Iraqi News Highlights and Points to Ponder Thursday AM 2-8-24
A Former Central Bank Official Rules Out The Collapse Of The Iraqi Banking System As A Result Of US Sanctions
2024-02-08 Shafaq News/ Mahmoud Dagher, an economist and former general director of the Central Bank, ruled out, on Thursday, the collapse of the banking system in Iraq following the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on a group of banks in the country.
Dagher said in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, “The collapse of the banking system due to these sanctions and restrictions will not happen despite the continued pressure of this intensity that is harming these banks.”
He added that there are no real reasons for these sanctions, adding that the US Treasury only restricted these banks from obtaining the dollar.
Dagher stated, “Because there are no reasons, and because the case is suspicious, it is not a penalty, but rather a restriction on those banks, but it results in harm to them, to the people, and to the import financing process.”
He stated that the penalties came based on the banks’ dealings with suspicious financial transfers during the past year 2023.
The day before yesterday, Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, called on the United States of America to reconsider the sanctions imposed on 21 Iraqi banks that contribute to financing the food basket items for families with limited income, as the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.
In July 2023, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks in a crackdown on Iran’s dollar transactions.
An official document issued by the Central Bank of Iraq this February showed that 8 Iraqi banks were banned from participating in the foreign currency buying and selling window.
Iraq has more than 70 private banks, a relatively new feature in a sector that was almost entirely under state control until the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime after the US invasion in 2003. LINK
Cairo Fines Baghdad A Billion Dollars Following A Contract That Was “Not Implemented”..Parliamentary Doubts About “Selling The File”
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad Baghdad lost about a billion dollars to Cairo for not complying with a contract with an Egyptian company concluded in 2001 that it did not implement, in a case before a court in Cairo, in which the complainant and the lawyers were Egyptian, according to a member of the Parliamentary Transport and Communications Committee.
According to a decision by the Egyptian Arbitration Court, Iraq must pay $927 million in compensation to an Egyptian aviation services company called “Horse” that was previously contracted with, but the Iraqi Airways Company and the Ministry of Transport did not comply with it.
In this context, a member of the Parliamentary Economics and Communications Committee, Karwan Yarois, explains that there are doubts that “the file was sold in some way because it is not true,” according to the Rudaw network.
He pointed out that “the complainant is an Egyptian company, and the arbitration court is in Egypt, and the Iraqi lawyer’s team consists of two Egyptian lawyers, one of whom is an employee of Iraqi Airlines itself.”
It is not permissible in law for an employee to “practice law at the same time,” according to Karwan Yarois, who revealed that the Egyptian employee “was contracted as a lawyer in the case for $400,000.”
Information indicates that the value of the contract amounted to $97 million, while compensation was set at $927 million.
For its part, the Iraqi government began negotiations with the Egyptian government to pay this amount through crude oil.
In turn, Yasser Al-Husseini, a member of the Parliamentary Economics Committee, confirms that the compensation “burdens the government’s burden and causes a waste of public money and many financial violations, and next week we will have an announced position on all issues and take it towards the judiciary and the government to address this matter”…
The decision of the Egyptian Arbitration Court to impose compensation of $927 million on Iraq because of the “Horse” company comes while it had been classified by an Egyptian court decision on (October 25, 2015) as a company affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and included in the list of banned companies.
According to follow-ups conducted by the Iraqi Parliament, the contract dates back to 2001, and the previous regime concluded it for the motive of espionage and for political purposes, but in 2005 Iraq renewed this contract again, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars.
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Monday: The Launch Of The World Government Summit In Dubai
Thursday 08, February 2024 | General Number of readings: 278 [rtl]Dubai / NINA / The World Government Summit will kick off in Dubai next Monday under the slogan “Foreseeing the Governments of the Future” and will last for three days.
The new edition of the summit explores future opportunities and challenges and the most prominent challenges facing the world in a number of pressing issues. It also discusses ways to reach common visions to advance government work, strengthen cooperation between governments of the world, exchange experiences, and focus on inspiring stories and models in government work that have left positive impacts and brought about change. Real in the reality of their countries and societies.
The summit brings together 120 government delegations and more than 85 international and regional organizations and global institutions, in addition to an elite group of global thought leaders and experts, in the presence of more than 4,000 participants.
In its new session, the summit includes 6 main themes and 15 global forums that discuss major global future trends and transformations in more than 110 main dialogue and interactive sessions, in which 200 international personalities, including presidents, ministers, experts, thinkers and future makers, speak, in addition to holding more than 23 ministerial meetings. An executive session was attended by more than 300 ministers.
The summit launches 25 strategic reports in cooperation with knowledge partners from think tanks and academic and research institutions, with the aim of studying global trends in various sectors and providing implementable government strategies. https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?Key=1105463
Washington’s Sanctions Restrict Baghdad’s Economy.. Banks Are In A “Dilemma” And The Iraqi Central Bank Is A “Spectator”
Posted On 02-08-2024 By Sotaliraq February 7 The banking sector in Iraq is experiencing unenviable days, as a result of the succession of US sanctions on banks one after another, which portends an economic “disaster” that the government will face sooner or later, with exchange rates fluctuating above the barrier of 150,000 for every 100 dollars.
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 14 banks, according to what was revealed by the Wall Street Journal, and these sanctions come months after similar sanctions were imposed on 4 other Iraqi banks after they were accused of various pretexts and pretexts, including money laundering.
The US sanctions are raising a new wave of concern among Iraqis, especially since all government measures during the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani did not succeed in bringing the parallel exchange rate closer to the official rate.
Earlier today, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on Iraqi banks.
Member of the House of Representatives, Zainab Al-Moussawi, revealed the reason for the US Treasury Department placing economic sanctions on some Iraqi banks, and while she described Washington’s arguments as “false,” she stressed the necessity of getting rid of Iraq’s dependence on the dollar.
Al-Moussawi said, in an interview, that “the American administration always resorts to punishing Iraq by placing solid institutions under the control of the Iraqi state, as it did recently by placing several banks on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list under a false pretext with no concrete evidence.”
She adds, “Washington is working to punish Iraqi banks in order to reduce the value of the Iraqi dinar and raise the value of the US dollar in a move to humiliate Iraq and request assistance from Washington in supplying the country with foreign currency.”
The member of the House of Representatives stresses “the necessity of changing Iraq’s dependence on the dollar by selling crude oil, the only source of the Iraqi state, and selling it in other foreign currencies such as the Chinese yuan, the Russian ruble, and other currencies that have strength and authority in global markets, and leaving American hegemony over the Iraqi economy.”
Al-Mousawi explains, “The US Treasury sanctions will obstruct the flow of remittances, afflict the Iraqi banking sector with chaos, and also affect the internal exchange rate greatly, and this is what Washington is currently following LINK
Parliamentary Bodies Talk About “Boycotting The American Ambassador” And Clarify “Washington’s Agenda” In Baghdad
Politics |Baghdad Today – Baghdad Parliamentary authorities confirmed that the decision to boycott US Ambassador Elena Romanski already exists, while referring to the “Washington agenda”, which it wants to implement in Baghdad.
A member of the coordination framework, Muhammad Al-Baldawi, said today, Thursday (February 8, 2024), that “boycotting the meeting with the American ambassador to Iraq is an existing decision and it is a general trend in response to violations, but the issue went beyond the topic of the meeting, whether it should remain or be recalled.”
Al-Baldawi added in an interview with “Baghdad Today”: “We are facing major crimes committed by Washington against the leaders of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Iraqi resistance factions through the attempt of the evil state – in reference to America – to drag Iraq and the region into war and ignite strife in implementation of its policies of setting fires in countries.” .
He pointed out, “Although the Iraqi resistance factions and their coordination have suspended targeting the American occupation bases, the latter is working with all its efforts to drag the factions, the resistance and Iraq into the war,” pointing out that “it is necessary to send an urgent message to the United Nations, the Security Council, and the coalition leadership to withdraw the forces present in “The country.”
He stated, “It is necessary for the United Nations to work in accordance with the Charter and hold accountable the countries that ignite wars in the region,” noting that “what happened yesterday is aggression and a blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty that cannot be tolerated, and the removal of American forces is a national demand of all factions.”
On (January 28, 2024), the independent representative in the Iraqi parliament, Sajjad Salem, commented on the formation of a joint military committee between Iraq and the United States of America in order to remove foreign forces from Iraqi territory.
Salem told “Baghdad Today”, “According to the strategic framework agreement between Baghdad and Washington, there are joint committees between the two parties, and these committees discuss security and military preparations, discuss threats, and end the work of the international coalition and remove foreign forces from the work and jurisdiction of the Iraqi security forces. They are Those most capable of identifying Iraq still need the presence of international coalition forces and to estimate the extent of the risks and threats that Iraq faces.”
He added, “The formation of a joint military committee between Iraq and the United States of America came due to the recent events that Iraq witnessed, including escalation between some factions and the Americans and mutual bombing operations, but whether American forces remain or not must be according to the estimates of the Iraqi forces, as this is a technical and security aspect.” “It must be far from whims and political agenda.”
On January 27, 2024, the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq and the United States was launched to end the mission of the international coalition against ISIS, which Baghdad hopes will lead to a gradual reduction of coalition forces on its territory. LINK
Iran Has The Least Share In Kurdistan. Most Investors Are Lebanese And Turkish, With $10 Billion
Posted On 02-08-2024 By Sotaliraq The Kurdistan Investment Authority says that foreign companies have implemented 45 projects since 2006 with a capital amounting to $10 billion, most of them Turkish and Lebanese, while confirming the participation of America and Iran in this.
Pashtwan Hama Saeed – Director of the Kurdistan Investment Authority, Network 964:
The volume of foreign investment in Kurdistan amounts to $10 billion, and the foreign companies investing in the region are Turkish, Iranian, Lebanese, Russian, Emirati, American and Chinese.
From 2006 until the end of 2023, foreign companies implemented 45 investment projects with a capital of $10 billion in the region.
Turkish companies occupy first place in the region’s investments with 17 projects, followed by Lebanese companies with 10 projects, while Iranian companies have the lowest “independent shares” in the region.
Recently, 29 joint projects were agreed upon between Iraqi and foreign companies in the Kurdistan region. LINK
