TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Friday Morning 3-22-2024

Tishwash:  Adviser to the Prime Minister: The decline of the dollar is an indicator of the strength of the dinar and a tangible success of the economic policy

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, confirmed the strength of the dinar against the dinar after a relative decline in the exchange rate.

Saleh told {Al-Furat News} agency, “We indicate the strength of the Iraqi dinar, expressed in the decline in the parallel market rates of exchange in favor of the official exchange rate, a tangible success in the cohesion of the country’s economic policy in its three aspects: monetary, financial, and commercial, in providing a coherent climate of stability in the general level of prices.” And containing seasonal price fluctuations for high-demand items, specifically providing basic food commodities that have low price elasticities of demand because they are necessary commodities associated with consumption and daily living.”

He noted “the importance and speed of customs procedures, which were represented by (reducing customs tariffs and diversifying imports without quantitative limits for necessary goods) as part of the performance of the financial policy in supporting price stability and ensuring the supply of food and essential goods and production supplies at the official exchange rate and in accordance with the requirements of the national economy.”

The Parliamentary Finance Committee had expected the dollar price to continue to decline as the results of the measures taken by the Central Bank of Iraq to limit the rise in the foreign currency began to appear.

The dollar exchange rate a few days ago was about 1,500 or 1,490 thousand dinars to the dollar.    link

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 Tishwash: Revealing a move to lift US sanctions on banks

Today, Thursday, a member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Saadoun, revealed a government move to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraqi banks by the US Federal Reserve, while confirming that the joint committees have made great progress in the ongoing negotiations on many files.

In an interview with the Maalouma Agency, Saadoun said, “The file of removing American combat forces is the first file in the negotiations,” noting “the necessity of giving the government a full opportunity in the negotiations with Washington.”

He continued, “The files being discussed now are not limited to combat forces only, but also include the economic and political aspects,” pointing out that “the government’s efforts have begun to lift the sanctions imposed on banks.” 

Saadoun concluded his speech: “The removal of American combat forces has reached advanced stages in terms of setting the timetable and other points,” indicating that “the joint committees have made great strides in the ongoing negotiations on many files.”

The US Treasury Department had imposed sanctions yesterday. On 14 Iraqi banks in order to remove them from the currency auction platform at the Central Bank, and this is what many consider to be a purely political decision to bring the dollar crisis back to the forefront again. link

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CandyKisses:  Iraq opens new consulate in China

Baghdad – Iraq Today:

 The opening of the Iraqi Consulate General in Guangzhou, China, was announced at a ceremony attended by the Director General of the Consular Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wu Xi, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, Lin Tao, and the Iraqi Ambassador to China Saeed Sahud, Consul General in Guangzhou, according to a statement by the Chinese Embassy in Iraq.

“On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wu Xi congratulated the opening of the Consulate General of Iraq in Guangzhou,” the statement said.

The statement quoted Wu Xi as saying, “2024 is a crucial year to comprehensively promote Chinese-style modernization. Under the wise leadership of President Xi Jinping, China strives to promote high-quality development and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

China and Iraq have a deep traditional friendship and have forged a strategic partnership, she said. We believe that the establishment of the Consulate General will provide a new window for mutually beneficial cooperation and friendly exchanges between China and Iraq, according to the statement.

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CandyKisses:  Sudanese adviser reveals benefits of Iraq joining European Bank membership

Mawazine News

The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Finance, Mozhmeh Mohammed Saleh, on Friday summarized the benefits of Iraq joining the membership of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Saleh said, to the official agency of his follower / Mawazine News, that “There is a positive syndrome between building the development strategy embodied today by the government’s philosophy of launching the development initiative with comprehensive sectoral economic links, which is called the project (development road), which is the corridor and strategic project that connects the European Union countries in Asia through Iraq and the Gulf maritime corridors and vice versa on the one hand

And the requirements for implementing the various stages of the development road through the role occupied by Iraq’s membership in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the other hand, especially in the preferences of obtaining European technology and ensuring the role of EU countries companies in implementing the development path with its joints, whether in infrastructure and projects industrial productivity and various logistics services.”

He added that “the membership provides our country with the likelihood of obtaining easy financing, technical assistance and its requirements Europe in supporting development activity in our country in its various joints and sectors,” continuing that “Iraq’s accession to the membership of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development represents a broad view that carries strategic dimensions in the cohesion of the climate of economic development in Iraq and in accordance with the requirements of the government program and the national development plan 2024-2028, while embodying the needs of our country for the sustainability of international cooperation in reconstruction, development and sustainable development in the long term.”