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani."     The statement added, "The session will include a discussion of the draft federal budget law."    https://www.nasnews.com/view.php?cat=103833