More News, Rumors and Opinions Monday PM 8-26-2024

TNT:

Tishwash:  Economist: Government Fails to Secure Necessary Investments to Finance 'Development Road'

Economic expert, Ziad Al-Hashemi, revealed on Monday that the government failed to secure the investments required to finance the development road project.

Al-Hashemi stated in a post on his personal Facebook page, followed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "the first victim of the failures of the Development Road Project - news of the dismissal of the Director General of the Iraqi Railways, who boasted in one of the meetings with me that he had a feasibility study for the Development Road Project that included 27 volumes."

He added that "it seems that the internal differences and problems related to the method of managing the Development Road Project file have begun to appear on the surface in the form of dismissals."

Al-Hashemi stressed that "the government's failure to secure the necessary investments to finance the project revealed many flaws in the way this project is managed"

and considered that "as a quick and logical solution, the government should focus on extending and establishing the land highway linking with Turkey and postponing the railway line until the conditions are right to truly launch the wheel of development." It is noteworthy that the Minister of Transport, Razzaq Muhaibis Al-Saadawi, dismissed the Director General of Railways, Younis Khaled Jawad, and appointed Jabbar Aliwi Lahis as his replacement     link 

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

Tishwash:  Prime Minister's Advisor Announces New Tax Reform Packages to Be Launched Soon

The Prime Minister's Advisor for Financial Affairs, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, announced on Monday the most prominent government steps to maximize non-oil revenues, while indicating the imminent launch of new tax reform packages.

Saleh said, as reported by the official news agency, and reviewed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "one of the basic principles of the government's program in the field of financial reform, which was approved by the Council of Representatives in October 2022, is maximizing non-oil resources in the general budgets of the Republic of Iraq, as quantitative targets were set for them so that their contribution to the total revenues generated by non-oil economic activity would increase to 20 percent instead of their historical rates that do not exceed 10 percent in the best of cases."

He added, "Diversifying non-oil revenue sources and maximizing them in public budgets is one of the biggest reform challenges in the financial and economic fields in the country."

He pointed out that "these challenges come from two main factors: the first is the degree of connection between the diversification of budget resources and the success of diversification in the country's gross domestic product, especially the three sectors of agriculture, industry and services."

He explained that "the oil production sector still dominates a percentage of the components of that gross domestic product, which sometimes reaches 60 percent, which gives the national economy a rentier character and direct coexistence with the financial flows provided by the oil resource, mostly without anything else."

He added, "The second factor of these challenges is related to non-governmental activity in generating the gross domestic product, and we mean specifically the activity of the market or the private sector."

He added, "The majority of economic forces generating income and wealth within market activity conduct their economic activities within the framework of what is called the 'shadow economy', which are 'grey' markets that are not regulated and are not known to the regulatory, tax and banking authorities as is commonly known, and their percentage amounts to about 70 percent of the total private sector activity in the country."

He stressed that "the grey or shadow markets are one of the most important factors causing the decline in non-oil revenues in the country's general budget components."

He pointed out that "the first step taken by the current government to maximize non-oil revenues began with adopting a new approach to tax reform," noting that "the Council of Ministers approved earlier this year 8 new packages to reform the country's tax system, led by the principle of expanding tax bases, especially those that are hidden, evading or neglecting annual tax accounting."

He stressed by saying: "Two tax reform packages have been launched, and the remaining packages will be launched sequentially and gradually within the government's reform policy in the financial field and maximizing the state's resources from sources of income and wealth outside the oil sector, as this is accompanied by administrative and legislative reform and high-precision digital governance of tax institutions in the areas of assessment and collection with high transparency and efficiency  link

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

Courtesy of Dinar Guru:  https://www.dinarguru.com/

Frank26  Right now 1 dinar is not even one [U.S.] penny.  It's like 9/10 of a penny but soon 1 dinar will be equal to at least $1.00.  Did I say it will paired?  No...It will be equal to at least, they told you, $1.00.  I got a feeling it might be $1.30 because they kept the exchange rate at 1310.  Let's see what happens...In country at least $1.00 in value, not 1 penny in value, will give you [Iraqi citizens] purchasing power...It's different for you [The rest of the world]...you're going to watch the float...

Militia Man  The United States is going to say we're ready to go. We're not playing games anymore...we're going to do it our way.  Iraq either you're on board or you're not on board...No wonder those guys are barking...because the parallel markets are going to go away and fast.  They know what they need to do.  Change the value of their currency and no one's going to want their [black market] USD.  They're going to know the Iraqi dinar is going to be powerful just like Sudani said...

LIVE! Absolutely SHOCKING! A Wall Street SUPERBANK Telling Its Clients TO BUY GOLD!

Greg Mannarino:  8-26-2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj0QvKog_LQ

 Why Fed Rate Cuts will Trigger a Recession

Heresy Financial:  8-26-2024

TIMECODES

 0:00 Intro

1:23 Federal Funds Effective Rate

2:32 When Recessions are Likely to Happen

3:33 Employment Numbers

 4:27 Yen Carry Trade

5:06 Prices

6:13 Government Borrowing

7:45 Fed Policy

8:50 Conclusion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYMLu7stxu8

Iraq Economic News and Points To Ponder Monday Afternoon 8-26-24

Hidden Forces Of Speculation"... Economist Reveals New Reason For Dollar's Rise

Time: 2024/08/26 18:54:04 Read: 1,248 times  {Economic: Al Furat News} An economic expert revealed a new reason behind the rise in the dollar exchange rate against the dinar.

Bassem Jamil Antoine told Al Furat News Agency, "Regarding the rise in the dollar exchange rate and its remaining at its current rates in the parallel market, it is the result of forces "behind the curtain" or what is known as the "hidden state" of speculators and traders, as they are the ones trying to keep prices at these rates."

He considered the government measures "weak in the face of these speculators and currency traders, as they were unable to limit the rise in exchange rates because of them and their actions and their possession of power, strength and money, and they are the ones who determine prices," according to him.

Jamil believed that "as long as these hidden parties exploit the country, the exchange rates will remain the same."

It is noteworthy that the dollar exchange rate in the local markets (parallel) is recorded at about 1,490 dinars, a large difference from the official price sold by the Central Bank of Iraq, which is 1,320 dinars.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Aq, announced on August 7 that "there is no intention to reconsider the dollar exchange rates," noting that "the Central Bank sells more than 250 million dollars daily at the official price {1,320 dinars}."

He said, "The view that the dollar price has risen or fallen is not a correct indicator."  LINK

More than $275 million in sales from the Central Bank of Iraq today

Monday 26 August 2024 15:25 | Economic Number of readings: 206  Baghdad/ NINA / The Central Bank of Iraq's dollar sales, on Monday, amounted to more than $275 million in the currency auction.

According to a statement by the bank, it sold $275,296,899 in today's auction, covering it at a basic exchange rate of 1,310 dinars per dollar for documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards, and for foreign transfers, and at a rate of 1,305 dinars per dollar in cash.

He added: "Most of the dollar sales went to strengthen balances abroad in the form ofalmost ready with one transfers and credits, which amounted to $265,246,899, an increase of 96% over cash sales of $10,050,000."

He pointed out: "One bank bought cash dollars, while the number of banks that met requests to strengthen balances abroad was 16 banks, and the total number of exchange companies participating in the auction was 11 companies." https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1149925

Economist: Government Fails to Secure Necessary Investments to Finance 'Development Road'

Economic expert Ziad Al-Hashemi   Construction and reconstruction  Economy News – Baghdad  Economic expert, Ziad Al-Hashemi, revealed on Monday that the government failed to secure the investments required to finance the development road project.

Al-Hashemi stated in a post on his personal Facebook page, followed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "the first victim of the failures of the Development Road Project - news of the dismissal of the Director General of the Iraqi Railways, who boasted in one of the meetings with me that he had a feasibility study for the Development Road Project that included 27 volumes."

He added that "it seems that the internal differences and problems related to the method of managing the Development Road Project file have begun to appear on the surface in the form of dismissals."

Al-Hashemi stressed that "the government's failure to secure the necessary investments to finance the project revealed many flaws in the way this project is managed"

and considered that "as a quick and logical solution, the government should focus on extending and establishing the land highway linking with Turkey and postponing the railway line until the conditions are right to truly launch the wheel of development."

It is noteworthy that the Minister of Transport, Razzaq Muhaibis Al-Saadawi, dismissed the Director General of Railways, Younis Khaled Jawad, and appointed Jabbar Aliwi Lahis as his replacement.  https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=46759

Iraq Dominates List Of UAE Export Destinations

August 26, 2024  Dubai - Al Zaman  The Vice President of the UAE, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, revealed that Iraq has become a front for Emirati exports during the current year.

Al Maktoum wrote in a post on the X platform that (exports in just 6 months reached what was exported in a whole year before Corona in 2019), adding that (at a time when the global growth rate of foreign trade reached about 1.5 percent, the growth in our foreign trade reached 11.2 percent annually),

stressing (non-oil exports grew by 25 percent, and the goal was to achieve 3 trillion dirhams in non-oil foreign trade by the end of this year), and he continued that (economic relations with various countries have been consolidated, as trade with India increased by 10 percent, with Turkey by 15 percent, and with Iraq by 41 percent, to become the first destination for Emirati exports,

followed by India, Turkey and other countries), stressing that (several years ago we announced our national economic goals, and we confirmed that our foreign trade target for the year 2031 is 4 trillion dirhams annually).  LINK

The Ministerial Council For Economy Discusses Its Agenda And Takes The Necessary Decisions Regarding It

Ministerial Council for Economy  Money and business  Economy News – Baghdad  On Monday, the Ministerial Council for Economy discussed the items on its agenda and took the necessary decisions regarding them.

A statement by the council, seen by "Al-Eqtisad News", stated that "Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Ministerial Council for the Economy, Fuad Hussein, chaired the twenty-sixth session of the Ministerial Council for the Economy,

which was held in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers building in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Planning, Ministers of Agriculture, Trade, Labor, Social Affairs and Industry, the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, and the Prime Minister's Advisors for Economic and Legal Affairs.

He discussed the items on his agenda and took the necessary decisions regarding them."

The statement added that "the council hosted the Mayor of Baghdad to discuss the project to implement the sewage transmission line in the northeastern side of Rusafa (the Khansa line extending from the Habibiya pumping station to the Fadhiliya area on the banks of the Diyala River with the implementation of the lifting station and treatment project)",

and the council listened to "a briefing presented by the Mayor of Baghdad on the conflicts and problems that hinder the completion of this important project, which serves the people of Rusafa and contributes to treating sewage water and reducing the percentage of pollution in river waters."

The statement indicated that "the council decided to recommend to the Council of Ministers to approve the request of the Baghdad Municipality to complete the project and stop all legal procedures between the Baghdad Municipality and the implementing company, provided that the project is completed according to high specifications and is subject to examination and auditing by the competent authorities."

The statement continued, "the council also discussed the integrated package for regulating import trade, and expressed its observations on it and referred it to the specialized committee formed in this regard." The council also approved "the proposal of the Ministry of Industry after obtaining the approval of the Central Bank of Iraq, so that the export of industrial products is by the manufacturing company or exporting commercial companies."

The statement concluded, "the council also decided to recommend to the Council of Ministers to approve the minutes of the committee specializing in repaying bad debts owed by the private sector to the Trade Bank of Iraq, by granting the authority to the Board of Directors to reschedule bad debts as well as reduce the interest rate for those who default on payment if they pay the full amount of the debt."  76 views   08/26/2024 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=46768

For current and reliable Iraqi news please visit:  https://www.bondladyscorner.com/

Some “Iraq News” Posted by Clare at KTFA 8-26-2024

KTFA:

Clare:  Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani announces the resolution of the dispute over the presidency of Parliament and the majority’s approval of his nomination for the position

8/25/2024- Baghdad

MP Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani announced today, Sunday, the resolution of the dispute over the presidency of the parliament and the majority’s approval of his nomination for the position. Al-Mashhadani said, via the “X” platform: “I am pleased and honored by the approval of the majority of the national spectrum consisting of members of the House of Representatives to nominate me for the presidency of the House of Representatives and the resolution of the dispute over that.”

He added: "I pledge to them that I will preserve this trust and be with them and for all of them according to what the public interest requires." He concluded by saying: "The homeland comes before the component and the component comes before the political entity." LINK

Ryan1216:  Clare is Mahmoud officially the new president of parliament?

Clare:  NOT YET  ... ONLY NOMINATED, BUT THE NOMINATION PROCESS WAS  CAUSING THE DISPUTES & DELAY. I AM PRETTY SURE THIS IS WHO SUDANI WANTS. IMO

Trade: Opening of five central markets and food outlets soon

8/26/2024- Baghdad

The Ministry of Trade will open five central markets and food outlets in Baghdad in the coming few days.

The official spokesman for the ministry, Mohammed Hanoun, said in an interview with "Al-Sabah", followed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that the ministry is close to opening two central markets, one in Al-Bayaa and the other in Al-Salihiya in Baghdad, in addition to three marketing centers affiliated with the General Company for Foodstuffs Trade located in Al-Hurriya, Jamila Market, and Al-Rusafa Marketing Center.

He added that the establishment of these projects was done according to modern designs, and includes all basic marketing commodities at cost price, including meat, chicken, liquid milk, zero flour, and cheese. Hanoun explained that the opening of marketing outlets played an important role in stabilizing the prices of basic food commodities in local markets.

He pointed out that the ministry is working to rehabilitate the central markets in the governorates and make them marketing centers to provide services to the families of martyrs, members of the armed forces, state employees, retirees, and families covered by social care.

Hanoun pointed out the adoption of electronic payment systems, and that employees and retirees can obtain loans ranging between 10 and 25 million dinars for the purpose of purchasing their basic needs from marketing outlets and in installments.  LINK

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

Clare:  British company wins contract to supply solar power plant for oil field in Basra

8/26/2024

British company Hydro-C has won a contract to design and supply a solar power plant for the Majnoon oil field in Basra Governorate. According to a statement issued by the Iraq-British Business Council (IBBC), a copy of which was received by Al-Eqtisad News, the project will be implemented for the benefit of the Basra Oil Company (BOC), which is operated by Antonoil Services and KBR.

The plant, which will be imported from the United Kingdom and installed in Iraq, is part of the plan of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and the Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, to support sustainable energy projects and combat climate change.

After a six-month technical and commercial evaluation process, Hydro-C has officially been awarded the project, which can be developed and replicated in major oil and gas fields in Iraq.

Hassan Hashmat, CEO of Hydro C, said, “This is great news for many people, including our stakeholders, and especially the Iraqi people, as we begin the transition to green energy in the country and provide a much-needed source of electricity,” adding that “this will enable British companies to develop local skills in Iraq and help the country build sustainable green energy projects.”

"IBBC is delighted to see Hydro-C take control of this important and innovative new energy sector. After many months of work and extensive preparation by Mr Hashmat, this project is a model of what is possible for the future and will benefit all those involved in the green transformation,” commented Christophe Michels, Managing Director of the Iraq-Britain Business Council (IBBC), calling it “a win for the UK, IBBC, Iraq and in particular Hydro-C.”   LINK

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

Clare:  3 versions raise controversy.. What is the truth about adding 15 trillion to the budget "secretly"?

8/26/2024  Baghdad

More than 80 days have passed since the parliament voted on the Iraqi budget tables for 2024, but the tables are still absent from the pages of the official Gazette of the Ministry of Justice to enter into force. The reason for this is the existence of 3 different versions of the budget tables, which appear to have been discovered only 10 days after the vote on the tables, but the matter remained hidden until it was revealed more than a month later, specifically on July 13.

What does Parliament mean by "amended schedules" after its vote?

On June 3, the House of Representatives voted on the 2024 budget tables, and said at the time that “the estimates of the 2024 general budget tables, its attachments, and the deficit financing tables were approved, and the Council of Ministers was granted the authority to transfer an amount of (2) trillion dinars from the investment budget allocations for the ministries and add it to the regional development allocations for the governorates not organized into a region, and it is distributed according to the population ratios and poverty rates in each governorate.”

According to the wording of the Council’s statement using the phrase “the estimates of the tables were approved”, the statement can be read as “the tables were approved as received from the Council of Ministers”, but the statement carried the phrase “the tables of the Federal General Budget Law No. (13) of 2024, as amended, were voted on”, and it is not known what Parliament means by the term “amended”, and whether it was amended by Parliament after it was received from the Council of Ministers, or does it mean amended by the Council of Ministers compared to the 2023 budget tables, considering that it is a three-year budget?

"The bomb explodes" after 40 days.. 15 trillion were added "secretly"

Only a week later, on June 11, local media outlets reported statements by the spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Ahmed Laibi, stating that “the Ministry of Justice has addressed the Council of Representatives to send the budget tables for publication in the Official Gazette.” At the same time, sources reported that the tables were returned from the Council of Ministers to the Council of Representatives “for the purpose of conducting an audit of some articles and paragraphs of the law.”

A month later, specifically on July 11, statements were issued by MP Baqir Al-Saadi, in which he said that there were some minor comments on the budget, so it was returned to Parliament, and amendments would be made to it by a specialized committee after the tenth of Muharram and sent to the Council of Ministers again.

Then, only two days later, on July 13, came the first official revelation of the manipulation of the budget tables, through the member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Moeen Al-Kadhimi, who confirmed that the budget had been returned to the House of Representatives to make some amendments, after the Council of Ministers discovered a difference in the version of the budget sent from the House of Representatives to the Council of Ministers, despite the fact that the House of Representatives voted on the tables as they were received from the Council of Ministers without amendment, indicating that the difference raised the budget from 211 trillion dinars to 226 trillion dinars.

It is clear from Al-Kadhimi's statement that 15 trillion dinars have been added to the budget expenditure schedule, but it is not known under which headings these amounts were added, which raise the size of expenditures by 7%.

However, leaked information indicates that the additions included increasing the amount of the ration card by an additional 5 trillion dinars, and financial increases for the Ministry of Electricity and some governorates.

Original government copy.. and two parliamentary copies

Meanwhile, the government was not completely silent, but it delayed sending a letter of inquiry to the House of Representatives until about a month had passed. While the budget was voted on on June 3, and the budget was sent to the Council of Ministers on June 10, Al-Sudani’s office sent a letter of inquiry to the House of Representatives on July 1, but this letter was not leaked to the media until July 20.

The book included that the House of Representatives’ decision states that the budget tables were voted on as received from the government, but the paper copy attached to the House of Representatives’ book, which confirmed “voting on the tables as received,” differs from the tables that were actually sent from the government to the House of Representatives. The electronic copy on the CD also differs from the government’s version and the paper copy sent by the House of Representatives.

Accordingly, this means that there is a government version of the budget tables that is supposedly voted on by Parliament as is, as well as two versions, “paper and electronic,” coming from Parliament, both of which differ from the original government version that is supposedly voted on by Parliament as is.

Leaking... a means of pressure for a late response?

The day after the leak of the government’s letter to the parliament speaker, specifically on July 21, the speaker of parliament sent a response to the government, even though the letter of inquiry was issued by the government on July 1, and it appears that the parliament speaker did not respond during this period, which raises the possibility that the government deliberately leaked the letter after 20 days to pressure the parliament speaker for the purpose of a late response.

The Parliament Presidency’s response letter confirmed that the tables sent to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers are the same as those sent by the government, after approving the tables as received from the government without any change.

About 4 MPs were shot...and then Al-Mandlawi

Since July 20 until now, the talk about the story of tampering with the budget tables has been going on and on, and some pages have accused MP Mustafa Sand, Adi Awad, and Mohammad Nouri of tampering with the tables. Sand responded by denying his interference in this matter, indicating that what happened is that some MPs may have written “their own tables and made transfers by adding money to their governorates or other sections as suggestions,” but the decision of the parliament speaker was to vote on the tables as they came from the government, and this closes the door to any other additions by the MPs, considering that “the matter has no effect and the government has exaggerated the issue.”

In contrast, MP Basem Khashan considered that the proven manipulation of the budget may end the membership of the acting Speaker of Parliament, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, by filing a lawsuit before the Federal Supreme Court, as he is the one who signed the Parliament’s voting decision and the tables sent to the government.

Meanwhile, MP Sarwa Abdul Wahid spoke about a difference in the budget tables worth 8 trillion dinars, and this number contradicts what was initially revealed by the member of the Finance Committee, Moeen Al-Kazemi, but it may be the difference number in the paper or electronic version, and the other number of 15 trillion is in one of the two versions as well, as there are 3 versions as confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office in its letter sent to Parliament.

The continued talk about “manipulating the budget tables” and the mention of Al-Mandlawi’s name in the story prompted the latter to issue a statement on the official website of the House of Representatives, and he returned to confirm that the tables were voted on as they were received from the government, while the statement carried clear anger, stressing through it that he “is following all the inaccurate talks published and broadcast by some media outlets,” threatening that “any party that tries to mislead public opinion by concealing the facts and dishonestly transmitting the events, to achieve illegitimate goals far from the honesty of neutral transmission and objectivity that it should possess, will be subject to legal accountability.”

The Three Copies.. The Birth Stage of Non-Identical Twins

The Ministry of Finance provides the original budget tables that the government sent to the House of Representatives and which were voted on, amounting to 211 trillion dinars, while there is no published or announced version of the other modified versions that include adding 15 or 8 trillion dinars for the purpose of matching the tables, but all the talk revolves around adding money to the ration card allocations, in addition to increasing the allocations of some governorates, especially those that objected to reducing their shares in the budget, most notably Basra Governorate.

But in conclusion, and from a realistic perspective, the difference in budget tables is worthless after the government published and approved the budget tables sent by it according to the allocations specified by it, with a total expenditure of 211.8 trillion dinars, although the Al-Waqa’i newspaper has not yet published the budget tables for the year 2024.

The explanations in the conclusion indicate that MPs appear to have “tried to deceive the government” by including in their papers the amendments they had made in order to allocate more money to their governorates or “ministries”, using the stages and stations of the budget’s passage in parliament after the vote. Those who were able to access the version that was prepared to be sent to the Council of Ministers in its paper form, replaced a table related to governing expenditures, for example, in order to raise the share of the food budget, while the other; He included his own paper after modifying the numbers that include increasing the shares of certain governorates.

As for those who were unable to access the paper copy, they were able to access the electronic section in the House of Representatives through their connections or in another way, in order to change certain numbers in the budget table on the computer before they were placed on a CD. It seems that each representative may not know what his colleague did, in order to send it to the government and try to deceive it, to spend the money according to the tables it received. It is not known what the plan is after that.

Does it intend to raise the allocations for the governorates or the relevant ministries in order to empower them, or does it aim to take and share the surplus funds that may be sent to the governorates and ministries according to the manipulated tables, and grant the governorate or ministry only the funds that the government was planning to allocate to this governorate or that ministry.   LINK

“Tidbits From TNT” Monday 8-26-2024

TNT:

Tishwash:  Strong economy strong dinar

Mohammed Saleh Al-Badrani

 Any talk about improvement in any field is theoretical talk that will not produce anything unless stability, social cohesion and a stable security situation are achieved. This matter requires attention to details and loose threads.

Civilization needs foundations to be a platform for advancement, and stability is the basis. It is a general word that includes the societal structure, reform of institutions and administration, and the establishment of an ideology that everyone seeks to achieve through which plans are built, sectors are supported, and prosperity is one of its outcomes.

This requires the advancement of education, support for general culture, and aspirations towards movement without obstructive limitations. Other than this, everything we say or will say becomes mere wishes and desires that have no means or institutions to achieve them .

Stability and the crystallization of the character of the state and its institutions will be built accordingly, and it is the same path of progress that expands and opens up the fields of renaissance by forming the nation and then by forming the stable state .

1. Relying on oil without investing it will not improve the economy or increase the strength of the dinar. Rather, it is an invisible deterioration, and everything that is treated with it is like wood dye that is eaten by termites. For this reason, oil and other resources such as customs revenues and taxes must be invested, not by increasing taxes and exhausting the citizen, but by making it flow in a way that makes the citizen comfortable, so that it is in harmony with the state and its plans and is part of its plan, and the state is not considered a feudal lord or a squire who wants to stray from its paths .

2. Taking care of the countryside and returning people to it with plans, projects, industries and factories for agriculture and raising poultry, cows and sheep to produce meat and other things, with managing the land to grow fodder, and establishing fodder factories in strategic areas, and factories for animal products and canning them. As for the citizen’s return without a plan, it will be a matter whose feasibility will weaken unless capital enters from somewhere as capital for those who have money and find a way to operate it. This will be practical and realistic after stability .

3. Stopping government appointments with the absence of projects and the increase in colleges and universities means producing a cadre that is not good at taking care of itself or doing any work in order to live. It is necessary to establish private projects and companies and the state encourages their stability and facilitates their establishment with the establishment of a retirement guarantee similar to the state retirement system, and thus the momentum for work in government jobs is reduced.

This may come through partnerships with companies in industrialized countries to localize major factories and food and mechanical industries such as cars and machinery and support them with oil at cost price, in exchange for social care supervised by the state and looked into by the state so that those who work in these companies, facilities or industries are not harmed if one of the companies decides to abandon work. This means establishing contract models that specify the workforce, job positions and expertise and developing them through continuous education .

Regional environment

4. Establishing interest-based relations with the regional environment, and establishing water agreements in a way that realistically looks at everyone’s interests, and through cooperation in water management, investment, and joint planning as management and facilities so that there is no clear gap between desires and reality, and between proposals that have not entered the logical filters, as climate change is likely and to a large extent, but its results cannot be determined, so confronting it today through projects that do not put the country in a state of death and are capable of supplying economic and human movement is very important .

5. Desalination of Gulf water and engineering its pumping so that it covers and revives every inch of Iraq, and the rapid transformation to modern and economic agriculture will reduce pollution. The marshes will not be relied upon as water bodies, but rather as tourist investment areas such as winter resorts and fish farms, as is suitable for them.

 The dinar and the economy need real work and confidence in the currency is confidence in the economy of the countries, which expresses confidence in the management of the country itself.

 What we write here is the salt in the perspective of the reality of the situation, so that the effort of the meetings is not wasted and becomes air in the net, as they say. It is certain that there are specialists in the country, but they should not look at the experiences of others and transfer them as templates. Capitalism is not a fragmentation system, but rather a system that built itself for hundreds of years until it settled in the situation we see, and those who live in it will not see it as an option. Likewise, socialist systems do not have direct scientific applications.

We need to benefit from these systems in making a suitable system successful, as China did, which has a strong economy that does not look at the exchange rate of its currency, but is strong in its global dealings

. Perhaps if the countries of the region united to create their own currency and trade, they would gain a position in managing the global economy. All of this requires effort and time, and before that, determination in understanding and preparation and a will to implement   link

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

Tishwash:  Finalizing the approval of the Industrial Investment Law

Today, Monday, the head of the Parliamentary Investment Committee, Muhammad Al-Zayadi, revealed that the final touches had been put in place to approve the Industrial Investment Law within the House of Representatives.  

Al-Ziyadi told Al-Ma'louma Agency, “Approving this law will contribute significantly to moving the wheel of the Iraqi economy, as it grants great privileges and guarantees to investors in the industrial sector.” 

He added, "His committee held an expanded meeting with the Economic Committee to resolve the disputed points within the law," noting that "the law, if approved, will reflect positively on the labor market by providing many job opportunities for young people within the country."

He continued, “His committee has put the final touches to approve the industrial investment law soon in the House of Representatives, as it is one of the important laws.” link

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

Tishwash:  Al-Jawahiri comments on the tax reform process

Development and investment consultant Amer Al-Jawahri said: “The tax reform process currently taking place includes all the empty sectors, and this is very accurate for the Prime Minister in light of Al-Sudani’s meeting with the Supreme Committee for Tax Reform.”

Al-Jawahri Al-Jawahri told Mawazine News Agency: When we say that the state’s public funds and resources have circulated, this means that there is an informal economy in the country. 

According to the development expert: “Informal businesses have existed for many years, and they still do, and there is even an expansion that is not included in tax accounting, which means that it is not registered, and is considered informal in this matter, and the other side of the tax reform will take place and will continue.”

He explained: “The use of digital electronic tools and others that exclude human interaction means that perhaps 80 or more than 90% of the work that is accomplished outside the scope of human interaction will be linked. This may save losses. We do not want to pay the numbers, but it is very clear that the losses of the numbers are very large; which took into consideration the size of imports.

He continued: “If we count the size of imports, how much do we earn from tax money? There is a gap in this aspect, and eliminating corruption is not easy, and corruption is not only about the leakage of money and loss, which means depriving the public right of its rights and at the same time the money goes into pockets, and people get rich at the expense of society.
 
He pointed out: "This money goes to services, but at the same time, this achieves, in one way or another, the rule of law, and also achieves, a relative improvement in the business environment, and this improvement when added to it, an improvement in other aspects, while he stressed that working on it in the business environment, then, we can say, there are things that encourage local capital for direct investment.

He  continued saying: "May we be drawn into it, and attract capital or foreign direct investment, this is the entrance or angle that I want to enter from the side of what the Iraqi government aspires to.

 Al-Jawahiri urged everyone to support the tax reform process despite the existence of harsh and severe opposition, veiled and covered with large veils and beautiful veils, which will try to put obstacles in front of the implementation of tax reform, which increases with the country's resources or the general budget. Improving public resources means that the state and successive governments are able to spend on improving the service reality and infrastructure of the country, the most important of which are the health, education, security and municipal sectors. link

 Mot: .. This Does Help Explain it -- Huh!!! 

Mot:  . Golden Rule it Is!!! 

IQD Update-Iraq Dinar News - #iraqidinar Central Bank-New York City-Iraq Buying Gold-Oil & Gas

IQD Update-Iraq Dinar News - #iraqidinar Central Bank-New York City-Iraq Buying Gold-Oil & Gas

MilitiaMan and Crew:  8-25-2024

The Crew:  Samson, PompeyPeter, Petra, Daytrader, Sunkissed, GIGI and Militia Man

Be sure to listen to full video for all the news……..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpyeQHH7TH8

Iraq Economic News and Points To Ponder Late Sunday Evening 8-25-24

Iraq's Oil Exports Decline
economy | 09:04 - 08/25/2024  Mawazine News - Follow-up  The US Energy Information Administration announced on Sunday that Iraq's oil exports to America declined last week.

The administration stated in a table that "the average US imports of crude oil last week from 9 major countries amounted to 5.452 million barrels per day, down by 171 thousand barrels per day from the previous week, which amounted to 5.623 million barrels per day."

It added that "Iraq's oil exports to America amounted to 166 thousand barrels per day last week, down by 17 thousand barrels per day from the previous week, which amounted to 149 thousand barrels per day."

The administration indicated that "the largest oil revenues to America last week came from Canada at a rate of 4.083 million barrels per day, followed by Colombia at an average of 213 thousand barrels per day, followed by Saudi Arabia at an average of 207 thousand barrels per day, from Nigeria at an average of 190 thousand barrels per day, and from Brazil at an average of 177 thousand barrels per day."

According to the table, "the amount of US imports of crude oil from Mexico was at a rate of 167 thousand barrels per day, from Ecuador at a rate of 163 thousand barrels per day, and from Libya at a rate of 86 thousand barrels per day.  https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=253891

Iraq's Oil Exports To America Decline During The Week

Energy  Economy News – Baghdad  The US Energy Information Administration announced today, Sunday, that Iraq's oil exports to America declined during the past week.

The administration stated in a table, which was reviewed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "the average US imports of crude oil during the past week from 9 major countries amounted to 5.452 million barrels per day, a decrease of 171 thousand barrels per day from the previous week, which amounted to 5.623 million barrels per day."

She added that "Iraq's oil exports to America amounted to 166 thousand barrels per day last week, down by 17 thousand barrels per day from the previous week, which amounted to 149 thousand barrels per day."

The administration indicated that "the largest oil revenues for America during the past week came from Canada at a rate of 4.083 million barrels per day, followed by Colombia at an average of 213 thousand barrels per day, followed by Saudi Arabia at an average of 207 thousand barrels per day, from Nigeria at an average of 190 thousand barrels per day, and from Brazil at an average of 177 thousand barrels per day."

According to the table, "the amount of US imports of crude oil from Mexico was at a rate of 167 thousand barrels per day, from Ecuador at a rate of 163 thousand barrels per day, and from Libya at a rate of 86 thousand barrels per day.

135 views 08/25/2024 - 8:43 AM  https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=46691

Recorded 41%.. Iraq Is The First Destination For Emirati Exports

2024/08/25 Read: 1,482 times  {Economic: Al Furat News} Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid announced an increase in UAE exports to Iraq  Bin Rashid said in a press statement, "Our trade with Iraq increased by 41%, making it the first destination for Emirati exports”

He added, "Our foreign trade approached 1.4 trillion dirhams in six months, with a 25% growth in our non-oil exports, and our goal is to achieve 3 trillion dirhams in non-oil foreign trade."

Bin Rashid pointed out that "our economic relations have been strengthened with various countries, as our trade with India has increased by 10%, with Turkey by 15%, and with Iraq by 41%, making it the first destination for Emirati exports."

He continued, "The global growth rate of foreign trade reached about 1.5%, and the growth in our foreign trade reached 11.2% annually, as we move rapidly towards our targets."  LINK

To resolve the issue of banks “deprived of the dollar.” Al-Alaq will return to Washington soon
 
Economy | Today, 14:00 | Baghdad today – Baghdad  An official source in the Central Bank of Iraq revealed, today, Sunday (August 25, 2024), the imminent important visit of the bank’s governor, Ali Al-Alaq, to ​​the United States of America to resolve the issue of Iraqi banks deprived of the dollar.  The source told “Baghdad Today” that
 
 “during the end of this month there will be an important visit by the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, to ​​New York City in the United States of America to hold several meetings with the US Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to discuss the file of Iraqi banks that are deprived of dealing in dollars, and the possibility of...

This deprivation was lifted, as this had a negative impact on the Iraqi banking and financial situation.”  The source, who requested to remain anonymous, said,
 
 “Those Iraqi banks are not being punished, but are only deprived of dealing in dollars, and
 
Al-Alaq’s visit comes in order to lift that deprivation, as well as discuss protecting the Iraqi banking system and supporting its stability.”
 
It is noteworthy that the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, resolved on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) the controversy regarding reconsidering the dollar exchange rates.
 
Al-Alaq said, in press statements, followed by “Baghdad Today”:
 
“There is no intention to reconsider the dollar exchange rates,” pointing out,
 
“The Central Bank sells more than 250 million dollars daily at the official rate.”  He noted,
 
 “The bank covers the requirements of foreign trade, and some do not want fundamentalist methods,” noting,
 
“The view that the price of the dollar has risen or fallen is not a correct indicator.” 

He stressed, "The central bank's success in controlling inflation compared to other countries," adding,
 
"We will reach 100 percent of foreign remittances without going through the US Federal Reserve at the end of this year."  He stressed,
 
"The financial situation in Iraq is still proceeding within what is planned in the state's general budget," noting that
 
"for the first time, by virtue of the new budget and financial management law, the allocations of governorates and ministries are rotated."  Al-Alaq said,
 
 “The Central Bank is undergoing a major transformation process by reorganizing foreign trade, and
 
our procedures in foreign trade are taking place for the first time with the involvement of international institutions.”  He continued,
 
"There are small traders outside the system that are putting pressure on the market, and
 
a mechanism to regulate their trade is about to be launched, and
 
we are focusing on getting everyone involved in sound fundamentalist channels."  He revealed,
 
“The Central Bank has opened channels for the Chinese, Turkish, Indian, and UAE currencies,”
 
announcing, “The imminent launch of a new audit mechanism for trade via foreign currencies.”  He stressed that
 
“all commercial foreign transfer operations are subject to review by the competent international company,” revealing
 
“meetings in New York at the end of August to discuss lifting sanctions on banks and reviewing transfer operations.”  Al-Alaq explained,
 
“The dollar is not given to the traveler until after the departure stamp,” noting that
 
“the new mechanism guarantees the arrival of the dollar 100 percent to the traveler, and
 
we started with it in Baghdad, then Najaf, Basra, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk.” 

 He added,  "There is a government move to increase capital support for the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund in the budget," noting,
 
"The bank's initiatives have an exceptional role in trying to fill the housing deficit."  The Governor of the Central Bank announced,
 
“The capital increase paragraph for the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund in the budget has not been implemented yet, and
 
we do not want the bank’s financing to be a substitute for the investor’s obligations,” noting that
 
“the Real Estate Bank was directed to finance complexes with completion rates of 80 to 90 percent.”.   
 
https://baghdadtoday.news/256475-لحسم-ملف-المصارف-المحرومة-من-الدولار.-العلاق-الى-واشنطن-قريباً.html   

Central Bank Of Iraq Sales Amount To About $6 Billion In A Month

Posted On2024-08-25 By Sotaliraq The Central Bank of Iraq's sales from the hard currency auction for the US dollar during last July amounted to more than 5 billion dollars.

Our correspondent reported that the Central Bank sold during the month of July, during the days in which it opened its auction for buying and selling the US dollar, 5 billion, 746 million, 98 thousand, and 54 dollars, at a daily rate of 273 million, 623 thousand, and 716 dollars.

Our correspondent added that foreign remittance sales during the past month amounted to 5 billion, 428 million, 395 thousand, and 754 dollars, an increase of 94% compared to cash sales, which amounted to 317 million, 23 thousand dollars.

Our correspondent indicated that these sales were distributed between transfers abroad to finance foreign trade, and cash sales to banks, while the selling price of documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards reached 1310 dinars per dollar, while the selling price of transfers abroad and the cash selling price reached 1305 dinars per dollar.  LINK

For current and reliable Iraqi news please visit:  https://www.bondladyscorner.com/

Does The World Bank Need To Rethink Its Policies?

Does The World Bank Need To Rethink Its Policies?

Banks  Economy News - Follow-up  For nearly eight decades, the World Bank—founded in 1944 to finance reconstruction and development after World War II—has been the largest international public agency ever. By 1973, as the need for reconstruction receded and many newly independent countries had joined the bank, President Robert McNamara outlined a revised mission.

The bank’s goal was “to accelerate economic growth and reduce absolute poverty.” At the bank’s headquarters in Washington, that goal was engraved on the lobby wall for all to see: “Our dream is a world free of poverty.”

The World Bank's initial approximation of the target was an annual estimate of the number of people living on less than $2.15 a day, the amount deemed necessary to avoid hunger, Paul Collier, a professor at Blavatnik College at the University of Oxford, wrote in an opinion piece for Foreign Policy.

This is a very conservative measure of the bank’s performance, Collier said—it could be achieved if the world’s poorest could reach the bare minimum necessary to survive even as the income gap with the rest of humanity widened. But even by this inadequate measure, the bank was a failure before 1990.

That is no longer in dispute: from 1960 to 1990, the incomes of the poorest countries diverged from those of the richest by standard statistical measures.

The number of people living in extreme poverty peaked in 1980 and then stabilized until the early 1990s, when China, India, and other emerging Asian markets took off.

Since 1990, China and India have largely lifted many millions out of poverty, but that was because of domestic reforms that opened their economies to trade. It was not because of the World Bank’s meager aid to these countries, which went disproportionately to Africa, along with policy advice.

But while the Bank cannot claim responsibility for China’s and India’s successes, it must accept responsibility for Africa’s failures. Yet the Bank and its leadership have been reluctant to confront or draw conclusions from their failures.

“When I first worked on the problem of global income inequality in 2003, I found that there was another problem within the problem that had not been noticed at the time,” said Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School at the University of Oxford.

“A group of 60 poor countries, concentrated in Africa and Central Asia but with pockets elsewhere, had failed to spark economic growth and were gradually falling behind everyone else.”

“These countries had a population of about a billion people—I called them the bottom billion.” China and India were initially much poorer than most of these countries, but since the 1980s China has been growing rapidly, and since the 1990s India and Latin America have also been taking off.

In 1990, these three regions dominated global poverty statistics, but now they are favored by investors as emerging markets, and by 2035 their mass hunger problems will be a thing of the past, according to Collier.

The growth of these regions has helped global poverty begin to decline—both as a share of the world’s population and in absolute numbers, perhaps for the first time in human history. But this success has not extended to the bottom billion. As a group, their incomes have continued to diverge from those of the billions in emerging markets and the privileged billion in rich countries.

The divergence among the bottom billion continued until 2003, when global natural resource prices began a decade-long boom so extraordinary that it became known as a supercycle. Because economic growth never really caught on among the bottom billion, the exploitation and export of their natural resources became their dominant form of participation in the international economy, and the supercycle boosted their incomes.

This was their golden decade, and it lasted until 2014, when commodity prices collapsed; prices have been extremely volatile since then.

After 2014, the global economy entered a period known as the “new normal,” a term coined by economist Mohamed El-Erian. For the bottom billion, the new normal looked a lot like the old normal, the long period until the golden decade during which they were left behind.

Only during the golden decade did the bottom billion as a group briefly interrupt the tragedy of falling further and further behind the rest of humanity.

If the trend since 2014 continues, the global poverty headcount will soon return to its grim pre-1990 upward trajectory. Starting in 2035, after adjusting for inflation, the number of people living below the World Bank’s $2.15 poverty threshold – those so poor that they are starving – will increase relentlessly.

And they will be concentrated in very different places than in the past. Instead of China, India, and Latin America, the new poverty hotspots are Africa and Central Asia. Given the World Bank’s mission, the prospect of rising poverty rates in these long-focused regions should spur the Bank to action.

“Of course, there are many reasons to be skeptical of these forecasts. But we can supplement the projected trends with evidence of changes in national wealth per capita, including private assets such as homes and public assets such as infrastructure,” Collier said.

As imperfect as this measure may be, by looking at how assets have changed, we get some clues about how incomes will change in the future. In both the old normal and the new normal, the assets of the bottom billion remained virtually flat, while assets per capita in emerging markets grew rapidly, at 3% or more per year. The assets of the lucky billion living in the developed world grew comfortably, at about 2% per year.

People in the bottom billion are poorer than the rest of humanity. By 2020, the average fortune billion had $500,000 in assets per capita. The emerging market average had jumped to $85,000, and was on track to catch up with the fortune billion within a generation.

But people in the bottom billion have less than one-thirtieth of the fortune billion’s assets, and the fortune billion’s assets are growing only slowly.

Rather than prompting questions about why its approach was failing to achieve its stated purpose, in the early 2020s the Bank decided to change its stated purpose. The World Bank’s goal would no longer be a world free of global poverty – nor would it even be able to measure it.

Its goal would simply be to reduce the number of people living below a certain country-specific income threshold. If that number was falling, the Bank would declare victory: its programs in that country must be working.

This was not demanding enough that most programs would get a passing grade most years—even in Africa and Central Asia—so that everyone could relax. To avoid a troubled career, an employee assigned to one country that was not currently getting a passing grade would simply need to move to another country as quickly as possible.

Because everyone would be playing this game, the less experienced employees would end up working with the less capable in the more difficult countries.

Clearly, as the premier global institution, the World Bank must aim for global convergence: that is its core mission. The countries that have fallen behind to become the poorest must not merely avoid hunger or meet a low bureaucratic threshold—they must grow faster than other groups.

The failure of these programs, with the exception of one golden decade that had nothing to do with development projects, should be cause for serious soul-searching and sober reassessment at the Bank, reinforced by genuine concern about the prospects of the world’s poorest countries.

The World Bank might look to its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, for an example of this kind of soul-searching. It happened in 2018 under then-IMF chief Christine Lagarde, now head of the European Central Bank. In an independent evaluation of its performance, the IMF found that in fragile states, only one in seven of its support and advice programs were successful.

This led to a major research study, published in 2021, that concluded that programs should last longer and be better tailored to the local context. The first fruits of this work were the agreement just reached with Ethiopia last month.

But in its policies toward persistently slow-growth countries in Africa and Central Asia, the IMF is hampered by a mandate that focuses solely on financial stability, not economic development. The development mandate falls to the World Bank—and that’s where it stops.

But instead of acknowledging a half-century of failure, discovering its causes, and launching a process of comprehensive institutional change, the World Bank made the sinister choice of redefining its purpose into something more easily achievable than economic development and income convergence.

It simply changed its poverty measures so that it would no longer have to report rising global poverty rates. Before the bank had finished this scandalous exercise, international outrage over its failure to respond to the multiple crises engulfing poor countries had reached its board of directors.

The board correctly judged the bank to have been slow to disburse funds that could have enabled the governments of the poorest countries to prevent their economies from collapsing. In February 2023, under humiliating circumstances, World Bank President David Malpass was forced to resign.

The move may finally prompt the bank to engage in the same soul-searching that the IMF has undergone. With its vast financial resources and highly skilled staff, the World Bank has a noble mission to fulfill.

Will its new president have the ambition to chart a bold new course—or will he retreat to the defensive amid a beleaguered bureaucracy?   08/25/2024 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=46711

BRICS Launching New Stablecoin Pegged By Chinese Yuan & Gold-Backed Currency!

BRICS Launching New Stablecoin Pegged By Chinese Yuan & Gold-Backed Currency!

We Love Africa:  8-25-2024

What will the new Brics currency look like?

Until now, there have been speculations about whether Brics will launch a new currency in competition with the US dollar or not.

Even though there were official talks on launching a new payment system, like SWIFT, no official news came about Brics currency. But things have changed now.

 Brics is thinking of various options, considering what to use to peg the new currency. In this respect, Russia has increased its efforts and wants to launch the currency before its chairmanship ends this year.

 As of now, Brics has proposed either launching a cryptocurrency pegged by the Chinese Yuan or a whole new currency pegged by gold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKYqgxeZiL4

“Tidbits From TNT” Sunday 8-25-2024

TNT:

Tishwash:  Economist talks about the mechanism for reviving the Iraqi economy

Economic expert Mustafa Hantoush said today: "What the Central Bank of Iraq is doing by empowering foreign banks or foreign investors at the expense of the Iraqi banking system is a fatal blow to future opportunities to advance the Iraqi economy through the banking system."

According to his statement to Mawazine News Agency, the expert Hantoush described the experiences of foreign banks or foreign investors who own national banks as failed experiments, pointing out that they have caused financial disasters for many countries.

The economic expert explained: "Most countries in the world give a very specific percentage to foreign investors in the banking sector in order to preserve capital and profits as an economic cycle within the country."  link

Tishwash:  Mohammed bin Rashid: Iraq has become the first destination for UAE exports

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum confirmed today, Sunday, that Iraq has become the first destination for Emirati exports by 41%.

Bin Rashid said, via the (X) platform: "Several years ago, we announced our national economic goals.. and announced that our foreign trade target for the year 2031 is 4 trillion dirhams annually, a goal that represented a major challenge at the time."

He added, "Today, our economic relations with various countries have been consolidated, as our trade with India has increased by 10%.. with Turkey by 15%.. and with Iraq by 41% to become the first destination for Emirati exports, followed by India, Turkey and others."  link

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

Tishwash:  To deter escalation and protect his country's forces.. A senior American general visits the Middle East

A senior US general is scheduled to tour the Middle East to emphasize the importance of deterring escalation and protecting US forces in the region. The

US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday that General CQ Brown will visit Egypt, Jordan and Israel in the coming days, where he will meet with his counterparts and a number of officials to discuss the situation and tensions in the region. The

Joint Chiefs of Staff statement indicated that Brown's visit demonstrates the long-term US commitment to the Middle East.

The statement stressed that General Brown will reaffirm the importance of deterring escalation and protecting US forces in the region, and Washington's support for Israel in defending itself and coordinating efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians.

The statement also explained that the visit reflects the importance of reaching an agreement that returns the hostages, ends the violence and allows the entire region to focus on the next steps towards a more secure and stable Middle East. link

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

Tishwash:  Rafidain warns of the risks of accessing customers' personal and financial information

Rafidain Bank warned, today, Saturday, of the risks of accessing customers’ personal and financial information through electronic and telephone fraud.

The bank stated in a statement received by {Euphrates News} a copy of it, that: "It is keen to educate its customers and the public about sound practices in using electronic services in general, and to direct the customer to take caution and care, to ward off the risks that may result from any attempts to access the customer's personal and financial information, through electronic fraud, telephone fraud, viruses and spyware, and identity theft."

Rafidain Bank advised its customers to: "Adhere to the following instructions:

- Avoid easy knowledge of the password, maintain its confidentiality, avoid using common and well-known passwords that are easy to predict, and change them periodically.

The bank advises its customers - for their security and safety - to refrain from using known information such as date of birth, phone number, or any part of the customer's name that is easily recognizable as a password.

- Avoid disclosing the password and personal data and maintain the confidentiality of the salary card number (Master or Visa Card), Internet banking, and the mobile banking application, and not to disclose them even to bank employees.

- Update the customer's information and data, whether his salary is domiciled or otherwise, whenever there is a change through the branches.

- Continuously verify your account movements (via account statement, movements in the mobile application), and if you doubt any of them, review your branch or the Banking Awareness and Public Protection Department in the General Administration of the Bank.

The bank noted "examples of fraudulent messages:

Phishing messages..
- These messages are sent to you by impersonating an employee at your bank, where he sends you messages asking you for information about your bank account or credit card under the pretext of verifying its numbers.
- Fraud through the trick of browsing your account
- Many users have been trapped on social networks through the trick of "Find out who browsed your account on Facebook" or any other social network.

Prize winning messages..
- Such messages claim that you have won valuable prizes or a trip to a certain country, and the sender of the message asks you to pay a certain amount to receive your prize, never do that.
- Fundraising fraud.
- Collecting money in a deceptive manner, as these scammers publish fake stories about a patient in need of treatment or a poor family or others and ask for donations from social media users.

Online job offers:
- If you apply for a job online, you will definitely be asked to fill out an application form. You can do so, but be careful not to write down your bank account number and credit card.
Tips to protect yourself from fraud attempts:
- Do not interact with people who ask you to pay a small amount of money to get a prize or gift or other offers.
- Do not agree to transfer a conversation with a specific person outside of social networks, such as communicating via WhatsApp or providing this person's email address.
- Verify the identity of people who message you due to an emergency while claiming to be your friends or relatives.
- Messages that include spelling and grammatical errors are always suspicious and you should be careful of them.
- If you want to provide help or assistance, do so through official and trusted sources.
- Do not trust pages that represent large companies or public figures that you have not verified.
- Do not trust any social pages that claim that they will make you a quick profit through the Internet or work from home.
- Do not click on links that you receive via WhatsApp or social networks or those that are published in comments. 

Rafidain Bank called on its customers to "take precautions and be careful to avoid falling victim to criminal methods that aim to defraud citizens and steal their money by people impersonating employees working in financial institutions, international institutions or private companies, and then doing the following:

- Communicating with customers via social media (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) under the pretext of providing financial assistance and prizes or monthly salaries for a specific period, in exchange for obtaining the personal information of the customer and the data and image of the bank card granted to him and the secret number and OTP verification code.

- Using the data and information necessary to create accounts in the name of customers or modify their account data or update their data or request the number that will be sent to you by SMS, and then carrying out electronic transfer operations for the purposes of paying bills and purchases and charging mobile phone balances or making electronic money transfers to other people.

Communicating with the beneficiaries of financial transfers under the pretext of executing them in their favor by mistake, and then asking them to reverse the amount by transferring to a specific account or charging a specific phone balance.  link

Mot: Guys!! -- Beeeee sure and Take Notes!!!! 

Economist’s “News and Views” Sunday 8-25-2024

CHINA To Leave World Bank: A New Financial System?

Fastepo:  8-25-2024

The World Bank has faced ongoing criticism from Global South nations regarding its lending practices and the conditions tied to financial support.

Developing countries have called for a fairer global financial system, pointing to the negative effects of the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) of the 1980s and 1990s, which were intended to stabilize economies but often deepened poverty and inequality in regions like sub-Saharan Africa.

A 2002 UNICEF report noted that 60% of countries implementing SAPs saw reduced access to essential services, contributing to long-term instability.

Another issue is the loss of sovereignty imposed by World Bank loans, with nations like Ghana and Zambia forced to adopt austerity measures that sparked unrest.

Environmental and social concerns have also arisen, as World Bank projects in Indonesia and Ethiopia have been linked to deforestation, displacement, and ecosystem damage.

 Additionally, the bank's decision-making is seen as disproportionately influenced by powerful Global North shareholders like the U.S. and Japan, leading to accusations that the bank prioritizes wealthier nations' interests over those of developing countries.

Critics argue that the World Bank's efforts to address past mistakes have been inadequate. Despite creating an Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) to review projects, a 2020 report found that only 45% of recommendations had been fully implemented, raising doubts about the bank’s commitment to reform.

 This criticism has intensified due to perceived inequalities in global financial aid, particularly during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, where aid pledges to African and Latin American countries were seen as insufficient compared to the swift support for Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion.

 In response to these challenges, China, alongside other BRICS nations, led the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2016.

The AIIB aims to provide a more equitable alternative to the World Bank, focusing on the infrastructure needs of the Global South.

With a capital base of $100 billion and over 100 member states, the AIIB has emerged as a credible competitor to traditional Western-dominated financial institutions, signaling a shift in the global economic order.

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

ANOTHER Currency Is FAILING In Front Of Our Eyes...

Lynette Zang:  8-24-2024

Today's video is about Ethiopia's Birr and it's recent plummet. Could it be failing? And could this be a sign for what's ahead for the dollar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up-SADPfOww

PetroYuan Plans?| Saudi Arabia - China Ties Are Expected to Strengthen Crude Oil Trade in Yuan

Lena Petrova:  8-25-2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUKfPzmdJh8

Iraq Economic News and Points To Ponder Late Saturday Evening 8-24-24

The Dollar's Sudden Fall Against The Iraqi Dinar: What Are The Markets Hiding?
 
Last updated: August 18, 2024  Independent/- The exchange rates of the US dollar witnessed a noticeable decline against the Iraqi dinar in the markets of the capital, Baghdad and Erbil, on Sunday morning, which raised questions about the reasons for this decline and its possible repercussions on the local economy.
 
With the opening of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges in Baghdad, dollar prices recorded a noticeable decline, as the exchange rate reached 149,500 dinars for every 100 dollars, compared to the price of 149,800 dinars for every 100 dollars the previous day.

his decline reflects a noticeable shift in the exchange market that may have long-term effects on the Iraqi economy.
 
In the local markets in Baghdad, exchange rates in banking shops also witnessed a decline, with the selling price reaching 150,500 dinars and the purchasing price 148,500 dinars for every 100 dollars.
 
This slight decrease may be an indication of market volatility or changes in supply and demand for the dollar.
 
In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, money exchange shops recorded a slight decrease in the price of the dollar, as the selling price reached 149,500 dinars and the purchase price reached 149,400 dinars for every 100 dollars.
 
This decrease, although slight, reflects a similar movement in the region's markets and may have impacts on trade and local economic activity.
 
Possible Reasons For Decline:
 
    Government or central intervention: This decline could be the result of intervention measures by the Central Bank of Iraq or the government to contain market fluctuations and enhance the stability of the dinar.
 
    Global Economic Changes: There may be an impact from global changes in oil prices or US economic policies that may contribute to exchange rate fluctuations.
 
    Adjustments in supply and demand: Changes in supply and demand for the dollar in local markets can play an important role in moving prices.
 
Possible Repercussions:
 
The decline in dollar prices may have positive and negative repercussions on the Iraqi economy.
 
On the one hand, the decline may contribute to supporting the purchasing power of the dinar and reduce inflationary pressures.
 
On the other hand, this change may raise concerns about market stability and potential impacts on trade and investment.

Future Prospects:
 
Although the current decline in dollar prices may be an indication of the beginning of a change in the market, the continuation of this trend depends on several factors, including local economic policies and global conditions.
 
The coming weeks will remain crucial in determining whether this decline will continue or if it is just a temporary fluctuation in the markets.
 
These transformations raise questions about the strategies of the Iraqi economy and the extent of their impact on the daily lives of citizens, which makes it necessary to follow economic developments closely to know their full repercussions.    https://mustaqila.com/هبوط-الدولار-المفاجئ-أمام-الدينار-الع/   

Iraq Is Among The Countries That Buy The Most Gold In 2024
 
Economy | Today, 09:22 | Baghdad today - follow-up  Recent statistics revealed, today, Saturday (August 24, 2024), that  Iraq ranked ninth globally among the 10 countries that bought the most gold this year, and  what is meant by gold is the conversion of foreign cash reserves into gold.

 According to statistics,  Iraq bought 100 tons of gold this year,
 
coming ninth out of the 10 countries that bought the most gold this year, compared to 1,298 tons bought by Russia, as amid escalating geopolitical tensions and economic fluctuations, interest in buying gold is increasing.
 
Gold reached an all-time high of $2,531.75 per ounce after surpassing $2,500 for the first time this month amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve is close to cutting interest rates.   
 
https://baghdadtoday.news/256384-العراق-ضمن-أكثر-الدول-شراءً-للذهب-خلال-2024.html   
 
More Than 100 Tons.. Iraq Is The Ninth Largest Buyer Of Gold In 2024
 
Economy     2024-08-24 | 2,315 views  Alsumaria News-Economy   Iraq ranked ninth globally among the 10 countries that bought the most gold this year.
 
What is meant by gold is the conversion of foreign monetary reserves into gold, not the gold of goldsmiths and citizens.

Iraq bought 100 tons of gold this year, coming ninth out of the 10 countries that bought the most gold this year, compared to 1,298 tons bought by Russia, as amid escalating geopolitical tensions and economic fluctuations, interest in buying gold is increasing.
 
This comes as the price of the precious metal reached an all-time high of $2,531.75 per ounce after surpassing $2,500 for the first time this month amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve is close to cutting interest rates.
 
The price of bullion usually benefits from low interest rates, and central banks hold gold reserves because of its strong collateral, liquidity and yield characteristics.
 
https://www.alsumaria.tv/news/economy/497884/أكثر-من-100-طن-العراق-تاسع-أكبر-مشترٍ-للذهب-في-2024 

Oil Prices Rise More Than 1 Percent As Dollar Falls

Saturday 24 August 2024 00:11 | Economic Number of readings: 321  Baghdad / NINA / Oil prices rose by more than one percent on Friday, with the decline of the dollar.

Brent crude futures rose 95 cents, or 1.23 percent, to $78.17 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.06, or 1.45 percent, to $74.07 a barrel. "

Brent crude futures fell about two percent since the beginning of the week, while West Texas Intermediate crude lost more than three percent." https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1149395

Economist Talks About The Mechanism For Reviving The Iraqi Economy

Economy   | 08/24/2024  Mawazine News – Baghdad  Economic expert Mustafa Hantoush said today: "What the Central Bank of Iraq is doing by empowering foreign banks or foreign investors at the expense of the Iraqi banking system is a fatal blow to future opportunities to advance the Iraqi economy through the banking system."

According to his statement to Mawazine News Agency, the expert Hantoush described the experiences of foreign banks or foreign investors who own national banks as failed experiments, pointing out that they have caused financial disasters for many countries.

The economic expert explained: "Most countries in the world give a very specific percentage to foreign investors in the banking sector in order to preserve capital and profits as an economic cycle within the country   https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=253831

Iraq And America To Resume Negotiations On The Banking Sector Next Monday

Banks  Economy News – Baghdad  A delegation from the Central Bank of Iraq is traveling to the United States of America to resume negotiations on the banking sector.

An informed source told Al-Eqtisad News that a delegation from the Central Bank of Iraq will begin negotiations with the American side on August 26 in America.

He added that the Central Bank has moved towards signing a contract with the international company Oliver Wyman to present a plan on reforming the private banking sector, within the next six months.

He pointed out that the proposed plan includes merging some banks or cancelling the licenses of some banks.  358 views   08/24/2024 - https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=46669

More than one billion dollars in sales of the Central Bank of Iraq during a week

Time: 2024/08/24 Read: 1,287 times  {Economic: Al Furat News} The total sales of hard currency by the Central Bank of Iraq during the past week, which was opened in the auction last week, amounted to more than one billion dollars.

Sources reported that the Central Bank sold during the past week and for the 5 days in which the auction was opened, one billion, 135 million, 635 thousand, and 274 dollars, at a daily rate of 277 million, 127 million, and 456 dollars, lower sales than the previous week, which amounted to one billion, 384 million, 31 million, and 47 dollars .

The highest dollar sales were on Wednesday, when they reached 283 million, 616 thousand, and 416 dollars, while the lowest sales were on Tuesday, when sales reached 268 million, 304 thousand, and 25 dollars .

Foreign remittance sales during the past week amounted to 1 billion, 66 million, 985 thousand, and 274 dollars, an increase of 94% compared to cash sales, which amounted to 68 million, 650 thousand dollars .LINK

For current and reliable Iraqi news please visit:  https://www.bondladyscorner.com/