Frank26 and KTFA Members Saturday AM 5-2-2020

Safe Travels to Frank and Tink, God Bless and Get Well soon.~The Recaps Team

KTFA:

Clare:  UPDATE FROM FRANK:

FAMILY, FRANK WANTS YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT, BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF THE TUMOR THAT NEEDS TO BE REMOVED… IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO HAVE TWO SURGERIES…

FRANK IS REQUESTING, PLEASE, HOLD BACK ALL CALLS & TEXTS WITH REMEDIES & ADVICE, BECAUSE FRANK & THE DOCTORS HAVE A PLAN IN PLACE…

HOWEVER POUR OUT YOUR PRAYERS ON THE FORUM…THOSE PRAYERS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED…THANKS & GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Don961:  By the numbers: Abdul-Mahdi is preparing to hand Al-Kazemi a "financial disaster" before he leaves "Salam"!

2020-04-30

Yassin Iraq: Baghdad

Amid the promising political atmosphere facilitating the task of Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi, coupled with a difficult climate on all economic, health and security levels in Iraq, resigned Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi is preparing to move to a "relaxation phase" and fold one of the worst Iraqi times.

And the Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazimi is waiting for a number of difficult files, perhaps the most difficult and horrifying is the economic file amid the collapse of oil prices and the accumulation of debts and additional appointments that Abdul Mahdi burdened the budget as a patchwork solution to alleviate the demonstrations that killed more than 800 martyrs and more than two thousand wounded and injured.

Al-Kazimi should propose a draft budget law for 2020 after the end of about half of the current year, at a time when economist Abdul Mahdi did not propose any budget project since he was submitted to the position where the 2019 budget draft had been prepared by Haider al-Abadi.

Money available 20% of the required!

And the financial reality of Iraq indicates a sharp decline in revenues of only 20% of the total need for expenditures!

The oil expert, Essam Al-Chalabi, said in a clarification received for "Yass Iraq" that "Iraq's oil revenues in the year 2020, achieved for the month of January: $ 6.163 billion, while the month for February: $ 5,053 billion, and verified for the month of March: 2" $ 989 billion.

He added that "the expected for the month of April: 2 billion dollars, and the expected for the month of May: 1.125 billion dollars."

Chalabi stressed that "that compares this with the need for April salaries and pensions for each subsequent month: about $ 4.5 billion", while "the need for the full expenses required for the month of April and for each subsequent month is: about $ 7 billion !!!"

Chalabi pointed out that "the caretaker government is left only for days and a new government is assumed to assume its functions and there is not yet a certified budget for the year 2020 as no action has been taken to confront the crisis and it is not a regular crisis but a serious crisis that Iraq has never been exposed to," asking: " Who is responsible for this bitter reality? ”
Chalabi stressed that "responsibility for the decision or not to take a decision cannot be overlooked by the assumption of a new government for its tasks and the forgetting of the past.  link

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Samson:  China begins experimenting with its new digital currency

09:24 - 02/05/2020
China will begin testing its new digital currency in four major cities starting next week, according to local media.

In recent months, the Chinese central bank has stepped up its development of the Renminbi electronic currency, which is set to be the world's first digital currency managed by a large economy. According to the British newspaper "The Guardian". The regions that will begin to test the digital currency are Shenzhen, Suzhou and Chengdu, as well as a new area south of Beijing and Cheungan, and those areas will host some of the events of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The China Daily, a government media agency, said the currency had been formally adopted in monetary systems in those cities, with some government and public officials receiving their salaries in digital currency as of May. The "Sina News" said the currency would be used to support transportation in Suzhou, but in Cheungan the experiment mainly focused on food and retail. According to some reports, international companies such as McDonald's and Starbucks agreed to be part of the experiment, but Starbucks denied this, according to the "Guardian."

On April 17, the National Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, which is responsible for developing the system, said that research and development on the digital renminbi "is advancing steadily", and that the design is of a high standard. The progress in the digital currency was reportedly driven by Facebook's announcement in June of its intention to launch a single currency. The China Daily report said that the sovereign digital currency "provides a functional alternative to the dollar settlement system, and reduces the impact of any sanctions or threats of exclusion, whether at the state or company level."  LINK

Samson:  Lebanon signs a request for assistance from the International Monetary Fund

19:38 - 01/05/2020

A statement issued by the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Friday that the government signed today a request for assistance from the International Monetary Fund.

The statement said: "This moment is a pivotal moment in the history of Lebanon, as we started the first step towards a real workshop to save Lebanon from the deep financial gap that is difficult to get out of without effective and effective assistance."

Beirut passed an economic rescue plan on Thursday and said it would form the basis for a request for aid from the fund.

Diab said in a press conference yesterday that Lebanon will use the plan to negotiate a program for the International Monetary Fund after it was approved by the Council of Ministers. Or five years.” Diab indicated that Lebanon seeks 10 billion dollars in foreign financial support. This is in addition to the $ 11 billion in funding pledged at a donors' conference in Paris in 2018 for infrastructure projects but subject to long-delayed reforms.

The crisis has caused economic difficulties on a scale that Lebanon has not seen before, even during its civil war, as Lebanon, burdened with one of the largest public debt burdens in the world, failed to pay off sovereign debts in March for the first time, and the government announced that hard currency reserves reached very low levels and became required To meet vital imports.

The lira has lost more than half its value and tricks between depositors and their savings since October when protests broke out across the country over political elites. LINK

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Samson:  Moody's lowers the outlook for Saudi Arabia from negative to negative

09:56 - 02/05/2020

Moody's Rating Agency changed the outlook for Saudi Arabia's rating to negative and confirms its rating at A1.

The agency said: The negative outlook reflects the growing downward risks of Saudi Arabia's financial strength, as a result of a severe shock at the level of global oil demand. The negative outlook also reflects the growing downward risks of the Saudi financial strength, as a result of the price changes caused by the Corona virus pandemic.

The agency changed the outlook for the Saudi government’s ranking, from stable to negative. She said that the sharp shock of oil prices, will cause an increase in debts and erosion of the sovereign financial fenders of the Saudi government. The agency confirmed its Saudi rankings at A1 supported by the government's balance sheet, which is still relatively strong despite a decline, indicating that the Saudi government will likely offset some of the revenue losses this year and in 2021 through cuts in spending.

The agency expected government revenues to drop by about 33% in 2020 and about 25% in 2021 compared to 2019, indicating that a sharp slowdown in GDP growth will also reduce revenues from the non-oil sector. The agency also expected the Saudi government’s debt to rise to about 45% of GDP in the medium term, suggesting that spending on the health sector will be absorbed in relation to containing the Corona pandemic by reducing expenditures.

The agency stressed that Saudi Arabia's balance sheet has weakened since the last shock in oil prices in 2015 and 2016, despite some recent improvement in budget implementation. LINK

Purifiers:  SPECIAL POST FOR OUR FAMILY...
.
IN DEDICATION... TO FRANK26 AND THOSE TEAMS THAT HAVE SHARED... WITH US... ALL...... THRU FRANK...
.
FIRST.... THE UNITED STATES NAVY BAND

AND THEN... Israel "IZ"
.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World"

https://youtu.be/zxlNxehADKQ?t=1

https://youtu.be/V1bFr2SWP1I?t=6

Frank26 Video "REER" and more Wednesday Evening 4-29-2020

KTFA:

Real Effective Exchange Rate – REER Definition

What Is the Real Effective Exchange Rate – REER?

The real effective exchange rate (REER) is the weighted average of a country's currency in relation to an index or basket of other major currencies. The weights are determined by comparing the relative trade balance of a country's currency against each country within the index.

This exchange rate is used to determine an individual country's currency value relative to the other major currencies in the index.

Key Takeaways

The real effective exchange rate (REER) compares a nation's currency value against the weighted average of a basket of other major currencies.

Countries with the largest trading relationships would typically have the largest weightings in this comparative index, while countries with small trading relationships would have smaller weightings in the basket of currencies.

REER is used to evaluate how a currency is fluctuating against many others at once, and is also used in international trade assessments.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reer.asp

Frank26:   4-29-20 .....REER

This video is in Frank’s opinion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTquuArT5U

Dan:  VietNam deserves this to have their currency increase in value.

VietNam has been growing & doing well for a long time.

The pretext for war with VietNam was a false flag operation in the Bay of Tonkin.

Would be a humiliating slap to Iraq if VND went first

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Don961:  An economist devises a set of solutions to the financial crisis

Wednesday 29th April 2020 - 12:16

Baghdad - conscious - Muhammad Talibi

Economist Alaa Al-Fahd presented a set of solutions to get out of the financial crisis

Al-Fahd said to the Iraqi News Agency (conscious), "The large financial deficit as a result of the Corona epidemic, which is causing the decline in oil prices, needs to activate alternative revenues, especially as they constitute 7% of the volume of revenue."

He stressed the necessity of relying on the leading sectors, among them the agricultural sector, to achieve food security, and after its development it would be a source for the industrial sector by using it as a raw material in industries, in addition to operating the labor force and thus achieving high revenues at this stage.

He added, "The border ports and activating the customs revenues can be an alternative solution to the crisis," noting that "the revenues of the ports were wasted as a result of administrative corruption and poor measures taken."

He continued, "Engaging the private sector with other sectors can reduce spending and waste in the public budget, in addition to reconsidering the numbers of employees working in the government sector and their salaries and allocations."

Al-Fahd ruled out "the possibility of resorting to printing currency", stating that "it is up to monetary policy, which cannot be directed by issuing a cash in excess of the need, as the existing monetary mass is estimated at about 60 trillion dinars, offset by a cash balance of the dollar that is a reserve in the central bank to maintain On the value of the Iraqi dinar. "

He stated that "any monetary issuance without a financial cover will cause a financial problem that will reduce the monetary value of the dinar and lead to higher prices for goods and materials in the local markets."    LINK

Don961:  Deputy: All officials must be covered by the “Where did you get this law from?” Nassif reveals to “Al-Zawra” that one of the officials owns a full street in a European country

April 30, 2020 12:05 AM 

 Baghdad / Laith Jawad:

Deputy Alia Nassif demanded the necessity of activating the law, “Where do you get this?” To follow up the influx of the wealth of some officials and political parties, defining the way in which they can escape punishment, and while it revealed that one of the officials has now owned an entire street in Belarus, Rep. Rebwar Taha stressed the importance of this principle encompassing all officials and not only the young ones.

Nassif said in an interview with Al-Zawraa: The activation of a principle from where you will enable the judiciary to hold officials accountable in case their wealth is enlarged in addition to concluding bilateral international agreements with some countries to follow the balances of Iraqi officials in them, indicating that most of the officials who steal public money register their money In banks outside the country, investing them in those countries, or registering their names with their relatives, such as their daughters ’wives or siblings of their marriage, which protects them from legal prosecution, since the law holds accountable first-to-fourth relatives and these are outside the legal frameworks.

Nassif added: Most of the funds and investments of Iraqi officials are in Amman, Abu Dhabi and Belarus, as one of the officials has owned an entire street in Belarus, explaining that political parties are also accused of stealing public money and have financial assets at home and abroad due to the lack of a legal text that follows and is held accountable. Others in the event of an abnormal wealth of their wealth.

Nassif stressed: If we want to activate this principle, it is assumed that there will be a legal law by Parliament and proposed by the government and not just calls or campaigns launched from here and there.

As for Representative Repoir Taha, he said in an interview with “Al-Zawra”: The principle of “Where did you get this?” Is supposed to include all officials from 2003 until now without any exception, and that the corrupt be brought to justice and receive his fair penalty for stealing public money, noting that Many senior officials in past and present governments are involved in corruption in, so this principle should not be focused on only junior employees.

Taha stressed that many officials and the great whales that stole the country are still present in the government or the political process.  LINK

KTFA Members "News and Views" Wednesday PM 4-29-2020

KTFA:

Samson:  Parliamentary Finance: We rejected two official requests from the government to reduce and save employee salaries

19:54 - 04/28/2020
The Parliamentary Finance Committee announced on Tuesday that it formally rejected two government proposals submitted to Parliament to reduce the salaries of employees and compulsory savings.

Member of the Finance Committee Shirvan Mirza told / "The information" that "the government submitted several proposals to Parliament and the Finance Committee specially to address the financial crisis."

He added, "Among the proposals submitted is to reduce the salaries of employees and compulsory savings," noting that "the Finance Committee has formally responded by rejecting the two proposals, and citizens cannot be charged with successive fiscal policy mistakes of governments."

He emphasized that "the Finance Committee agreed not to pass any proposal that affects the salaries of employees and retirees." LINK

Iobey77:  Well, IMO,here’s an idea,  if you had a shiny new Exchange Rate for your country, you might not need to cut anyone’s salary!

InvestDean:  Just thinking....or do they need to lower the salaries as it will have more power of purchase soon..

BillA:  Logic says there will need to be an adjustment

Iggy:  Why is Peter Pan always flying?
He neverlands.

Iggy:  A woman walks into a library and asked if they had any books about paranoia.
The librarian says "They're right behind you!"

Iggy:  When you look really closely, all mirrors look like eyeballs.

Iggy:  I told my girlfriend she drew her eyebrows too high. She seemed surprised.

Iggy:  Whatdya call a frenchman wearing sandals? Phillipe Phillope.

Iggy:  An Army Drill Sergeant took some recruits to the mess hall. After everyone had made it through the chow line, he sat them down and told them “There are three rules in this mess hall- Shut up! Eat up! Get up!” Checking to see that he had everyone’s attention, he asked, “What is the first rule?” Much to the amusement of the other instructors, 60 privates yelled in unison, “Shut up, Drill Sergeant!”

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Pompeo: Iraqi leaders must set aside the quota system and reach a settlement to form a government

29th April, 2020

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday called on Iraqi leaders to set the quota system aside and reach a settlement to form a government.

Pompeo, in a statement followed by "Al-Ikhbaria", called on the Iraqi government to "put all the gunmen under the government’s umbrella, and we welcome the step taken towards that."   LINK

Don961:  The global financial system is in crisis and heading towards change

- 8 Hours Ago Researcher Shatha Khalil *

The world today lives in a real and dangerous crisis as the public debt of all countries of the world has become three times its national product, which means that the world lives in a state of bankruptcy and a crisis of global order, accompanied by chaos upon collapse or reshaping the global system and the division of the strongest country in the world, and is considered The period is bad in terms of the rise of indebtedness (the countries of the world combined) to three times its national product, where the gross national product constitutes 85 trillion dollars in all countries of the world, while the total of global loans, i.e. debt, reached about 260 trillion dollars, which indicates that the world lives in a state bankruptcy.

Where the European Union specified the risk ratio of public debt should not exceed 60% of gross national product and today it reaches three times the output, that is, a child born in the world is born and the debt has three times its income.

Experts predicted a severe and short recession while the Corona virus severely restricted "economic activity" and economic growth decreased by 2.4% in the first quarter, and will decrease by 26.5% in the second quarter

The unemployment rate rose to 12% by the middle of the year, while the United States of America might lose 4.58 million jobs in the second quarter, and job losses will affect spending, which is the main driver of the US economy, with consumer spending accounting for about 70% of economic growth.
Despite the sudden downturn, economists remain optimistic that the economy will rebound again in the last half of 2020, as it is expected to grow at approximately 6% by the end of the year.

American public debt is the total money that the federal government owes the United States to holders of US debt instruments, so how does it work?

Gross national debt includes the components of "public debt" - such as Treasury bonds held by investors outside the federal government, including individuals, corporations, the Federal Reserve System, foreign, loyal, and local governments.

“Government account debts” or “government debt” - which are non-marketable treasury bills within program accounts managed by the federal government, such as the Social Security Trust Fund.
The debts held by government accounts represent the cumulative surpluses, including interest earnings, for the various government programs that have been invested in treasury bonds.

Generally speaking, government debt increases as a result of government spending, and it decreases from taxes or other revenue, which fluctuates during the fiscal year.

Throughout history, the United States' public debt has been a share of GDP, increased during wars and recessions, and then decreased. The debt-to-GDP ratio may decrease as a result of government surplus or because of GDP growth and inflation.

In recent decades, aging demographics and rising health care costs have caused concern about the long-term sustainability of the federal government's fiscal policies, the total amount that the Treasury can borrow is limited to the US debt ceiling.

By September 30, the end of the fiscal year, American public debt will exceed 100% of US GDP, up from about 80% before the Corona virus crisis.

Because of the Corona virus pandemic, Congress enacted, at the request of President Trump, the Corona Virus Assistance and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 18, 2020. The responsible Federal Budget Committee estimated that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2020 would reach 3.8 trillion, the highest in US economic history.

As is well known, the mechanism of America’s treatment of public debt came in a report from the IIF International Institute on November 15, 2019 that global debt, which became $ 255 trillion, an increase of $ 70 trillion by the end of the year. These increases were paperless US dollar presses, as global debt increases 220% of global gross domestic product and the same treatment method is used by America to process today, where the economic, financial, and political system cannot continue in this way. And that the trillions of American presses for dollars bring those dollars from the air and enter the global debt bubble that will explode, and so these dollars return to the air from where they came, and thus ends the play of the virtual financial system that made the global economy intrusive of the productive economic system.

Trade war between America and China:

According to the clear data of the researcher of the current situation, it indicates an increase in complexity, as Donald Trump will be re-elected as President of the United States of America, which will cause deepening trade wars with China and destroy the existing trade alliances, and this will be reflected on the economy of the United States and the economies of the world as a whole.

 What could lead to a decrease in international trade, and thus to a decrease in total global consumption, and the ever-growing psychological expectations for the end of the unprecedented growth of the global economy, which could lead to a decrease in lending and investment and Consumption, where a number of active economic institutions are taking increasingly cautious positions and actions.

According to economists, China and its closest neighbors in the Asia Pacific region will be affected, as instability in the West and unpredictable US policy will undermine European economic growth, and the worst situation in global economies will be in Southeast Asia, while the situation will A little better in the super powers, but because of the globalization of the global economy, the whole world will be affected, but to varying degrees.

As for the financial losses recorded in early March 2020, the European stock exchanges decreased by 20-23%, which is much worse than the general situation, and over the past three weeks, the exchanges in Germany and France lost 33%, in the United Kingdom 30% , The United States 26%, Japan 28%, meaning that the past three weeks witnessed the destruction of stock growth that occurred over the past 4-10 years.

The US Central Bank also pumped $ 1.5 trillion during the March 12 and 13 days, which is to aid the collapse of the stock market, and the US Central Bank promised to become what will be pumped until the end of this month, 4 trillion dollars. And the volume of dollars circulating in the world rose to 4.2 trillion dollars, meaning that the number of dollars circulating in the world during 3 weeks may nearly double without a corresponding increase in the volume of goods, which will increase inflation significantly.

Against this background, the strengthening of currencies that represent investment harbors will further reduce the competitiveness of American and European goods, which will deal a strong blow to the industries there, and the balance of trade deficits will rise in the United States of America, Britain and others. The government budget deficit will also increase. Indeed, the scale of the current trade wars will appear as a game in the sand in relation to the wave of customs duties and embargoes, which will be a fatal blow to world trade.

In short, the collapse of globalization will become more visible, more random and out of control. After the collapse of world trade, the stage of declining gross domestic product will come more to most of the countries of the world, then in those countries that have printed trillions of dollars in the framework of the "quantitative easing" policy, where the massive inflation phase, which will eliminate the rest of the national industries, will begin. At that moment, the dollar will become a worthless paper, but the developing countries will be in a more difficult and tragic situation.

In this way, the dollar after the initiation of “quantitative facilities” will fluctuate in relation to the currencies of Arab countries and other currencies of developing countries, then it will jump up as the crisis enters the critical phase, then it will be worthless, meaning that keeping the dollar will be a profitable matter at one time However, only gold will eventually retain its value.

Economic Studies Unit

Links Center for Research and Strategic Studies   link

Mon. Night KTFA CC Replay and more Tuesday PM 4-28-2020

KTFA:

Samson:  Al-Rafidain: Many employees received their salaries for the month of April from the bank’s branches

28th April, 2020

Al-Rafidain Bank announced that many state departments employees received their salaries from the bank's branches located in Baghdad and the provinces.

The bank’s media office said in a statement that Mawazine News received a copy of it. He pointed out, "The distribution of the salaries of state employees will be according to specific timelines for each department."

The statement indicated that "the employee or retired person has the freedom to choose to receive his salary from anywhere he is with an electronic card."  LINK

Samson:  Al-Kiddo: The government has its tools to get out of the financial crisis

08:41 - 04/28/2020

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Haneen Al-Qaddo, affirmed on Tuesday that the government has its tools to get out of the current financial crisis, pointing out that tackling the situation needs to put government bonds to the people, exploiting the revenue of border ports, borrowing, and handing over the region its sums of money to Baghdad.

Al-Kiddu said in a statement to "Information", that "the remedies of the financial crisis that the country is going through depend on the government's actions and procedures, as it is the body responsible for paying the salaries of employees and retirees."

He added, "The solutions are contingent on addressing the 2020 budget and the changes that will be introduced in line with the current situation."

and stated that "the government can deal with the financial crisis by moving towards government bonds and selling them to the people, as well as borrowing from the central bank and other banks, as well as asking the region to hand over the sums it has entrusted, in addition to exploiting the revenues of the border outlets to address the current crisis."   LINK

Iobey777:  Hmmm.. IDK...  oh yeah! sell them "worthless" bonds for a worthless country that is broke!( nor at the very least has stupid leaders who cannot do the right thing for their country!)  Yes, getting rid of Duplicate salaries would be great!! Stop paying those who are NOT doing their jobs to start with!..looks to me like they are scrounging around looking for ANY loophole they can find to get money, instead of addressing the REAL need of the country... a NEW EXCHANGE RATE!!  Which would solve MOST of their problems, but they would still need leaders who are not content to steal every dime they can from their citizens! IMO, of course!

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Monday Night CC with Frank and Delta

PLAYBACK : 605.313.5163    PIN: 156996#

https://fccdl.in/s1Ty8FkvCm

Clare:  THANKS SO MUCH FRANK, WALKINGSTICK, DELTA, AG, & TEAMS! ...FANTASTIC CC!!
WOW.. THIS REALLY IS EXCITING NOW! ... LOVED THE DONG INFO TOO! IMO

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Samson:  A press release issued by the Board of Governors of Central Banks and Arab Monetary Institutions

28th April, 2020

A press release issued by the Board of Governors of Central Banks and Arab Monetary

Institutions (Arab Day for Financial Inclusion April 27, 2020 under the slogan:

  Towards Building a Community Financial Culture that Promotes Financial Inclusion' )

For information click here

Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities' Governors Arab Financial Inclusion day - April 27, 2020 Under the Theme of "Towards Building Financial Literacy that promotes Financial Inclusion”

 The Council stresses that the implications of the emerging corona virus highlight the importance of accelerating the transition to digital financial services and enhancing awareness about it

 The Council calls in this context for the following:

Alignment with the priorities of the Group of Twenty (G20)

Promoting digital financial inclusion for young people, women and MSMEs

Encouraging the use of the latest technologies to boost financial inclusion

Spread the digital financial literacy to all segments of community

The Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities Governors attaches extreme importance to enhancing access to finance and other financial services in the Arab countries. This focus comes from recognition by the Council of the potential and great opportunities that can be achieved by enhancing financial inclusion to bolster comprehensive and sustainable economic development, assist in addressing unemployment and underemployment challenges and achieving social justice.

There is no doubt that the current developments and the repercussions of the spread of the "Corona emerging" virus, clearly highlighted the great importance of financial inclusion and the need to promote applications of digital financial services, and to educate and educate users of these services.

In this context, the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities’ Governors, in light of the growing need to sensitise all Arab actors to the importance of financial inclusion, endorsed in 2016 the 27th of April as the Arab Day for Financial Inclusion, celebrated this year under the theme of “Towards Building Financial Literacy that promotes Financial Inclusion.”

On this occasion, the Council affirms its support for the international community in enhancing financial inclusion, especially the efforts made by the G20 under the presidency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The financial inclusion topic was adopted by the G20 as one of the main aspects of the economic and financial development program, especially as it is closely related to achieving the objectives of sustainable development.

The Council also reaffirms its support for the efforts and priorities of KSA in enhancing digital financial inclusion during its presidency of the G20. The Group pays special attention to supporting the access by young people, women and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to financial services by tapping into the latest technologies, as well as awareness-raising and community education efforts which increase the chances of success of Arab countries' efforts and policies in this regard.

The Council also attaches importance to financial inclusion issues in the Arab world through its approach to launch a number of different activities and initiatives in cooperation with regional and international organisations.

The Council welcomed the launch of the Financial Inclusion for the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI) by the Arab Monetary Fund in cooperation with several regional and international organisations. FIARI aims to empower and enhance capacities and capabilities to overcome the obstacles hindering the advancement of financial inclusion indicators in the Arab countries. In this regard, the Council values the comprehensive model of demand side surveys which detect the trends of demand on financial services in the Arab countries for both households and MSMEs.

In view of that, the Council invites all Arab counties to put this model into force to help improve financial inclusion indicators and adopt appropriate policies and strategies in this respect. The Council also calls on FIARI’s partners’ organisations to further support the utilisation of new technologies in providing individuals, and MSMEs with access to financial services.

The Council further values the actions taken by the Arab countries to promote financial literacy, especially the digital financial literacy. It reaffirms the need to integrate all segments of society into the formal financial system, especially young people, women, entrepreneurs and the MSMEs sector. To this end, it is necessary to raise the awareness of those segments, protect their rights and improve their knowledge of financial issues so that they can make sound investment decisions. The Council also calls on all ministries of education, culture and higher education in the Arab countries to double their efforts in order to expand and increase financial education and awareness.

The Council highlights the increasing importance of using new financial technologies in financial and banking sectors, and the significant accelerated growth witnessed by the financial services sector of such technologies and their related services world-wide. In addition, the great potentials offered by these technologies and services in terms of enhancing the efficiency of financial and banking operations, particularly in supporting the opportunities to access finance and financial services and encouraging entrepreneurship. In this connection, the Council calls for raising the awareness of all segments of society about the topics of modern financial technologies and taking the necessary measures to achieve this in coordination with the relevant official authorities.

It also stresses the importance of the Regional Taskforce on Modern Financial Technologies launched by Arab Monetary Fund in sharing expertise and knowledge about modern financial technologies and crystallising different visions on the best way to regulate and put such technologies into effect in the Arab countries.

On the other hand, the Council values the role played by the Financial Inclusion Taskforce in enhancing financial inclusion in the Arab countries.

This role is clear in developing policies and procedures related to financial inclusion in the Arab countries and considering studying ways to improve financial inclusion indicators in the Arab countries and help them implement the relevant international standards and principles. The role of the taskforce is also to strengthen cooperation between the various national institutions and entities concerned with financial inclusion issues in the Arab countries and the relevant international organisations.

Furthermore, the Council looks forward to pursuing the improvement in financial inclusion indicators in the Arab countries, especially as the latest statistics reflect the efforts made by the Arab countries in enhancing access to financial services. Figures indicate that the percentage of the adult population in the Arab countries who have access to formal finance and financial services has risen, on average, to 37%, and soared to 265 for women, and to 28% among low-income segments.

Although these figures draw a veil over the disparities in this regard among the Arab countries, they still indicate the great potential opportunities – especially for private financial and banking institutions – that can be tapped into to enhance access to financial services in the Arab communities.

Likewise, the Council values the efforts exerted by Arab central banks and monetary authorities, and commercial banks and official financial institutions in the past years in marking the Arab Day for Financial Inclusion and their related activities and events on this day. These efforts have contributed to spreading awareness and financial education among all members of the community.

Accordingly, the Council calls on all member states to celebrate the Arab Day of Financial Inclusion and encourage community participation (virtually) in marking the day through the implementation of awareness-raising activities and events to promote the importance of financial inclusion and its objectives. The Council hopes that the planned events of the Arab Day of Financial Inclusion will be successful, and their desired objectives are achieved.

On this occasion, the Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy, stressed the importance and the vital role of financial inclusion in addressing the economic challenges affecting growth. He added that this goal would be attainable by mobilising resources to maximise investment rates and create new job opportunities. Dr. Al-Hamidy also praised the growing interest of policymakers in Arab countries on financial inclusion related issues, and this would assist in addressing the challenges of poverty, unemployment and social development. He then referred to the continued efforts made by Arab central banks and monetary authorities and the great interest in the issues of improving financial inclusion and access to quality financial services at reasonable costs.

Dr. Al-Hamidy also lauded them for giving appropriate importance and priority to such matters as part of their economic policies and spreading the literacy of responsible financing in the banking sector. Moreover, he referred to their utilisation of financial technologies in providing financial services, developing legislation, rules and regulatory frameworks that help improving the spread of financial and banking services and encouraging innovation in the industry.

They also aim to follow up the endeavours made to develop a sound financial and banking system infrastructure and encourage the development and expansion of non-banking financial services, as well as policies and programs that enhance transparency in the financial and banking sector.    link

https://cbi.iq/news/view/1477

Samson:  Mr. Governor’s speech on the occasion of the Arab Financial Inclusion Day, 27 April 2020

28th April, 2020

Arab Day for Financial Inclusion April 27, 2020

Under the slogan

Towards building a community financial culture that promotes financial inclusion

We celebrate this day on the occasion of the Arab Day for Financial Inclusion, which falls on April 27 each year and under the slogan towards building a community financial culture that promotes financial inclusion. 

Financial inclusion has a significant positive impact in spreading financial culture and the spread of financial and banking services. The Central Bank has developed plans and strategies that contribute to raising awareness and financial education in order to achieve knowledge of financial and banking services and create an economically and financially informed generation and has the ability to plan and manage its financial life properly. 

Especially in light of the tremendous and rapid development in the field of modern financial technologies, which is the best solution to face the Corona virus crisis, as it enables beneficiaries to conduct financial and banking operations remotely and reduces the use of banknotes that are considered a carrier of the virus, and the Central Bank seeks to apply these technologies and integrate society segments Different according to their need for it, with a focus on developing legislations and supervisory and supervisory frameworks in a way that achieves the spread of financial services and protecting the consumers of these services. 

To transfer and provide applications by banks and payment service providers that enable customers to have easy access to financial and banking services. Online purchase.

The Central Bank of Iraq

information Office

4/28/2020

https://cbi.iq/news/view/1476

************

Samson:  Lebanon's developments .. Burning banks to deteriorate living and the collapse of the currency

04/28/2020 16:01:33

Protesters, on Tuesday, burned banks in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, in protest against the deteriorating living conditions and the collapse of the Lebanese pound.

Reports said that protesters had destroyed the façades of the banks in Tripoli, while others had set them on fire. Currently, firefighting teams are trying to control fires in some banks. She explained that this development comes in the wake of the return of protests to the Lebanese cities due to the collapse of the lira.

Hundreds of people demonstrated in the city of Tripoli, on Monday night, against the backdrop of the deteriorating economic situation in the country, in protests interspersed with clashes with security forces despite the isolation measures imposed to contain the emerging Corona virus. A group of men, women and children participated in a march that roamed the streets of the city, calling "a revolution .. a revolution", while the demonstrators tried to reach a house of a lawmaker, but the army forces prevented them, which led to confrontations, according to "AFP."

Following these developments, the Lebanese Association of Banks announced the closure of all headquarters and branches of banks in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon , starting from today until the restoration of the security situation.    LIN

Frank26 Video And KTFA News Monday Afternoon 4-27-2020

KTFA:

Frank26:  4-27-20 —8, 9 AND 10.

THIS WHOLE VIDEO IS SOLELY IN FRANK26'S OPINION

KTFA CC Monday Night at 7pm est

Delta will be joining us. We will be talking about things, for example the CEO of the ISX who prepared the ISX to receive a new rate. We went over in in depth M, W and Sat. 

The meeting with the CBI and the Fab4 –they got the rate. (the Fab 4...the IMF, World Bank, U.S. Treasury, and the President of the United States of America...????)

THE ISX is ready to receive the rate. And not only is the ISX going to receive the rate from the CBI and those meetings, but it will be so powerful it will go beyond the Iraqi Stock Exchange. And the International world knows this and is well prepared.

So why did the ISX not go international…..we all know why right…..they need an international rate.

Tonight we will show you a trail of bread crumbs to follow…..make sure you do .

7PM EST

605.313.5164    PIN: 156996#

PLAYBACK : 605.313.5163    PIN: 156996#

TONIGHT’S LIVESTREAM LINK  https://livestream.com/accounts/7854492/events/9106406

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6WNwO-fVd4

Don961:  The US Treasury Secretary expects things to return to normal and the economy to recover by next summer

4 Hours ago

US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchen expected that the economic conditions in his country will return to normal during the coming summer.

Mnuchen explained in a statement that small business projects will resume work during the coming May and June, which raises expectations regarding the acceleration of the American economic recovery with the coming July and August, noting that the repercussions of the emergence of the Corona epidemic and its widespread spread, did not result in an economic crisis in the country However, it caused the disruption of a number of sectors, which are now recovering from the crisis.  link

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Samson:  Oil prices drop due to concerns of excess supply and storage capacity

27th April, 2020

Oil prices fell on Monday, amid signs that global storage capacity was rapidly filling up, raising concerns that production cuts would not come fast enough to make up for the collapse in demand from the Corona pandemic

The losses led the US oil futures, which fell more than two dollars a barrel due to concerns that the storage capacity at the Cushing Center in Oklahoma may reach the maximum capacity

US crude inventories rose to 518.6 million barrels in the week ending April 17, nearing an all-time record high of 535 million barrels recorded in 2017

And US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for June fell $ 2.05, or 12.1 percent, to $ 14.89 a barrel by 0638 GMT, while Brent crude fell $ 1.08, or 5 percent, to $ 20.36 a barrel. The June contract for Brent expires on Thursday

And futures trading on oil recorded losses for the third week in a row last week, and decreased in eight of the previous nine weeks. Brent ended the week down nearly 24 percent, and West Texas crude lost 7 percent

About 70 percent of the storage capacity was filled at the Cushing Center, a US Texas West crude delivery point, by mid-April. Traders say the available energy is already rented  

Producers may not cut production fast enough or with sufficient volume to support prices, especially when global economic output is expected to decrease by two percent this year, which is worse than what happened during the financial crisis, while demand for crude collapsed by 30 percent due to the pandemic

In light of seeking to reduce production quickly, the number of oil drilling rigs operating in the United States fell to the lowest level since July 2016, and the total number of oil and gas rigs in Canada fell to the lowest level since 2000, according to Baker Hughes data LINK

Samson:  Governor of the Central Bank: Iraq suffers from anomalous rates of loan repayment

09:25 - 27/04/2020
The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, revealed on Monday that the rate of default in the repayment of loans to banks exceeds 20 percent, considering them to be "abnormal" rates in the world.

The relationship said in a statement reported by the newspaper "Al-Sabah" and seen by him / the information, that "Iraq suffers from a phenomenon of defaulting on loan payments, which leads to banks' reservation on the lending process in general."

He added, "The loan default rate exceeds 20 percent, and this is a record and anomalous rate compared to Iraq and the rest of the world, where the default rate does not exceed 1 or 2 percent."

The relationship explained, “Iraq when it reaches this level, it makes the banks and the lending agencies hesitate a lot and ask for more guarantees.

Noting that “the solution to this problem lies in the fact that there is thinking by specialists, and that the government addresses one way or another to find a treatment for this matter, because it is one of the phenomena The public that makes banks reluctant to provide loans.”   LINK

Late Sunday Night KTFA Members "News and Views" 5-26-2020

KTFA:

MilitiaMan:  From Sunday 4-26-2020 The ISX site is down and my understanding it has been down for a significant amount of time today on and off and even before they started/if they started trading. The data is accurate, as I write this from the CBI statistics site. 11:03 04/26/2020.. ~ MM
https://cbiraq.org/DataValues.aspx?dtFrm=01/31/2005&dtTo=04/26/2020&tmId=384&dtformat=MMM,yyyy
http://www.isx-iq.net/isxporta.....yCode=BBOB  

2Cents:  Honestly MM, after that site posted a significant increased IQD rate for a while a few years back, I take everything posted there with a grain of salt.......Not saying it isn't accurate but I want to see the opening/closing index on the ISX site increased a thousand fold before I find the numbers posted above as accurate......  

MilitiaMan:  There was a major move in the ISX a few years back, yes there was. We all thought at that time they were ready to go, as noted in the data below they may have as well, but, imo they decided because of insecurity against it.. To hold off it may fail at this time and this is possibly why?.. ISIS was deeper than thought.

Now they are gone and now the CBI has been openly telling us what they are not doing, what they could do and what is the SMART option..  Not sure why anyone takes this with a grain of salt.

IMV, a complex process is a daunting task and needs to be supported by the people to not fail. Just because the politics, muddy the waters, the CBI, has been highly successful in doing the behind the scenes work. Whether, they show us each and every move they make is not exactly what they have to do. But, they do allow a glimpse into the on goings on occasions. Just, as they did with the Currency Issued portion of the CBI Stats Site, to only revert it back to the past.

They publish in blue ink for a reason. The thing there with the currency issued reverting back, they did destroy money and the openly videoed it so I suspect that will change again. I recall that they had 44 trillion (large 000 notes) and added 7 trillion (small notes, no 000s). The later 7 trillion will or may again be reflected, and that currency issued portion of the site will revert back once they RI and reflect all components again in a timely manner like the CBIs peers regionally do.

The only recent change by the CBI is the ISX Indices, so with that said, they ISX also had their site down today.. Interesting times..~ MM

10 June 2014

 The Fall of Mosul occurred between 4–10 June 2014, when Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents, initially led by Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, defeated the Iraqi Army, led by Lieutenant General Mahdi Al-Gharrawi.

Dec,2014 92

Jan,2015 998.30

Feb,2015 874.32

Mar,2015 900.90

Apr,2015 870.03

May,2015 967.37

Jun,2015 1,000.50

2Cents:  Just to put this mystery behind us, it appears the ISX opened at 442 and closed at  430.47 at a loss of 3.24%.........No change in Index........ https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=828227 Here's a link ... to back it up..

MilitiaMan:  Though, the CBI still shows this and the ISX doesn't trade nor trump the CBI.. So it is not behind us just yet..Infact, there is more support that the CBI is following through with their process irregard to the ISX trading today as normal.  The CBI will needd to change the rate to the IQD first. imo ~ MMhttps://cbiraq.org/DataValues.aspx?dtFrm=01/31/2005&dtTo=04/26/2020&tmId=384&dtformat=MMM,yyyy

DELTA:  HI 2CENTS  .......IT'S STILL A MYSTERY TO ME UNTIL CBI SAY OTHERWISE OR FIX IT IF IT'S A GLITCH ... AS LONG AS ISX NOT INTERNATIONAL YET.... THEY DON'T HAVE TO SHOW THE TRUE INDEX THAT THE CBI IS SHOWING  .......IMO

MilitiaMan:  Delta, being optimistic about what the CBI is doing and has done is not lost on me one bit. Recently for instance just going back to the beginning of April in roads have been done. The FIMA facility and the CML being put in and placed on the same day allowed for the smooth transition for large trades in local and foreign currency and the support of each respectively to a countries reserves. 

Shortly their after we witnessed the CBI and GOI talk about things they will not do, they could do and the things they will do in respect to reforms.. The CBI has specifically stated they were not going to devalue their currency.. 

We were told by a board member on the CBI board of Directors that they achieved equilibrium and from the looks of it they show evidence that has yet changed to date. 

Knowing what we know from the on goings at the CBI. They data they provide can have profound implications,  just as we witnessed the   Currency Issued portion of the CBI site to post data in blue only change later on. In fact that took 30 days to revert back.. 

Well, my view is we agree on that the ISX is not the one to change the IQD exchange rate. That is simply said, is the CBIs job. I don’t think the data in regard to the Currency Issued was a glitch, they imo were not ready as they thought and they reverted back.

We know a supporting piece of that puzzle is that the destroyed money.. just as we have supporting evidence they have equilibrium from a head Board member of the CBI and that the data supports they the smart option is underway!! IMO They are very close to finishing!!  -MM 

************

Iggy:  When single women get to the age of 50, they tend to adopt lots of cats. This phenomenon is known as many paws.

Iggy:  I called my wife and told her that I’ll pick up pizza and coke on the way back from work. But it seems she was not happy.  She still regrets letting me name the kids.

Walkingstick:  America renews Iraq’s exception to import electricity from Iran

A US State Department official said that the United States renewed an exception allowing Iraq to import electricity from Iran, but for a shorter period this time.

He added that Washington would reassess the possibility of renewing the exception once again, after the formation of a "credible government" in Iraq.

"The secretary of state gave this short extension of the exception to allow time for the
formation of a credible government in Iraq, " the official said, referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo .

He noted that this exception will expire on May 26.

Washington has repeatedly extended the exception it gives to Baghdad, which requires the use of important Iranian energy supplies for the Iraqi electricity grid, and the exception has been extended for periods ranging from 90 to 120 days.

The United States insisted that Iraq, the oil-producing country and member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), move towards energy self-sufficiency as a condition to exclude it from importing Iranian energy.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi president assigned intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kazemi to form a new government, the third figure charged with forming the government in ten weeks, at a time when the country is doing its best to form a government to replace the government that fell last year after months of protests that saw deaths.

"If this government takes over its duties, the foreign minister will re-evaluate whether the exception will be renewed and for how long, and then eager to resume our cooperation with the government of Iraq to reduce Iraq’s dependence on unreliable Iranian energy imports," the State Department official said.

https://www.alraimedia.com/Home/Details?id=6fa244ea-39c5-40d1-b4a3-4ecd643d025f

GodLover:  WS...… I know Iraq has a care-taker government & much progress is still being accomplished with the MR, however according to the majority of articles the last several months/year..... it's been clear to me imo, that a new seated GOI is needed imo. With that said, I continue my persistent view more so, after this article you posted. I know it's been said over & over by Frank, a new government is not needed, so why highlight what you did? I am asking you, because I respect your knowledge on this whole journey imo.

Power4445:  Also, my question about the seated gov as well, is if parliament is dissolved, how long will it take for early elections and a new PM? I’m thinking a year or more. This is iraq we are talking about. Or will daddy (trump) appoint the gov?  
  
 RNoble:    If parliament is dissolved... President if the Republic assumes role and early elections are set for 60 days.. per constitution!  

Sunkissed:  And ministers lose their immunity ==> a little swamp cleaning!!

Don961:  The straw that broke the camel's back .. !

Saturday, 25 April 2020 at 16:39 pm  Written by / Taha Hassan

Researcher in security and political affairs

It is no secret to anyone that Iraq is on the brink of an inevitable economic and financial catastrophe, as there are no plan or initiative yet to confront decision makers except a group of proposals from professors in theorizing. A strange position, which the government has displayed with cold and envious optimism.

Economists describe the government's silence as an attempt to deny the existence of a near-term disaster.

There is no doubt that the Iraqi economy was affected by a crisis that spreads the situation of Corona, as is the case with the rest of the world, but the situation in Iraq is completely different from others, because its financial revenue depends entirely on oil,

Talking about the financial crisis means mentioning those affected, who are the private sector and those with limited income.

Indicators of the monthly deficit are increasing, so what enters Iraq after the collapse of oil prices is 1.5 trillion dinars, while Iraq needs 6 trillion dinars per month to pay the monthly salaries and continue the work of the government 

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Iraq’s import of food commodities and agricultural crops amounts to 12.4 billion dollars annually from the total external import that exceeds 40 billion, and the productive sectors do not have the ability to compete with imported goods due to the lack of application of the customs tariff law, in addition to the dollar exchange rate that serves the goods Imported at the expense of local product

Observers believe that the coming days will be very difficult for Iraq because of the accumulations that will overthrow the remaining economic stability in Iraq, the lean years are approaching.

There are no immediate and clear solutions, not even the initiative on that, so the days have become clear that we have entered into that dark tunnel that we used to hear ..!  link

KTFA Members "News and Veiws" Sunday 4-26-2020

KTFA:

Walkingstick:  The next 18 months will be painful for oil-dependent countries

Issue 11341 Sunday, April 26, 2020 corresponding to 3 Ramadan 1441

Fitch: The Middle East is in danger of eroding its reserves.

The credit rating agency Fitch said that the economies of the Middle East face the risk of eroding their cash reserves, which were built during more than two decades of increasing improvement in crude oil prices, due to the increase in global demand. But cheap oil prices on the global market are dragging the oil-producing countries of the Middle East into collapse, whose economies are largely dependent on crude oil production and exports

The drop in crude oil prices seriously threatens most oil producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa, which need oil prices between $ 60 to $ 85 and possibly more, to balance their budgets.

World Ranking Agency data indicate that Saudi Arabia, the heavyweight in OPEC, and the largest exporter of crude oil in the world, needs a price of $ 91 a barrel to achieve a break-even point in profits and losses, while Oman needs $ 82 a barrel, and the UAE to $ 65 a barrel , Qatar to $ 55 a barrel, Iraq to $ 60 a barrel and Iran to $ 195 a barrel.

The oil-producing countries of the MENA region are also expected to see a decline in economic growth rates in 2020, due to lower oil prices, according to the International Finance Institute.

It is estimated that the economic growth rate of Saudi Arabia will reach 0.7% this year, down from the previous expectations of 2%, as well as expectations of economic growth in Kuwait from 2.8% to 0.8%, while the UAE is waiting for growth of 0.6%, after it was 1.9 %. If average oil prices reach $ 40 a barrel this year, 9 oil-exporting countries in the MENA region may see their total hydrocarbon profits drop a total of $ 192 billion, according to the Institute of International Finance estimates. "The surplus is increasing dramatically as refiners remain in recession, we have a drop in demand by about 38 million barrels per day," says Mark Rosano, energy analyst at the US-based Premier Vision marketing investigation.

He explains that «the UAE and Qatar are protected a little more by the sovereign wealth fund, and LNG plays a big role for Qatar, which has been of great benefit to the country in the past few years». He notes that Kuwait and the UAE are "somewhat protected" at the present time, and the economic analyst expects that the next 18 months will be "painful", especially for those who rely heavily on oil revenues.

“The recession started in the last quarter of 2019, and demand for refined products began to decline in May last year. The situation has worsened with the progress of the year. ” For his part, Ali Al Saffar, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the International Energy Agency, says that some countries will be better equipped to deal with the period of low oil prices than others.

"For relatively large producers with modest population sizes, such as Kuwait, the Emirates, and Qatar, substantial financial savings will provide some protection from the financial pressures caused by lower oil prices," he says.

The expert believes that countries will need to overcome the most difficult short-term crisis in any case, by exploiting the reserves and managing the deficit caused by the accumulation of debt. "But in the long term, there is a need to review the economic structure, including by stimulating a greater role for the private sector in a variety of sectors to reduce the total dependence on oil and gas revenues," he added.

https://www.alayam.com/alayam/economic/854457/News.html

2Cents:  Hey Newshounds,Any news from the ISX today???  I cannot pull up their site......  Did they open and trade?? Did they open at 442ish or 442,000ish???  I can not get the site to come up

Oil4cash:  I have been checking as well. Sure would be nice to know. My best guess is no but anything is possible I guess.

MilitiaMan:  The ISX site is down and my understanding it has been down for a significant amount of time today on and off and even before they started/if they started trading. The data is accurate, as I write this from the CBI statistics site. 11:03 04/26/2020..~MM

Jan,2019 492.25

Feb,2019 465.13

Mar,2019 452.46

Apr,2019 464.61

May,2019 494.05

Jun,2019 496.31

Jul,2019 480.09

Aug,2019 473.21

Sep,2019 475.48

Oct,2019 484.79

Nov,2019 485.80

Dec,2019 493.76

Jan,2020 480.64

Feb,2020 462,830

Feb,2020 462,830

https://cbiraq.org/DataValues.aspx?dtFrm=01/31/2005&dtTo=04/26/2020&tmId=384&dtformat=MMM,yyyy

http://www.isx-iq.net/isxporta.....yCode=BBOB

Samson:  Member of Parliamentary Finance: There will be changes in the presidential salaries and grades

10:23 - 26/04/2020
A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Thamer Diban, suggested, on Sunday, the occurrence of simple variables that include presidential salaries and special grades, indicating that oil revenues do not cover all ministerial expenditures.

Theban said in a statement to / Information /, that "Iraq relies heavily on oil revenues to cover the salaries of employees, retirees, social welfare and ministries expenses and that the amounts of oil revenues do not cover all these expenses." He added that "there are multiple scenarios by the government and the House of Representatives, the closest of which is adopted for implementation, provided that it does not significantly affect salaries, as well as pressure government expenditures."

Theban pointed out that "the salaries will be fully insured and it is possible that there will be simple changes and certainly the changes will include presidencies, the House of Representatives and special grades."   LINK

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Samson:  Economist: Withholding the salaries of employees will enter the country in a new crisis, the first of which is the renewal of demonstrations

08:50 - 26/04/2020
Between the economist, Wissam Al-Tamimi, on Sunday, that the government resorted to deducting part of the employees’ salaries to cover the budget deficit due to the low oil prices is not a positive step, pointing out that resorting to the deduction option may lead the country to a new crisis by the exit of employees in demonstrations against the government.

Al-Tamimi said in a statement to "Information", that "the state's resort to saving in employees salaries and deducting part of it due to the global financial crisis, is not a correct choice." He added that "the government can resort to some job grades or the salaries of the security services that burden the budget, as a percentage of them can be deducted, especially those who receive salaries of more than two million dinars per month." And that "deducting the salaries of employees will enter the country in a new crisis, as it will leave a total chaos, especially if the employees come out with millions of demonstrations that are added to the previous demonstrations rejecting government measures."

He explained that "many options are presented to the government to compensate for oil losses, as it is possible to resort to selling plots of land to citizens and investing in agricultural lands and imposing symbolic fees on visitors to the holy areas, and there is gas that can be invested properly, exported and benefit from its returns."   LINK

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Samson:  Al-Rafidain announces the activation of the Master Card for departments and receipt of its monthly salary electronically

10:59 - 04/26/2020
Al-Rafidain Bank announced, on Sunday, the activation of Master Cards for a number of state departments and receiving the salaries of its employees for the month of April for the first time through the electronic card.

The media office of the bank said in a statement received (the information), a copy of it, that "the account managers of a number of departments addressed the general management of the bank in order to activate the cards of their employees and pay their salaries electronically, and the bank took the necessary action as soon as possible."

The bank called the directors of other departments ’accounts to“ follow the example of these departments and take steps to do so until salaries are granted electronically in order to avoid dealing in paper money and relying on electronic trading.”   LINK

Samson:  A government official in Diyala announced the lifting of 10 files of integrity to investigate suspicions of "corruption"

20:57 - 25/04/2020

On Saturday, a government official in Diyala announced the lifting of 10 files of integrity to investigate suspicions of financial and administrative corruption.

Baqouba District Judge Abdullah Al-Hayali said in an interview with "Al-Maalouma", "The Baqouba District Commissioner raised 10 files of integrity and the local Diyala government to demand investigation in projects related to various sectors, including electricity and roads, for the existence of suspicions of financial and administrative corruption in addition to technical violations."

Al-Hayali added, "All the files that were filed have not yet received any official answer by the competent authorities," noting that "the files were uploaded due to many complaints by the citizens and a field briefing, stressing that the ball is in resolving the files that lie with the integrity and the Diyala government." 

Diyala, during the past years, raised tens of financial and administrative corruption files for projects costing tens of billions, some of them resolved, and employees were convicted and others are still under investigation.   LINK

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Samson:  Member of Parliament of the region: Oil corruption is "very big" and current and previous governments are involved

20:18 - 25/04/2020

Member of Kurdistan Parliament, Sirwan Baban, confirmed on Saturday that the oil file in the region is full of corruption and financial and administrative waste frighteningly over the past years and until now.

Baban said to “Information”, “The Kurdistan Parliament has monitored a number of financial violations and corruption in the oil file, as the street has become clear aware that the risk enables lack of transparency in contracts and the export of oil, and there are also violations of the dues of oil companies, as well as violations Between the center and the region in the oil issue.”

He added that "the parliament of the region issued the reform law and after that a law not to exit oil derivatives illegally, but these laws were not applied because of the lack of integrity and transparency in the previous and current governments in the oil file," as he put it.

He stressed that "the Kurdistan Parliament, as a monitoring body that monitors financial and oil violations, submitted all files to the judiciary and the competent authorities, but it did not produce anything because of the fake democratic process in the region, as the parliament and the government share the ruling parties and because they are involved in these files, they cannot apply the law to themselves."

 Pointing out that "corruption has reached very advanced stages and we will reveal to the whole world the corruption of oil in the region and how to sell and smuggle it," he said.   LINK

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Samson:  Legal: Al-Kazemi's failure to gain confidence obligates Saleh to dissolve Parliament

13:45 - 04/26/2020

Legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi confirmed, on Sunday, that the failure of Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazimi to gain parliamentary confidence compels the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, to assume the presidency of the government and then dissolve the House of Representatives.

Al-Tamimi said in a statement to "Information" that "Article 76 of the Constitution allowed the President of the Republic to assign the candidate of the largest bloc to head the government the first time, and then assign another person in the event of the government’s resignation or dismissal, and in the third case all the paragraphs of the mandate article are exhausted."

He added, "The failure to assign Mustafa Al-Kazimi compels the President of the Republic to assume the presidency of the government himself, because the position is vacant according to Article 81 of the Constitution."

Al-Tamimi indicated that “Saleh’s assumption of the prime minister will give him the powers to call for the dissolution of the House of Representatives, which is binding in the event of disagreement with a candidate charged with lost time.”    LINK

Frank26 Q&A, Delta and more Saturday Night 4-25-2020

KTFA:

DELTA:  Secretary General of the Council of Ministers makes proposals to preserve the value of the Iraqi dinar, including preventing the import of cars and luxury goods

Baghdad / NINA / -

Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers Hamid Al-Ghazzi presented proposals to preserve the value of the Iraqi dinar, including preventing the import of cars and luxury goods.

The Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers Hamid Al-Ghazzi stated: "The proposals were to stop importing cars for six months and to allow the import of the previously agreed exclusively, especially since the prices of cars are fixed globally and there is no need for more cars at this stage, and stopping the import of luxury goods in coordination between the Ministries of Industry and Trade," for a period of six months, the issuance of sovereign bonds estimated at the price of oil sold at the current price, according to which the buyer owns a specified number of barrels of oil and has the right to sell them to the state after 6 months have passed, and in this way the state withdraws the largest amount of cash liquidity.

Al-Ghazi added: "If the decision to prevent the import of luxury goods is applied, then this means preventing the import of everything that is not inside production, such as car accessories, smart phone accessories, bags, shoes, and toiletries, as well as women's and men's clothing, which are other goods that can be manufactured locally, which encourages the national industry."

The Ministerial Council of Economy had taken several decisions during its last sessions after studying a set of mechanisms and solutions regarding the impact of the crisis of low oil prices on global markets on the economic and social situation of the country, in order to take the necessary measures to protect the living standard of citizens as well as find alternatives that support the state's general budget. 

https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?Key=828018

Don961:  Iraq limits the payment of salaries electronically and cancels the manual

04/25 2020 02:19:05  Shafaq News /

Rafidain Bank called on Saturday for some state departments to speed up the activation of MasterCard cards and receive the salaries of their employees for the month of April electronically and not manually.

The bank’s media office said in a statement that the bank is asking some department account managers to activate the mastercard cards for its employees that were received by the bank so that the salary for this month can be disbursed electronically.

The statement pointed out that the directors of the accounting departments of some departments should address the general administration of the bank and instruct the completion of all procedures related to the activation of the Master Card, especially in light of the conditions the country is currently experiencing as a result of the Corona virus and the need to leave manual cash and deal with the electronic system for salary payment.   LINK

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Don961:  Member of Parliamentary Finance fixing the date to proceed with reducing the salaries of a group of state employees

Politics 04/24 2020 18:57 9199 Editor: ht   
Baghdad today - special

The decision of the Finance Committee, Ahmed Al-Saffar, revealed on Friday (April 24, 2020), a specific date to reduce the salaries of employees due to the financial crisis in the country.

Al-Saffar told (Baghdad Today), "The decision to reduce the allocations for some Iraqi state employees has not yet been implemented, and it will enter into force if the economic and financial situation of Iraq remains as it is today."

He added that "the targets of this decision are those with special grades, and do not target the small employee with limited salaries."

The Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Investment had submitted, on Thursday, April 2, 2020, a number of proposals to alleviate the effects of the financial crisis in the country.

The committee said in a statement issued by it, "In view of the difficult economic conditions that our dear country is going through and the increasing challenges, most notably the low oil prices, the global recession, the corona pandemic and other accumulated economic challenges, we offer a set of proposals and initial measures that can alleviate the painful effects on our people, and the most important These procedures:

1. Reducing the salaries of those with the rank of general manager and above by (60%) and allocated to include additional numbers in the social welfare network who have no monthly income.

2- The adoption of compulsory savings in government bonds for employees whose salaries exceed three million and at 20% of their salaries and at an interest rate that is satisfied when the economic conditions of the country improve.

3. Eliminate investment expenditures in the 2020 budget and the current expenditures for non-essential doors (such as commodity and service requirements and capital expenditures), which do not include unjustified expenses in stable conditions, so how in such dangerous economic conditions.

4- Allocating a special emergency budget to cover the requirements to combat the Corona epidemic and disbursing them to operational and investment requirements in accordance with specific priorities in terms of health reality controls and standards and challenges.

5- Collect the money due and the taxes imposed on the mobile phone companies without any delay or installment.

6- Adopting strict procedures for controlling and collecting non-oil revenues, especially in border outlets, for all governorates and the region, and registering a federal revenue that is fairly distributed to all Iraqis.

7- Postponing the payment of all external debts, including Kuwait compensation.

8- Agreement with licensing tour companies to reduce unnecessary costs on the one hand and pay the dues of its current work with oil instead of cash to reduce losses to Iraq from lower oil prices.

9- Postpone the work of all economic agreements with neighboring countries or China in the foreseeable time, especially as its fields are not a priority and some of them are unfair in Iraq.

10- Obliging the region to hand over all the oil produced to the Ministry of Oil for federal marketing, and otherwise its allocations allocated in the budget are transferred to the rest of the Iraqi provinces according to the population ratio, which is a budget of approximately (15) trillion dinars.

11- The issuance of national bonds to citizens through government banks at an encouraging rate of interest that is satisfied when the economic conditions improve to finance the necessary budget with important allocations.

12- Activating anti-corruption efforts, especially its major files, to collect the huge money seized by the corrupt and reallocating them to resources and important exchange gates.

13- The region is obliged to pay the value of any quantity of oil that it sells outside the legal federal context and calculate it from within its budget.

14- Find quick, easy and transparent mechanisms for the delivery of ration card materials and social network care salaries within a week and enough to cover the need for those covered by them for at least two months.   LINK

Frank26:  4-25-20. Saturday Night Q&A

This video is in Frank’s opinion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQlWYsxPthw

Delta, MilitiaMan and KTFA Members Saturday Afternoon 4-25-2020

KTFA:

DELTA:  FROM SOCIAL MEDIA A LETTER FROM MONEY EXCHANGE COMPANY  

To the Central Bank of Iraq.

It is your duty to follow up on a very important subject, which is when anyone transfers money from abroad to Iraq (in exchange for paying a transfer commission for this company), the Iraqi citizen is surprised to receive the transfer in dinars, not dollars, at a very low exchange rate and not at the official rate !!!!

Please follow up on this topic and explain the reasons that lead to the deduction of a large percentage of people's money !!!

BillA:  Thank you Delta......Would just love to know the exchange rate that was given... You know by, the official CBI.  Although this is from a Money Exchange Company...This transaction was performed by the CBI itself. Someone correct me if i'm wrong but, wouldn't it be against the law (International Law) for a CB to exchange outside of its' published buy/sell rate?

MilitiaMan:  I can see why you brought this in Delta and thank you brother!~ For to begin the explanation process is coming, for why the very low exchange rate. An explanation imo will come from them being shown the new value of the currency is to be greater now than in the past, therefore, the lower amount of physical or E-Dinars will be needed to fill purchases or payments in salaries. The higher the exchange rate is, the lower amount of currency is to be needed.

The interesting thing is yesterday we see the below mention from Basil Jamil Antoine an economist speaking out and reassuring people that, yes there is crisis, but, he explains that even during the crisis we have a fix for that, and already did it apparently.. (Emphasis below is mine in bold; i.e., passes(d).) Note that they use the reduction to an equation within respect to their salaries. They will need to know the reasons for the reduction, hence we have heard they will be getting training via video for the reasons, if it is not already out..

Now tie in the CBI Statistics site adding value to the ISX Index by over 1,000%. They added three zeros to the value, whereby, they told us by the CBI, own words that they have equilibrium, therefore, the reciprocal of that is to remove three zeros from the exchange rate. Hence, we now see them explaining to the street, to not worry and to allay any fears of being slighted. ~ MM

LINK

And Iraq enters for the third time in the crisis of forming the government after the letter of the resigned Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to the presidency and the House of Representatives by leaving the position voluntarily with the collapse of world oil prices and its impact on the Iraqi economy, which some experts described as "a very dangerous quagmire that cannot be moved."

While the street is invading Iraq today, fears of circumvention to reduce employee salaries and increase deductions and taxes, due to the impact of low oil prices in order to reduce the deficit in the federal budget for 2020.

But economist Basil Jamil Antoine reassured through {Al Furat News} the Iraqi street by saying "Iraq has already If it passes(d) the reduction equation and who are covered and the other alternative, so that there are no interpretations from some people, they will reflect negatively on the life of the citizen. "

https://cbiraq.org/DataValues.aspx?dtFrm=01/31/2005&dtTo=04/25/2020&tmId=384&dtformat=MMM,yyyy

MilitiaMan:  Then take a peek at this too.. They are to be using the e-dinar now and it will be issued by the government banks. All of this coming out prior to the ISX opening tomorrow and the curfews fading away.. Fairly sure this being put together this way and collectively, points to a very positive outcome. In fact the more they reduce the equation, the more positive it gets. lol. imo ~ MM

7 - The state imports commercial foodstuffs into the market and injects it into the ration program in the event of high prices. And activating the role of economic security and entering the competent government agencies to control the cash rhythm in the currency market and the markets for the sale of foodstuffs.

8 - Supporting fuel for transport and factories and giving high relative importance to Food industries .

9 - Pumping a hard currency to the exchange markets to maintain the price level of the Iraqi dinar, preventing the price from slipping so that its decrease exceeds 30 percent within two years.

10 - The Ministry of Finance issues the e-dinar for the purpose of collecting government revenues and fees due and what distinguishes them from being non-negotiable in the market as cash and thus we have reduced corruption in this aspect as well as the state's knowledge of the value of those imports quickly to be issued by a government bank and not through companies Eligibility.

 Don961:  Parliamentary Finance: Oil will not rise after the OPEC agreement, and Iraq must search for urgent alternatives

09:59 - 04/25/2020

 Information / Baghdad ..

Member of Parliamentary Finance Committee Ahmad Hama confirmed on Saturday that there are no indications of high oil prices immediately after the implementation of the OPEC agreement to reduce production by about 10 million barrels, indicating that the end of the Corona crisis is the only way to raise oil prices again.

Hama said in a statement to "Information", that "the global agreement to reduce oil production between OPEC and Russia to about 10 million barrels will not significantly affect global oil prices."

He added that "global demand decreased by about 75% of the total normal consumption due to the stopping of vehicles in tens of countries after the imposition of the curfew, as well as the stops of factories and companies of all transport sectors in the world."

He explained that "the only solution to the end of the oil price crisis and the return of markets to their previous era after the end of the Corona crisis with dependence on reducing production", noting that " Iraq Need an urgent economic recovery plan to save the country from a severe economic crisis and the consequences. ”Ended / 25D   LINK

************

Don961:  Legal expert if Al-Kazemi's government is rejected: The President of the Republic takes over the post after all attempts have been exhausted

Politics 04/25 2020 15:15 131 Editor: am   
Baghdad today - Baghdad

The legal expert, Hayan Al-Khayyat, confirmed on Saturday (April 25, 2020) that the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, would assume the position of Prime Minister in the event that the government of the Prime Minister-designate, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, was rejected under the dome of Parliament.

Al-Khayyat said in an interview with (Baghdad Today), that "if Al-Kazimi fails to form a government, or is rejected by Parliament, the President of the Republic takes over as prime minister, and the person concerned to manage matters."

He added, "The President of the Republic, Barham Salih, is concerned with managing the presidency of the republic and the ministers at the same time, considering that Article 76 of the constitution specifies the mechanisms by which the candidate is assigned to form the government, and after he has exhausted all attempts that put us before the last solution, which is Barham Saleh's assumption of the mission ".

The cabinet of the Prime Minister-designate, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, whose government has been leaked to the media, faces rejection from most political parties, as well as demands from some other ministries for some ministries.

And on Friday, a political source reported that Shiite political blocs met with Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kazemi to discuss the upcoming government booth.

The source said, in an interview with (Baghdad Today), that "the Shiite blocs began a short time ago (Friday evening) a meeting with Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi to discuss the government formation, in the presence of most political leaders in the home of the leader of the Fatah coalition, Hadi al-Amiri."

After that, the same source said that "the meeting that took place in the home of Hadi al-Amiri with the commissioner Mustafa al-Kazimi ended with the rejection of all the names of his cabinet, and it will be replaced, with some change of entitlement between the political blocs."

On Wednesday (24 April 2020), Baghdad Today, published the names of the cabinet cabinet of the Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi's proposed incomplete government .

An informed source said that the names of the infinite cabin names that Al-Kazemi presented during the meeting with 7 leaders of the Shiite component are :

Ministry of Planning candidate / Khaled Battal,

Ministry of Foreign Affairs candidate / Harith Hassan,

Ministry of Higher Education candidate / Ibrahim Bahr Al-Uloum,

 Ministry of Finance candidate / Fouad Hussein,  

Ministry of Justice candidate / Khaled Shwani,  

Ministry of Municipalities  candidate, Rizan Muhammad,

Ministry of Agriculture candidate / Muhammad Shiaa,

Oil Ministry candidate / Hisham Saleh Dawood

candidate for the Ministry of Water Resources / Jassem Muhammad Al-Asadi

candidate for the Ministry of Electricity / Adnan Al-Zorfi

candidate for the Ministry of Labor / Kazem Al-Sahlani

the candidate for the Ministry of Culture / Hashem Al-Shadidi

candidate for the Ministry of Interior / Muzahim Al-Tamimi

the candidate for the Ministry of Education / Muzahim Al-Khayyat and Falah Mahmoud Ahmed to choose one of them   LINK

Don961: Al-Kazemi agrees to change the candidates of {Foreign} and {youth}

Saturday 25 April 2020

Baghdad / Al-Sabah / Muhannad Abdul-Wahab and Hazem Muhammad Habib 

Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kazimi continued his consultations with political forces and blocs, to overcome disputes over the sharing of ministerial portfolios, while names circulated by the media to the government cabinet quickly encountered protests from some Shiite forces that gave the "taxpayer" 48 hours to respond to their objections.

The representative of State of Law, Kata Najman al-Rikabi, told Al-Sabah: The Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kazimi agreed to the demands of the Shiite blocs to change the names of candidates of some ministries, most notably youth and foreign affairs.

Al-Rikabi said that some of the names mentioned in the proposed government cabinet, which was presented by the Prime Minister-designate, were objected to by the Shiite blocs, which gave Al-Kazemi 48 hours to respond to the objections.

Al-Rikabi indicated that the Shiite blocs asked to change some candidates for the ministries, which are still disputed until now, expecting to vote on 15 candidates for the ministries in the parliament session likely to be held this week, after the differences were overcome on some of the candidates

For his part, Fadhel Jaber, a deputy from the Al-Fateh Alliance, confirmed that consultations are still taking place between the political forces and the Prime Minister-designate to fully mature the cabinet. 

Jaber added, in an interview with "Al-Sabah", that the political forces have different views on the candidates of the ministries, but what distinguishes these consultations is that there is a will to proceed with forming the government as soon as possible, and perhaps this will be this week, pointing to the existence of many files The pressure, including the economic and health file, stresses the need to accelerate the formation of a government with wide powers enabling it to deal with challenges.

Jaber called on the political blocs to support efforts to form a government through the consensus that emerged during the mandate of Prime Minister Al-Kazemi.

In addition, the representative of the Parliamentary Bloc of Wisdom Hassan Faddam told the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "the names mentioned in the proposed government booth were chosen by the Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi," noting that "the proposed booth is generally satisfactory and disputes about it can change it inside the House of Representatives. "

He stressed, “The Bloc of Wisdom has authorized the Prime Minister-designate to choose his cabinet himself, and has no intention of changing this authorization,” stressing that “his bloc has not nominated any name in Al-Kazemi’s government, and it is committed to authorizing it and supportive of the new government.”

He affirmed, "The importance of giving young people an opportunity to take government positions," explaining that "there are great youth competencies who are first in holding positions because of their experience in keeping pace with multiple Iraq conditions . "

While the spokesperson for the victory coalition, Ayat Muzaffar Nuri, confirmed to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "the duty of the House of Representatives is to study the names proposed in terms of efficiency and integrity according to the time limit set forward for holding the voting session on the booth," calling on the political blocs to "not adhere to their electoral entitlement in exchange for go on forming the government. "

Nuri added that "the interim government awaits many of the crises that the country is going through now," noting that "the victory coalition gave the Prime Minister-designate full freedom in choosing his government, and what matters to him is the competence of the nominated personalities and the tasks assigned under these The critical stage. "

Nuri called on "Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kazemi to represent youth and women in his government, so that they can be completed by all its aspects. "  LIN

Frank26, WS, MilitiaMan and Don061 "CBI and Fab 4 Meeting Notes" 4-23-2020

KTFA:

Don961:  Reducing the dinar price and its impact on the Iraqi economy

Wednesday 22 April 2020 Engineer Mohamed Sahib Al Daraji

 In light of the current economic conditions accompanied by government failure in managing the file of monetary and financial policies in Iraq, the issue of devaluation has emerged, which is the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar vis-à-vis the US dollar and other currencies in a deliberate and deliberate manner, noting that this differs from the change in the exchange rate that is subject to For the supply and demand process in the currency markets.

I looked at a period of time before a study prepared by the Central Bank on this issue and after scrutiny in this matter and many discussions with experts and specialists and I believe that Iraq needs such economic solutions at the present time I thought that I clarify a realistic point of view may contribute to the crystallization of a specific opinion among the decision-makers in this matter.

In normal circumstances, this type of solution must be the last drug. Unfortunately, the country's economy is mismanaged, the absence of economic doctrine, the continued dependence on oil as a single source, and the exploitation of the economy as an electoral tool that has led to a near collapse in the economy whenever the price of oil decreases, and the failure of successive governments to support the product The industrial and agricultural patriotic pushed the specialists to resort to this kind of thinking.

I may agree with the study conducted by the Central Bank on many points that talk about the need to find other economic solutions other than reducing the value of the Iraqi dinar, but through experience and extrapolation of the Iraqi political situation I do not see on the horizon any ability of the owners of the solution and the contract to bring about a fundamental economic change because of the lack To truly understand the problem in Iraq and look at it from a single perspective, which may be factional, partisan, or personal.

Therefore, my article will focus on discussing a paragraph devaluing the local currency vis-à-vis foreign currencies and responding to factors that affect or are related to the reduction process. For the purpose of taking note of the topic from all sides, the factors associated with this reduction must be discussed. Among the most important of these factors are: -

First: the balance of payments

I do not think that Iraq has a strong position in the balance of payments because Iraq’s exports are only 99 percent oil. If we raise or delete the value of the exported oil and we calculate the balance of payments without it, Iraq’s position will be very negative. It is worth noting that the Central Bank study on the percentage of surplus in the balance of payments, which was estimated to be 5, is discussed. 75 percent of GDP for 2019, from the first two aspects in terms of whether to include the balance of oil exports or not and this balance changed by changing world oil prices.

On the other hand, discussing a real and important question, which is how to calculate GDP in Iraq? What is the proportion of the value of oil exports in it?

 This question also applies to the proportion of foreign reserves available in Iraq, which is estimated at $ 70 billion, which represents 30 percent of GDP, according to the study.

Here, the same problem lies, which is how to calculate the domestic product, and thus how to calculate the ratio of the adequacy of reserves in International Monetary Fund standards or other traditional measures, from It is clear that there is a deficit in the balance of payments because the balance of our payments depends on a very large percentage on oil and consequently the deficit, surplus or strong position depends on the global oil price, the amount of production and the amount of oil exported from Iraq, therefore the study that gave measures for 2019 Totally corrupted from the current year

Second: consumer prices

There may be an effect of the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar on consumer prices, but there are many positive aspects in this framework that can be benefited from and turn this challenge into a real opportunity to build an economic doctrine that fits the current political and social situation.

The rate of imports in Iraq is very large and the annual rate of amounts of hard currency that goes out of the country for the purpose of import is estimated at 48 billion dollars annually and in the case of reducing the price of the dinar, these imported materials will be more valuable in Iraqi dinars than their current value in the local market, which will lead to a decrease in demand On them, and here is the stall of the Persians to refute all allegations that are expected to be high in life due to the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar, because this reduction must accompany a set of economic measures that are supportive of it, the most important of which is controlling the prices of the value of food and fuel. 

In the imported consumables, which are considered a factor in the ruin of the country's economy, it can be addressed and accept a certain increase in the prices of some unnecessary luxury items.

Therefore, there must be packages in the application of this reduction in order to encourage the national product, and we can give a simple example in this framework.

If there is material that we import from neighboring countries, and the value of this material was only one dollar, i.e. its value is 1,200 Iraqi dinars at present, and the cost of producing it is from Local raw materials may cost the owner of the Iraqi factory 1300 Iraqi dinars, so the local product cannot compete with the imported product price due to the relatively high value of the dinar, but if the value of this material is one dollar in light of the exchange rate of 1500 Iraqi dinars and the value of the local product remains for the same article 1300 Iraqi dinars It will be a pain 

The domestic product is cheaper than the importer at the local value and thus this will encourage the owners of factories or farms to produce locally and run the workforce and run the macroeconomic cycle again so this reduction will have a significant role in supporting the local product, and it was noted that the central bank study spoke about the extent of Provides local products As an alternative, here we say that the egg and chicken base must end in Iraq, meaning do we work in a local industry in order to stop the import or stop the import in order to encourage national production? I think that the time has come to break this rule and for the state to put an end to imports in order to encourage production and because capital is coward and factory owners will not risk their money in order to provide material that does not have a market or has no consumer or competing foreign producer at a lower price and the state must be firm and legalize the import in order to Factory owners are able to produce and make the local product a competitor.

It is worth noting that there will be a specific time period in which some products will be less available in the markets, but I believe that the national product will soon fill the void and we will start a new phase of the Iraqi economy.

Third: the level of inflation

Iraq currently does not suffer any rise in the level of basic inflation; therefore, the effect of reducing the currency devaluation level in the basic inflation level will be limited, meaning that if we reduce the currency by 30 percent, the prices of some luxury items will increase by 12 percent, and this price increase can be addressed by moving the economy even if we have to Increasing nominal salaries and moving the wheel of the economy by pumping cash into the street to move some industrial, agricultural and construction sectors.

Fourth: Increasing economic growth and trade

The study prepared by the Central Bank on the effect of currency devaluation on increasing trade growth showed that the relationship between devaluation and the deficit of the trade balance and stimulating the national economy is a conditional and specific relationship with factors including:

A- The extent of the national productive capacity, technologically, financially or humanly, to manufacture the same goods imported from abroad with similar quality and at competitive prices and to replace them with national products.

I think that Iraq can achieve a return from this reduction in this framework, which we mean by the growth and trade framework, because Iraq’s exports are limited to only crude oil, the devaluation of its currency may increase its exports from other materials that encourage the national product, whether industrial or agricultural, to increase its production, specifically some Exportable materials so that there will be new non-oil dollar revenues that can be used as a hard currency to increase the domestic product of the homeland.

Also, this reduction will increase and strengthen the local Iraqi industries to be able to compensate for imports. Therefore, reducing the value of the Iraqi dinar will reduce a large percentage of the import. Revenues and maintains the hard currency coming from selling oil inside Iraq and these amounts are transferred instead of sending them out of the country through the currency auction to pump them into the local market to move the economy wheel, the banks that operate with the currency auction and those behind it may be affected.

Fifth: The effects of reduction on vulnerable social groups

It is also known that the number of people dependent on the government for their income from employees, retirees and those covered by the social protection network is around 6 million citizens. If we take the average of five individuals per family, 30 million citizens depend entirely on their income for government support, and this represents 75 percent of the Iraqi people. The negative effects of this reduction on the purchasing power of this group are limited, because the cuts will have measures to support the ration card and an increase in the minimum salary for the job grades and the welfare network grants.

At the same time, the state must act as a food merchant in the sense that it imports food or provides it from local production and stores it and pushes it to the market at any time there is a deliberate raise in prices or a specific monopoly process, and thus there will be food security for these vulnerable groups and the state also works To support fuel and medicine and direct the general budget to the ration and medicine, and sterilize water and infrastructure.

As for other luxury goods, there is no harm in accepting the cost of some non-essential materials, for example, a mobile phone by 12 percent, or a rise in the price of perfumes, for example, 12 percent. 

On the other hand, I do not think that this reduction leads to an increase in government expenditures in general, but it may lead to an increase in the ration card expenditures, which do not represent 3 percent of the total general budget of the country. At the same time, you can benefit from the increase in revenues in the Iraqi dinar in other operating and investment expenses.

By up to 25 percent, for example if the price of the dollar becomes 1500 Iraqi dinars.

At the same time, this reduction will have positive effects on the remittances of expatriate citizens from abroad for their families, so that the value of what they convert from hard currency into Iraq is greater than the present value and this leads to addressing the status of a particular class in front of the potential relative costly.  

Sixth: The effect of the reduction in public debt

Iraq's foreign debt in foreign currency is about 23 billion dollars (except for pre-2003 debts of 41 billion dollars). The domestic debt in the dinar currency is around 40 trillion Iraqi dinars, including treasury transfers and bonds, and since 95 percent of the public budget depends on imports of oil that is sold In dollars, therefore, foreign debts will not be affected, either negatively or positively, by the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar, as they are receivables payable in US dollars.

As for the domestic or domestic debt, surely the reduction of the dinar’s rate will have a positive impact in the interest of the state, as the value of the local debt against the petroleum dollar. The state is limited to 7 billion dollars, and this indicates that the devaluation of the currency has a positive impact on public debt and thus strengthens the country’s economy without affecting the external debt by any negative impact and therefore there will be no negative impact on the Iraqi situation with the international community due to this reduction in Local currency value.

Seventh: The effect of reducing confidence in the national currency

I do not think (in my personal opinion) that this devaluation of the Iraqi dinar will affect the confidence of global markets and economies in the Iraqi local currency because this planned devaluation must accompany a set of economic decisions that are supportive of this devaluation and reduce its impact, whether on the internal or global economy in the Iraqi currency and the most important

These reforms are to control the expected inflation, as we mentioned earlier through controlling food, fuel and medicine.

The pressures of demand for the dollar may not escalate, but on the contrary, the local counterpart to the dollar unit may be more than before, so the process turns into a process. The dollar and try to keep Aa local currency, especially if we raised interest rates on deposits in local currency rates as a measure of the structural part of the decisions that must accompany the process of devaluation Vtkhvv thus the pressure on the dollar exchange rate.

The central bank study indicated the existence of the stability of the Iraqi dinar exchange rate for a number of years. In this context, I think that this stability is not real, but it is pressure on the dollar price by the country’s monetary policy, and therefore this stability as a result gave negative returns on the Iraqi economy, so stability can remain, but On another exchange rate that is less valuable than the current price.

If we note that the Lebanese experience has lasted decades for an exchange rate of 1500 that is stable but at a real price for the Lebanese pound while it is believed that the Iraqi dinar price on its current stability for the past years was not a real price but rather it was a price engineered by those responsible for the country’s monetary and financial policy, I mean Here is the central bank and the exchange rate is set in the annual general budget by the government and the finance committee in the Iraqi parliament.

 Eighth: Monetary and Financial Policy

Before we get into the details of this factor, we must answer the following question: Do we expect Iraq to have a political ability to manage monetary and financial policy in the face of pressures that may result from reducing the price of the Iraqi dinar against the unit of the dollar? What determines this is the strength of the political administration in the country and the understanding of the political forces, the truth of the problem. The monetary policy tools represented in the interest rate, the discount rate, open market operations, etc.

These can be controlled by coordination between the owner of the Iraqi money, which is the Ministry of Finance, and between the custodian of this money, which is the bank. The Central Council of Ministers shall be the judge and judge in the approximation of views between the owner and the governor.

As for the fiscal policy, the government and parliament must collectively control expenditures and work to increase revenues (and we have talked a lot as others talked about how to increase revenues) in order to control m Suitable for the cash block in order to reduce the effects of inflation on the citizen.

We believe that the pessimistic view of financial and monetary management in Iraq must change. Otherwise, the situation will remain as it is. Yes, there is a big failure in managing these two files, but everything has an end and an end, and I think the time has come to end the failure of monetary and financial policy.

Ninth: The effect of reducing the dinar on the public budget

The general budget is revenue and expenditures, and since the main source of revenue for Iraq is oil sold in dollars, the reduction of the Iraqi dinar will certainly increase the revenue by the amount of the rate of the dinar, so when the price of one dollar is 1500 dinars instead of 1200 dinars, every billion dollars of oil revenue will be worth In the budget is one trillion and a half trillion dinars, compared to one trillion and two hundred billion dinars at the current exchange rate. This rise in revenues will have a clear and positive impact on the general budget. As for expenditures, I would like to refer here to the central bank’s report and discuss it again as He mentioned that the reduction will witness an increase in expenses due to the following points:

Government import of goods and services

This is beneficial because, as we said above, the government should be the first to reduce imports and depend on the local product, whatever the circumstances, and this is an opportunity to create a local economy and increase local production by increasing agricultural and industrial production and reducing imports.

-2 Paying the interest of the external debt

We have previously mentioned in this topic that external debt will not be affected by the dollar’s ​​devaluation, but internal debt will decrease in value relative to the petroleum dollar.

3 - Foreign investments and contributions

This does not represent a significant percentage, it is also in dollars, and we are our resources in dollars, so this is considered beneficial as well.

4- Paying the oil related investments

Everyone knows that paying the dues of oil companies is my eyes with oil, so there is no relationship with the dollar or the dinar.

5- The ration card

I do not agree with the report of the Central Bank that stated that most of the ration card materials are imported. The ration card that must be developed currently depends on four main materials, which are rice, flour, oil and sugar, three of which are flour, oil and sugar purchased locally. Reducing the value of the dinar will save money for the ration card when purchasing These materials and the only material that is imported is rice, and in the same logic that we spoke in this article, the oil dollar will not be affected because Iraq sells oil in dollars and imports rice in dollars. In sum, the reduction of the dinar will affect the ration card positively.

6 - Social protection salaries

In the event that the dinar is reduced, the government should increase the social protection salaries with the same expected inflation rate, which is 12 percent. In this way, we remove the potential inflation effect from the socially vulnerable groups.

Conclusions:

In the end, gradually reducing the value of the dinar will have positive effects on the economy of the country, from which it can be taken advantage of, and other negative things that must be taken in advance to avoid them so that the gross product will be positive for the national economy and to avoid the expected economic shock.

The positives are as follows:

1- Encouraging the local agricultural and industrial product.

2- Stir the wheel of the country's microeconomics.

3- Employment of labor and absorption of unemployment.

4- Increasing the revenues of the general budget and reducing import expenditures.

Naturally, this measure will have negative effects, so the government must take a series of measures in parallel with this reduction, as follows:

1 - Stopping the currency auction to maintain the hard currency inside the country and that the dollar and other foreign currencies are sold and traded directly in the currency markets or through the stock market, in order to get a real price of the Iraqi dinar against the American dollar, and that the guarantor of the prices is the value of the available reserve The Central Bank of Iraq has hard currency.

2- Setting an import platform, stopping some imports, controlling customs outlets, supporting the tax system, and exempting the local product from income tax for a period of two years.

3- Building the budget on a fixed oil price for the operational budget and moving to the investment budget, directing the budget to salaries, purchasing the ration and medicines, and sterilizing water and the educational process only.

4- Delaying the dues of oil companies or paying them in kind outside OPEC's share.

5- Selling oil coupons locally, at the prevailing price now, and buying them a year later at the prevailing price then.

6 - Increasing nominal salaries by 10 percent, reviewing high allocations to achieve social justice, and increasing salaries of the social protection network by 12 percent

7 - The state imports commercial foodstuffs into the market and injects it into the ration program in the event of high prices. And activating the role of economic security and entering the competent government agencies to control the cash rhythm in the currency market and the markets for the sale of foodstuffs.

8 - Supporting fuel for transport and factories and giving high relative importance to Food industries .

9 - Pumping a hard currency to the exchange markets to maintain the price level of the Iraqi dinar, preventing the price from slipping so that its decrease exceeds 30 percent within two years.

10 - The Ministry of Finance issues the e-dinar for the purpose of collecting government revenues and fees due and what distinguishes them from being non-negotiable in the market as cash and thus we have reduced corruption in this aspect as well as the state's knowledge of the value of those imports quickly to be issued by a government bank and not through companies Eligibility.

In conclusion, such a procedure requires a courageous decision by statesmen who are able to manage a stage through which the world in general and Iraq in particular, statesmen who lead society and manage state institutions literally without paying attention to partisan or factional or electoral interests, but rather put the interest of Iraq first.

Member of the Finance Committee  link  

Walkingstick:  Thanks, Don....F..... note.  ~ WS

Frank26:   KTFA FAMILY AND INTERNET ........... WALKINGSTICK AND I ............. TOLD YOU THIS WAS HAPPENING........ CBI AND FAB 4 MEETING NOTES ............ NOW WE ARE READY FOR ..........# 7

(Note: We beleive the Fab 4.is the IMF, World Bank, U.S. Treasury, and the President of the United States of America..?.)

MilitiaMan: Snippets:

"The official, who preferred to remain anonymous (read Care Taker Gov), added that "continuing to hold auctions to sell currency and pump tens of millions of dollars per day to preserve the value of the dinar leads to great risks for the country's economy, and it is better for the central bank to cancel the currency auction and install its local currency, since most of the beneficiaries are Of these auctions are not businessmen and merchants, but banks, banks and private sector companies dominating the market, a large part of which has been transferred out of Iraq." 
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"There are daily discussions to reach a road map that enables the country to maintain an acceptable exchange secret of the dinar against the dollar."
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The SMART option 

This option starts with confidential price policies based on reducing the external value of the currency as a proactive measure and providing financial obligations in the general budget recording a final revenue that can be agreed to leave its inflationary effects as a waste

The two levels will support the additional financing agreement for the deficit to be in the form of balances intended to exchange foreign goods, services and benefits, and thus the demand for foreign currency will increase at rates that change with the inflationary expectations and the fluctuation in the stability of the cash demand function.

Nevertheless, the matter will depend, in all cases, on the growth of foreign reserves and their installation in the central bank's investment portfolio.

If the growth in demand for foreign currency, for example, exceeds the growth of foreign reserves themselves, then this means that there are inflationary expectations leading inexorably to a series of continuous reductions in the exchange rate through the stages of late lags and the opposite happening, the money market may reach a state of balance and stability, especially when the growth in supply and demand is equal to the foreign currency supply and demand .

Here, the stability of the exchange rate (as it is a nominal stabilizer for inflationary expectations) depends on the degree of current account balance, the balance of payments, or its ability to achieve a surplus in excess of the most important in that account relative to GDP and at that time , the Iraqi dinar exchange rate and its purchasing power is growing again (via mirror and foreign inflationary currency) and we may find in the monetary conditioning the possibility that the intervention window in the central bank will take over by using and buying in a dollar that will be more expensive in relation to the dinar than a previous level or a higher degree of sterilization in liquidity levels, which will lead to the stability of the money market, but at a new, guided exchange rate compatible with the internal and external equilibrium situations, as long as foreign reserves begin with some stability in their adequacy and relative abundance. 

Finally, we must realize that the conditions of fiscal adjustment (i.e. maximizing non-oil revenue), and we mean actual taxes, have become a cloudy issue in Iraqi public finances and that imposing them may cause a fiscal cliff to pose a serious fiscal stagnation, the monetary illusion in nominal dinars in spite of inflation tax and inflation according to the monetary option will give it stability in many internal contractual transactions and will remain on the formalities of nominal contracts in dinars, such as debts, rents, salaries, wages, etc without change as long as they are denominated in contractual prices, and this is a preference or first best 

Auto (*) Researcher, economist, and financial advisor to the Iraqi government. All rights reserved. Republishing is permitted provided that the source is indicated, April 19, 2020 OFF http: / iraqieconomists. net / 

MilitiaMan:  The above snippets are in line with the fresh article out above from a member of the Finance Committee. Above they are talking about pumping hard currency into the markets to maintain pricing of the Iraqi dinar.

They will use the intervention window to sterilize the currency. In other, words they are going to defend the new exchange rate and for about two years within a 30% range.

The new guided exchange rate.. Guided is the key word.

The CBI is going to use the intervention window to guide the new exchange rate. So, once they set the rate they will use the stock or currency markets to defend the rate. As in to keep the price range steady and stable.

Sterilization is used for appreciation of currency and or the depreciation of currency pricing.. In this case once they raise the new exchange rate they will use sterilization techniques to intervene in the market when and where needed to support the price. A very good thing my friends!  Very good! imo

We already know the Auctions have changed as we knew them and there are no cash sales now. So the Auctions are not status quo, as some may feel..

Imo, they have knocked that item down from the list of things to do. The CBI will need to have another venue to make money. They have one..

Once they make the move to RI, they will sell the Dinar and make oodles of cash in doing so. Hence, they will not be selling dollars. They will want the Dollars for their own foreign currency reserves. Thus, supporting the local currency, which the Customs and Taxes at the borders will do as well.

The Customs and Taxes at the borders will be electronic and transparent, (Block Chain) and the revenues from them will be able to take up the slack in oil revenues that are presently lacking.. 

Them telling us they will be using oil coupons to leverage contracts is a very good sign they have the Secondary Markets in mind. They can use contracts to hedge risk when pricing goes up in oil or down. For that, matter it won't only be for oil but many other commodities too. E-Dinar is going to be used.. Safe, sound and secure.. Less corruption... 

Next thing to support them heading into the secondary market is that the ISX is slated to open on the 26th of the month.

Their office opens on Saturday, fwiw.. Then, think about the Board of Directors of the CBI told us they have EQUILIBRIUM.. Then, we see the CBI adjusted the the values on the ISX Indice. It was not the ISX that did the adjustment. It was the CBI that did it. They have equilibrium by 1,045.71% real close per there data. See the difference..? It was not the ISX's job to change the Indice it is the CBIs job and they have equilibrium and show it there.  

Notice lately that they seem to tell us things when the Banks are closed and the ISX is down? Last weekend was the same with CBI articles for Al Nassery and Mahmoud Saleh... Both were very loud, just as this article is above.. I don't know about you all, but, this is looking very promising. That data from the CBI adjusting the Indice was for a reason and the below fits the bill imo..

One more thing. There is indirect implications in respect to the SDR. I am not sure but, the way I look at it is this way. At a program rate the IMF would never talk about Iraq being placed into a position to use the SDR basket.

But, if they RI and the rate is agreeably strong and supported they may be allowed access the SDR basket. Then they could use the SDR for a borrowing facility to also support the IQD from future shocks. This is a very well designed and orchestrated turn of events if it plays that way. Imo, it may very well be spot on.. imo ~ MM

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"Such mutual monetary exchange has come to achieve the equilibrium of the money market in Iraq, using the exchange rate and the interest rate, and they are considered toxic toxic and inflation expectations at the same time. "

"Here, the stability of the exchange rate (as it is a nominal stabilizer for inflationary expectations) depends on the degree of current account balance, the balance of payments, or its ability to achieve a surplus in excess of the most important in that account relative to GDP and at that time , the Iraqi dinar exchange rate and its purchasing power is growing again (via mirror and foreign inflationary currency) and we may find in the monetary conditioning the possibility that the intervention window in the central bank will take over by using and buying in a dollar that will be more expensive in relation to the dinar than a previous level or a higher degree of sterilization in liquidity levels, which will lead to the stability of the money market, but at a new, guided exchange rate compatible with the internal and external equilibrium situations, as long as foreign reserves begin with some stability in their adequacy and relative abundance. "

KTFA Members "News and Views" Thursday 4-23-2020

KTFA:

Don961:  The dollar is a safe haven in the era of the collapse of oil ... and gold is falling

- 11 Hours Ago

The dollar and the yen maintained their strength in early trading in London on Wednesday, as demand for safe haven currencies continued with the continuing turmoil in the oil markets, while the price of gold declined.
The dollar stabilized little changed against a basket of currencies, but it remains high about 0.5%, since the beginning of this week, with investors looking for a safe haven amid turmoil in the markets.

The yen maintained the gains it made, last week, against the dollar, up 0.2%.

And oil prices fell again in trading, on Tuesday night, and Brent crude fell to its lowest level since 1999 amid a collapse in demand for everything, from gasoline to jet fuel, due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, and the isolation measures that were applied to contain it.

US crude futures turned, for the first time in history, negatively on Monday, and dealers who despaired despair paid money to get rid of oil.

The markets are still volatile despite attempts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and outside it to reduce supply oversupply, as oil producing countries began, yesterday, Tuesday, urgent collective moves to reduce oil production and reduce supply, after prices collapsed in global markets.

And, "OPEC", in a statement yesterday, Tuesday, that several oil producing countries discussed in the "dramatic market situation" meeting. Oil sources confirmed that the ministers discussed implementing oil production cuts immediately, and not starting May 1, as agreed.

On the other hand, gold prices fell today, Wednesday, while the strength of the dollar and the craving for liquidity after the historic collapse of US crude futures contracts, covered support through purchases of the yellow metal as a safe haven.

And gold fell in spot trading 0.2% to $ 1682.35 an ounce in early trading, after touching the lowest level in two weeks, on Tuesday, as the collapse of oil prices led to panic sales in the wider markets, and that fueled the craving for liquidity.

Gold fell in the futures trading in the United States 1% to 1704.10 dollars.

Analysts said that gold may be subject to pressure in the longer term, as it is used to hedge in the face of inflation, and low oil prices tend to increase deflationary pressures in the market.
They added that the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus measures by global central banks, especially the Federal Reserve and the governments, will keep gold supported.

In terms of other precious metals, palladium rose 2.6% to $ 1972.57 an ounce, after touching the lowest level in about a month in the previous session.

And platinum gained 0.4% and reached $ 749.29 an ounce, while silver lost 0.8% and reached $ 14.80.

New Arab  link

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Samson:  Source : Iraq adopts the price of $ 30 a barrel of oil in the budget for the year 2020

22nd April, 2020

A well-informed source revealed, today, Wednesday, that the cabinet approved the price of a barrel of oil at $ 30 for the current year budget and a deficit of 20 trillion dinars

The source, who preferred not to reveal himself to "Al-Iqtisad News", said that "the advisory committee in the cabinet discussed with the Ministry of Finance and the Parliamentary Finance Committee the issue of adopting the price of $ 30 instead of $ 56 and that was approved by the Ministry of Finance

He added that "the planned deficit in the budget for the current year after its recent update amounted to 20 trillion dinars

He stressed that the Iraqi government will put forward a set of proposals to parliament to reduce the deficit, including offering bonds that the central bank purchases and borrow from government banks and external borrowing   LINK

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Samson:  Economist: Iraq has maintained its selling price of oil despite the collapse of US crude

19:09 - 04/23/2020
Economist Safwan Qusai confirmed on Thursday that Iraqi oil maintained the selling price at $ 20 despite the collapse of US crude, attributing the matter to selling Iraqi oil in three markets, most notably Asia.

Qusai said in a statement to the "information", that "Iraqi oil is sold in three markets, which are Asia, Europe and America, as the movement of the wheel of the economy in China has served Iraqi oil in maintaining its prices in a proportion not exceeding 20 dollars," noting that "American crude collapsed due to Not having a storage capacity for it.”

He added that "Iraq be affected by the collapse of American oil only 50%," noting that "the Chinese economy will return to normal within two months and there will be an increase in oil prices by approximately 40 dollars and the current crisis can be overcome."

Oil prices rose significantly during trading today, Thursday, after heavy losses incurred earlier this week.

Sunkissed:  The fact that Iraq oil is holding (low but holding) in comparison to US oil, definitely demonstrates that this is a manual manipulation ON PURPOSE => FOR A PURPOSE!

Trump is a brilliant economist and businessman (Frank will back me on that I'm sure, as he has stated it in nearly every single UB2B and CC over the past years).

Oil and Gold have always been "used" to lead investors (big and small) to where they want them to go. Let's enjoy watching - and learning - how this GODSEND investment will roll out for us AND THE WORLD!

ALL facets of this have never aligned so perfectly before. I've never seen ZERO cash sales with this consistency! CBI down so frequently! And ISX listing as it is! I could go on and on - you all know the events of late!

This very weekend could be a real life changer for all of us... and if not THIS weekend... the end is nigh. Because what Iraq is currently doing to hold it together is NOT sustainable. It's an ambu bag for life support! (Frank knows them well in his previous profession)

Thank you to all of those who teach us GREATLY!   ~ Sunkissed

Samson:  70 warrants of arrest and recruitment were issued against senior Iraqi officials

23rd April, 2020

The Federal Integrity Commission announced the arrest and recruitment orders issued against accused of high and special degrees issued during the month of February.

The investigations department of the commission stated that 70 arrest warrants and summonses against ministers, members of the House of Representatives, governors, members of provincial councils and two general managers, as well as a deputy minister, based on the cases they investigated and referred to the judiciary.

The department indicated that arrest and recruitment orders were issued against five ministers, including a current minister, five members of the House of Representatives, including three current ones, a former deputy minister, former governors, and twenty-four general managers, of whom nine are current, as well as (33) members of provincial councils.   LINK

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Samson:  Overcrowding in the most famous Iraqi market .. Baghdadis ignore Corona in preparation for Ramadan

23rd April, 2020

The famous Shorja Market in the heart of the capital, Baghdad, and the surrounding streets witnessed crowding with pedestrians and shoppers, a day before the start of Ramadan.

This overcrowding came just one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a broken curfew on the HIV virus.

And the World Health Organization in Iraq expressed concern about the behavior of some citizens during the partial lifting of the curfew, and while calling on them to adhere to health instructions, she warned against returning the full curfew in case of non-compliance.

"The World Health Organization in Iraq expresses its deep concern about the actions of some citizens during the partial lifting of the curfew," calling them "to fully comply with the preventive measures and recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health," the organization said in a statement.

She stressed "the need to avoid gatherings and maintain the social divergence that enabled Iraqi health workers to control the pandemic of the new Corona virus so far," warning that "breaching these measures may lead to the reactivation of the complete curfew."

On Sunday April 19th, the Supreme Committee for National Health and Safety in Iraq decided to lift the curfew in the month of Ramadan from six in the morning until seven in the evening, and to impose a fine of 50 thousand dinars for those who are not committed to wearing medical masks, while the Iraqi Ministry of Health warned of a rapid increase in the number of Corona virus infections, as a result of breaking the curfew, which led to overcrowding of public roads in cars and bicycles and the opening of many shops and markets.

The Ministry noted the warnings issued by the World Health Organization repeatedly in the danger of mitigating health measures taken to control the epidemic before ensuring full control of its spread.   LINK

Clare:  IRAQ FINANCE EXPO 22, 23, 24 JUNE 2020 Officially Co-Hosted with the Central Bank of Iraq, IFEX showcases all the outstanding opportunities and latest technology in the country.

Following the outstanding success of both the Iraq Banking and Investment Summit, and Iraq: A Leap Forward, we are delighted to announce IFEX: IRAQ Finance Expo, the premier online conference and exhibition for Iraq’s financial future. Officially co-hosted with the Central Bank of Iraq and the Government of Iraq, IFEX is the only digital conference of its kind tackling the critical challenges affecting Iraq’s finances.

The future of Iraq’s banking and financial service industries. Meet the following industries and exhibit your ground-breaking product! 1. BANKING: Payments, Digital Banks, Money Transfers, Mobile Wallets, Remittances, Retail, Investment, Automation 2. FINTECH: Credit & Lending, Payments, Security, Authorisation, Money Transfers, Insurance, Microbanking, Cloud, P2P Lending 3. E-COMMERCE: Commerce, Home Delivery, Grocery, Retail, POS Systems 4. INNOVATION: Accelerator, Entrepreneurship, AI, Startups

https://ifexiraq.com/

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Clare:  Trump says Thunderbirds, Blue Angels will do flyovers across country to honor medical workers

In the coronavirus task force briefing Wednesday, President Trump said that the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds would be doing flyovers of major American cities in honor of "American medical workers" — and that on July Fourth he would bring back the Independence Day celebration held last year on the National Mall.

"I'm excited to announce that in the coming weeks, the Air Force Thunderbirds – are incredible – and the Navy Blue Angels, equally incredible, will be performing air shows over America's major cities," Trump said. "What we're doing is we're paying tribute to our front line health care workers confronting COVID. And it's really a signal to all Americans to remain vigilant during the outbreak. This is a tribute to them, to our warriors. Because they are equal warriors to those incredible pilots and all of the fighters that we have for the more traditional fights that we win and we win."

Trump did not say which cities the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, the U.S. military's two top flight demonstration teams dedicated to showcasing America's air prowess, would be visiting. He mentioned that they could fly over "some of the cities that aren't major cities" as well.

The Air Force's Thunderbirds have already gotten a head start on Trump's plan. Rather than just conducting their traditional flyover of the Air Force Academy's graduation over the weekend, they went on an extended flyover of major cities and medical facilities in Colorado.

"We salute Colorado's healthcare workers and first responders who are at the forefront of our nation's fight against COVID-19. They are an inspiration for the entire country during these challenging times and it was an honor to fly for them yesterday," the Thunderbirds' official Twitter account said.

KDVR FOX 31 published a map of the Thunderbirds' flight path from the weekend, which started in the Fort Collins area before going south over Boulder and covering much of the Denver metro area -- including Lakewood and Aurora. They then proceeded south along I-25 to Colorado Springs, the location of the Air Force Academy's graduation, then down past Pueblo.

Trump said the flyover idea, named "Operation America Strong," came from the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.

"The Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels crews ... wanted to show support to the American medical workers who just like military members in a time of war are fiercely running forward," Trump said. "... I want to see those shows. I've seen it many times and I can't get enough."

"They're going to be doing a lot of work, a lot of very dangerous flying. It's dangerous," Trump said, admiring the precision flying and acrobatics for which the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels are known. "You know the odds when you start going at massive speeds and you're 18 inches away from each other, that's dangerous work."

Trump also said Wednesday that he planned to bring back the controversial July 4 celebration that he held on the National Mall last year.

"And on July 4th, we'll be doing what we had at the mall, as you know, we're going to be doing it," Trump said. "Last year was a tremendous success. And I would imagine we'll do it — hopefully I can use the term 'forever.' It was a great success, as you remember."

Trump continued: "Even though it was pouring, it was raining so hard. It was raining, it was about as hard as I've seen in a while, but it was an amazing success. Didn't bother the pilots. Didn't bother the military. Didn't bother the crews that we had there. So we're gonna be doing that again on July 4th."

Critics derided last year's event on the Mall as a partisan ploy designed to use the military to score political points. But a large crowd turned out in the rain, lining the Reflecting Pool on both sides, and Trump considered the event to be a hit.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-thunderbirds-blue-angels-will-do-flyovers-to-honor-medical-workers