Iraq Economic News and Points To Ponder Late Friday Evening 7-4-25

Al-Sudani’s Advisor Explains The Reasons For The Delay In The 2025 Budget Schedules.

Money and Business  Economy News – Baghdad  The Prime Minister’s financial advisor, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, explained on Friday the reasons for the delay in submitting the budget schedules, while stressing that the government has succeeded in managing the country’s financial and economic policy.

Saleh told the official agency, followed by “Al-Eqtisad News”, that “reading the financial compass, which required submitting the 2025 budget tables for legal approval in accordance with Article 77/Second of the Budget Law, was truly delayed for two fundamental reasons.

The first is waiting for the amendment to the three-year general budget law related to the values ​​of the region’s oil contracts and the costs of transporting its oil, which were not approved until last February.

The other reason relates to the fluctuations that global energy markets were exposed to and the effects of global oil prices on the general budget, which also required rereading some financial constants and variables, whether revenues, expenditures, financing the deficit and its sources, more than once due to international geopolitical and economic problems and the major issues that occurred in the global economy at an accelerating pace, which led to the generation of volatile shocks in close periods of the current fiscal year, which necessitated hedging against external shocks.”

He added that “all these factors led to the delay in submitting budget schedules to review some of its inputs and outputs,” noting that “there is significant and ongoing cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities in monitoring and managing the country’s financial affairs, with understanding, interaction, and optimization of great importance to ensuring the economic stability the country is experiencing.”

Regarding the impact of delayed budget schedules on projects included in the investment section, Saleh pointed out that, “Based on the Federal General Budget Law No. 13 of 2023, the three-year budget, the federal financial policy was formed based on an approach called ‘fiscal space’, which gave it the high capacity to move dozens of approved and previously suspended strategic government projects forward into implementation.

This is what distinguished it with a highly active development wheel in implementing service projects that the country is witnessing without interruption, and its results have become tangible thanks to the success of the three-year budget, in addition to the major projects approved in the 2023 and 2024 budget schedules, which are currently ongoing without interruption.

” He stressed that “the state’s investment approach is proceeding in line with the sustainability of economic development and in accordance with the high positive results currently achieved in growth rates and the great economic stability that the country is witnessing, whether in terms of declining unemployment rates, increasing economic growth, and price stability, in an active and compatible trilogy achieved as a result of the success of the country’s financial and economic policy without interruption in the wheels of public spending, including the current year 2025.”

He continued, “As far as the rights and entitlements acquired in the operational aspect of the general budget are concerned, but have not been disbursed and are contingent upon the submission of the 2025 financial schedules, these are legally protected rights reserved for their beneficiaries and are not subject to statute of limitations.

They are merely a matter of timing and will be disbursed upon the approval of these schedules or any adjustment that does not conflict with the law.” 300 views  https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=56975

Central Bank: The National Electronic Payment Card Project Is A Local Option And Will Be Exclusively In Dinars

Friday, July 4, 2025| Economic Number of reads: 126   Baghdad / NINA / The Central Bank of Iraq confirmed, today, Friday: “The National Electronic Payment Card project is a local option and exclusively in dinars.”

A statement by the bank said: “The National Electronic Payment Card project is an additional local option used within Iraq exclusively and in Iraqi dinars and does not cancel or restrict existing international cards such as Visa and Mastercard, and there are no plans to cancel these cards or ban dealing in dollars outside Iraq.” / End   https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?key=1238995

The Yellow Metal Continues To Rise Due To Concerns About Financial Stability.

economy | 04/07/2025  Mawazine News – Follow-up:  Gold prices rose in trading on Friday, amid expectations of continued gains in the coming days, after the US Congress passed a tax and spending cut bill supported by President Donald Trump, which raised concerns about financial stability.

Spot gold prices rose 0.1% to $3,329.67 per ounce by 02:21 a.m. GMT, while the precious metal gained 1.7% this week.

Despite these gains, US gold futures fell 0.1% to $3,339.30 per ounce, according to Reuters.

Analysts said that Trump’s adherence to a July 9 deadline for reimposing tariffs could weaken the dollar, supporting gold prices further.

On April 2, Trump announced the imposition of reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10% to 50%, before temporarily reducing them to 10% until July 9 to allow time for negotiations.
Gold is a prominent safe-haven asset during times of geopolitical and economic tensions and typically performs strongly in the face of low interest rates.

Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.5% to $36.66 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.7% to $1,376.67, and palladium fell 0.6% to $1,130.60. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=263431

Stability Of Oil Prices In Global Markets

economy | 11:43 – 04/07/2025   Mawazine News – Follow-up  Oil prices were little changed on Friday, as a stable US labor market bolstered the Federal Reserve’s stance on keeping interest rates unchanged, while investors awaited clarity on President Donald Trump’s plans for tariffs on various countries.

Brent crude futures rose one cent, or 0.01%, to $68.81 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose three cents, or 0.04%, to $67.03. Trading was thin due to the US Independence Day holiday. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=263439

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