Iraqi News Highlights and Points to Ponder Wednesday AM 11-29-23
The Dollar Falls To Its Lowest Levels In 4 Months
Arab and international Economy News _ Baghdad The price of the US dollar fell to its lowest levels since the beginning of last August as swaps traders intensified their bets that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by next May.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell for a fifth day, pressured by recession fears and more dovish comments from the Federal Reserve, which led investors to bet that the US central bank will be forced to retreat from the most aggressive monetary tightening cycle since the 1980s.
In a related context, the New Zealand dollar led gains among its G10 peers after the country’s central bank warned of the possibility of raising interest rates further during the next year, while the Japanese yen rose to its highest level in two months with the decline of concerns about rising US interest rates.
“Dollar weakness will continue until market expectations of the Fed change, and this could be the main focus in 2024,” Win Thien, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, wrote in a note. “As the dollar rises, it will take some strong real economic data to change the Fed’s current more dovish outlook.”Views 21 11/29/2023 – https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=37955
Parliamentary Finance: The Government Will Reduce Circulating Liquidity By 10% Next Year
Information / Baghdad.. Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mudar Al-Karawi, confirmed on Wednesday the government’s intention to reduce the liquidity circulating in Iraq by 10% during 2024.
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Al-Karawi said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, “The Sudanese government has begun adopting a series of economic solutions aimed at electronic transition in paying wages and services to government institutions, including gas stations, via modern cards to reduce money circulation mechanisms.”
He added, “Beginning the electronic transition in the circulation of funds in state institutions has several positives that lie in economic advantages in terms of reducing cash liquidity and transferring it to an electronic nature, which will be more controlled, not to mention its contribution to strengthening the financial balances in banks and banks.”
He pointed out that “the government’s programs will reduce the liquidity circulating among citizens by at least 10% during 2024 if they are implemented in practice.”
The Ministry of Oil approved programs to pay fuel refueling fees via electronic cards, in a step that is the first of its kind in Iraq. Ended 25 February LINK
The Iraqi Government Takes A Number Of Decisions Regarding Airports, The Dollar, And General Managers
WEDNESDAY, 11-29-2023, KARAR AL-ASSADI The Iraqi Council of Ministers took a number of decisions related to the operation of airports, loans, and dealing in the US dollar, the most prominent of which was the approval to separate the management of Iraqi airports from the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and link it to the Ministry of Transport, in addition to approving the dismissal and rotation of 12 general directors within the third round for evaluating general directors.
This came during its forty-eighth regular session, which was chaired by Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Media Office, a copy of which was received by Noon News Agency, the session witnessed a discussion of developments in the general situation throughout the country, and a discussion of the progress of implementation of the government program, with its various files and service and political axes, in addition to deliberating on the topics on the agenda, and take the necessary decisions thereon.
In the field of administrative reform, the Council of Ministers approved the dismissal and rotation of (12) general directors, as part of the third phase of evaluating general directors in ministries and entities not affiliated with a ministry, by adopting the standards and mechanisms prepared by the committee formed in accordance with Diwani Order (23059), to evaluate the work and performance of general directors. .
Within the framework of financial and economic reform, the Council of Ministers approved the recommendations of the minutes of the meeting held in the Ministry of Planning regarding amending Paragraph No. (1) of Council of Ministers Resolution (23545 of 2023), according to the following:
1. Commitment that all state contracts executed inside Iraq be in Iraqi dinars, with the exception of:
a. Continuing contracts on external grants and loans and agreements continue to operate in accordance with the loan or grant agreement.
B. Contracts that will be concluded after the entry into force of this decision regarding grants, foreign loans, and agreements, the terms of the agreement will be adhered to, if it stipulates that the contracts be in a currency other than the Iraqi dinar, taking into account what was stated in the circular of the Ministry of Finance on April 27, 2023.
2. The beneficiary party may open a documentary credit for the purposes of importing materials from outside Iraq for the duly contracted project.
3. The beneficiary party may transfer the salaries and wages of foreign workers in the project, as well as companies’ dues and profits in foreign currency, in accordance with the controls of the Central Bank of Iraq.
The Council of Ministers approved the recommendation of the Ministerial Council for the Economy (230272 Q) as follows:
1. The Ministry of Finance’s contribution in the amount of one million dollars, to be paid in two equal installments during the years (2024 and 2025), and the method of payment should be in cash, and the date of the first payment is April 15, 2024.
2. The Ministry of Finance contributes to the (Special Program to Strengthen the Crisis Response Window CRW).
3. The Minister of Finance, in her capacity as Governor of Iraq in the International Development Bank Group, will complete the procedures for subscribing to the contribution, once the Council of Ministers decision is issued.
As a result of the conditions of water scarcity, and the need to confront torrents and floods and harvest water in the winter of the current year, the Council of Ministers approved the Ministry of Finance to allocate an amount of (25) billion dinars to the Ministry of Water Resources for the maintenance of minor irrigation projects, the maintenance of dams and dams, and the maintenance of drilling and fuel machinery.
The Council of Ministers also approved the recommendations of the Diwani Order Committee (65 of 2022) regarding establishing an appropriate tariff for irrigation fees for agricultural lands, according to what was stated in the minutes of the Ministry of Water Resources, dated October 15, 2023, to be implemented in the coming seasons, taking into account attention. The opinion of the Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, limited to the Ministries of Commerce and Agriculture, regarding paragraph (5) of the recommendations.
In light of the directives of the Prime Minister to support the agricultural sector and mitigate the effects of severe water scarcity, the Council of Ministers approved the following:
1. The Ministry of Planning included the Iraqi side’s share of (15%) of the loan amount regarding the project to use modern irrigation techniques (equipping center-pivot irrigation systems), and determined the amounts in the budget for next year/2024.
2. Approving (2.5%) commission for the Agricultural Equipment Company, one of the formations of the Ministry of Agriculture, on par with what is in effect in the project to use modern irrigation and mechanization techniques in the aforementioned ministry, based on the price policy controls for pricing goods imported from outside Iraq approved by the Council of Ministers/ Economic Affairs Committee, pursuant to its letter dated August 24, 2008.
3. The Ministry of Agriculture contracted with the Austrian company (BAUER), taking into consideration the opinion of the Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
In the same vein, the Council of Ministers approved the recommendation of the Ministerial Council for the Economy (230321 Q) regarding contracting with the Ministry of Industry to equip modern irrigation systems, excluding the Ministry of Agriculture, according to the following:
1. Article (3/ Contracting Methods) contained in the Instructions for Implementing Government Contracts (2 of 2014).
2. Article (7/First) of Section Three of the instructions to facilitate the implementation of the Federal General Budget Law for the three years.
3. Granting the Ministry of Industry and Minerals the financial authority to negotiate prices, quantities and specifications with the Ministry of Agriculture, within the allocation ceiling of only (100) one hundred billion dinars.
4. Adding Support By 30%.
In the air transport and aviation sector, the Council of Ministers approved the following:
1. Separating the Iraqi Airports Administration from the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and linking it to the Ministry of Transport/Navigation Services Company, and the company will be renamed to become (The General Company for Airports and Air Navigation Management), based on the provisions of Article (47/Second)
From the Federal General Budget Law for the fiscal years (2023 – 2024 – 2025).
2. The General Company for Airports and Air Navigation shall take the necessary measures to amend its bylaws and founding statement. To be consistent with the company’s missions.
3. The assets of all Iraqi airports, linked to the Civil Aviation Authority, shall be transferred to the General Company for Airports and Air Navigation, and the services of workers at those airports shall be transferred to this company.
4. The General Company for Airports and Air Navigation shall replace the Civil Aviation Authority in implementing all obligations, technical, legal and financial, concluded with the Authority, taking into account the observations of the Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
5. Forming a joint committee between the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, the Council of Advisors, and the Civil Aviation Authority; To implement the provisions of the decision and its financial, legal and technical implications.
The Council also considered a number of topics on the session’s agenda, and took the following decisions regarding them:
First / Approval of the draft law for the Republic of Iraq’s ratification of the Protocols amending Articles (50/A) and (56) of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) of 1944, signed in Montreal 2016, which was prepared by the Council of State, and referred to the House of Representatives, based on To provisions of the Constitution.
Second: Approval of adding the (Mundhiriya border crossing) in Diyala Governorate, and the (Arar border crossing) in Anbar Governorate, to Paragraph (3) of Cabinet Resolution (23111 of 2023) for importing fertilizer.
Third: Approval of the draft law to compensate the properties of those affected by the defunct regime, which was reviewed by the Council of State, and referred to the House of Representatives, based on the provisions of the Constitution, taking into account the observations of the Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
Fourth: Approval of the draft securities law, which was audited by the State Council, and referring it to the House of Representatives, based on the provisions of the Constitution, taking into account the observations of the Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
Fifth: Approval to authorize the Minister of Transport to negotiate and sign a draft memorandum of understanding regarding the development path, between the Ministry of Transport in the Republic of Iraq and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in the Republic of Turkey, based on the provisions of the Treaty Contracting Law (35 of 2015), taking into account the recommendation The Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. https://non14.net/public/162257
Provoking Points to Ponder on HOPE:
People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have must to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.
Edmund Burke
People who say that life is not worthwhile are really saying that they themselves have no personal goals which are worthwhile. Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project. Always have something ahead of you to ‘look forward to’ – to work for and hope for. — Maxwell Maltz
Beware how you take away hope from another human being. — Oliver Wendell Holmes
