TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Monday Morning 10-28-2024

Tishwash:  150,000 Kurdish employees receive their salaries digitally via the “Hisabi” system 

The Financial System Administration “Hisabi” in the Kurdistan Region announced, on Sunday, the expansion of the scope of its digital operations so that the number of beneficiaries of the system reached 150 thousand employees during the past week.

According to the official website of the “My Account” system, which Shafak News Agency has reviewed, the number is increasing monthly and 150,000 employees have received their salaries through the system, which reflects the continuous growth in the adoption of the system to facilitate the process of disbursing salaries through digital bank accounts.

The system is expected to include all eligible employees in the region by the end of next year, as they will be able to receive their salaries directly through their own bank accounts.

This expansion comes within the framework of the Kurdistan Region’s efforts to enhance the digital infrastructure and facilitate financial transactions for citizens.  link

Tishwash:   Economist: Lowering interest rates encourages investment but carries caveats

 Economic expert Salah Nouri confirmed today, Sunday, that reducing the interest rate is one of the main tools of monetary policy used by the Central Bank to influence the economy, whether by increasing or decreasing it according to inflation or deflation rates.

Nouri explained in his interview with {Euphrates News} that “reducing the interest rate encourages individuals and companies to borrow for productive projects, which leads to stimulating the economy,” adding: “Lower interest makes the cost of loans lower, and thus encourages consumption and investment.”

Nouri pointed out that “reducing the interest rate reduces the cost of production and perhaps the prices of imported goods, which leads to a reduction in selling prices,” but he warned that “reducing the interest rate may push depositors to withdraw their deposits due to the decrease in returns, and resort to alternative investments such as gold.”

He added: “It is necessary for the Central Bank to monitor the money market and commodity prices to measure the level of c: Al Furat News}inflation, especially since facilitating borrowing may affect the elasticity of demand versus supply.”  link

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Tishwash:  The Age of Mafia Flourishing in Iraq” .. People’s Crises Strengthen the Positions of Currency Smuggling Gangs – Urgent

Economic expert Nasser Al-Kanani confirmed today, Sunday (October 27, 2024), the existence of mafias exploiting crises in Iraq and the region in order to increase currency smuggling operations.

Al-Kanani told Baghdad Today, “As soon as the war in Lebanon and Gaza escalated and security tensions in the region as a whole, specialized mafias emerged that work to exploit such security conditions in order to increase the process of smuggling currency from Iraq. There are different methods for this smuggling, some of which are done through foreign imports, which take place outside the platform.”

He added, “Iraq is working to strengthen its national currency, but there are those who are working to weaken this currency by making the dollar very high against the national currency, and some are working to limit large commercial transactions to the dollar exclusively, and the sale of real estate, cars, etc., and this also weakens the national currency, despite all the campaigns to prevent internal transactions in dollars.”

The economic expert continued, “Iraq cannot exploit conflicts and wars to strengthen its national currency, especially since it is working hard, internally and externally, to stay away from these wars. Iraq realizes the great economic danger if it enters the circle of conflict and wars.”

The war on Gaza and its consequences, which included many regions of the Middle East, dealt a blow to the global economy, especially the Israeli economy, where government spending exceeded $140 billion, and it also lost approximately $15 billion from the attack on Lebanon, according to economic experts.

Speaking about the consequences of the ongoing conflict in the region on Iraq, researcher and aviation specialist Faris Al-Jawari reveals that there are significant material losses for Iraq as a result of the recent Israeli bombing of Iran.

Al-Jawari told Baghdad Today yesterday, Saturday, that “there are losses and material damages to the Iraqi air transport sector in particular and the airport sector as a result of the recent Israeli aggression on Iran, and this impact is clear and tangible during the recent period, but the recent aggression is the most dangerous as it was the reason for a complete halt to Iraqi aviation.”

He explained that “the stoppage means the interruption of financial revenues that come to the Iraqi government through the passage of aircraft over Iraqi airspace, and this is worth ($450) per aircraft, and according to the latest report of the Iraqi Airports Company, approximately (600) aircraft pass over Iraq monthly, and this means that Iraq loses (270) thousand dollars per day.”

He added, “There are other material losses as a result of the planes not arriving at the airports, and their failure to arrive there means providing ground services to them, and this provision is in exchange for a sum of money, and this matter is estimated at around ($2,000), and this means that there are great economic damages and losses as a result of the Israeli aggression on Iran and the general security situation in the region.”

The aviation specialist confirmed that “Iraqi aircraft are the ones that are directly affected, as most companies were refusing to land at Iraqi airports, and this means that the major losses are incurred by Iraqi Airways, and there is also a service impact at the airports on passengers through the suspension of flights, and this disrupts the work of many passengers and it has economic impacts as well, of course.”

Israel launched a series of air strikes on Iran early Saturday morning. Four hours after the start of the operation, which Tel Aviv called “Days of Response,” the Israeli army announced that it had completed the attack on military targets in Iran, that all of its aircraft that carried out the attack on Iran had returned safely to their bases, and that the operation had achieved all of its goals.  link