TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Saturday Morning 12-7-2024

Tishwash:  The region’s salary crisis is worsening again.. Demonstrations return in Sulaymaniyah

Hundreds of teachers and employees demonstrated today, Saturday (December 7, 2024), in front of the Sulaymaniyah Court, protesting the salary crisis, which has been delayed for the past two months.

Baghdad Today correspondent said, “Hundreds of employees, teachers and instructors demonstrated in front of the Sulaymaniyah court due to delayed salaries, while they demanded an end to this crisis and reaching a final agreement that would lead to the delivery of their salaries without delay  link

Tishwash:  Source: Iran resumes gas supply to Central Iraq

On Friday, Iran began gradually resuming gas supplies to power plants in central Iraq following the completion of maintenance work on gas transmission lines, a government source revealed.

The source told Shafaq News that electricity supply is expected to improve in the coming hours in central regions, particularly in Baghdad, Wasit, Diyala, parts of Al-Anbar, and other provinces.

The resumption came after a two-week suspension of Iranian gas supplies for maintenance, which had caused the Iraqi national power grid to lose about 5,500 megawatts of electricity, according to the Ministry of Electricity’s announcement on November 24.

Notably, Iraq has relied on scheduled power cuts since the 1990s due to chronic electricity shortages. Residents often turn to private generators to fill the gap.

To supplement its needs, Iraq imports 33-40% of its gas and electricity from Iran. However, US sanctions on Iran have complicated payment for these imports, restricting Iran’s access to funds for purchasing non-sanctioned goods like food and medicine.

In light of these challenges, Baghdad has been pursuing alternative energy strategies, including regional grid connections to secure stable electricity supplies without relying on fuel.

Iraq has also sought to diversify its gas imports, signing a preliminary agreement with Turkmenistan in August 2023 to supply gas for its power stations.

On the other hand, the United States continues to pressure Iraq to reduce its reliance on Iranian gas, despite Iraq’s status as the second-largest oil producer in OPEC.  link

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Tishwah:  Due to the Kurdish boycott, a representative reveals the reasons for postponing the budget reading 

Today, Saturday, the representative of the Al-Fatah Alliance, Walid Al-Sahlani, revealed the reasons for raising the budget paragraph, while pointing out that there are multiple points of view regarding the paragraphs that need to be amended.

Al-Sahlani said in a statement to Al-Maalouma Agency, “The Parliamentary Finance Committee requested to postpone the reading of the budget law for a second reading until the Minister of Finance is hosted.”

He added, “The Kurdish parties refused to enter the session because the budget paragraph was removed from the agenda.”

He pointed out that “the Kurdish parties insist on presenting the budget without the need to host the Minister of Finance.” 

He pointed out that “the majority of the members of the House of Representatives requested to host the Minister of Finance before starting to read the budget amendment.”  link

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Tishwash:  Mazhar Mohammed Saleh: Iraq’s economy, financial flows and trade relations will not be affected by events in Syria

The Iraqi Prime Minister’s Advisor for Economic Affairs, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, confirmed the strength of the Iraqi economy, its financial flows, and its trade relations, noting that this economy has not been affected by the tensions taking place in the Syrian arena. 

Mazhar Muhammad Salih said in a press statement, “The Syrian economy is an economy sanctioned by countries, such as the United States and some other European countries, and therefore all banking relations (for Iraq) with Syria are basically unavailable.”

He explained that “trade with Syria is mostly border trade and consists of simple, natural civilian goods such as agricultural crops or something like that.” 

Regarding the impact of the events in Syria on the exchange rate of the dollar in Iraq, Mazhar Muhammad Salih stated that “the current events are in Syria, not Iraq,” adding that “the problems in Syria may affect some of the simple border trade known, or which is civil or related to the tourism sector, and some simple problems and disturbances may occur, but they are not major disturbances.” 

The Iraqi Prime Minister’s advisor for economic affairs pointed out that “the Iraqi economy, by nature, has high cash flows from its oil trade and global trade with large trade sources, while the minor fluctuations that are taking place are nothing but colorful noise.”

He explained that “the parallel markets usually benefit from any political event in neighboring countries, for example, to raise the price, and for speculators to benefit, so this is a temporary speculation that leads to very simple price disturbances, and has no relation to the Iraqi economy, and is called information markets, so what is happening in Syria at the present time will not affect the Iraqi economy, and our economy is completely isolated from the Syrian issue.”

Mazhar Mohammed Saleh stressed that “the country is immune and there is no fear for our trade because it is governed by the central policies of the state,” noting that “Iraq obtains its budget from major oil revenues, which strengthen the banks’ finances and finance Iraq’s foreign trade, not the domestic market,” adding that “the parallel market is a completely superficial market and does not indicate anything in reality about the Iraqi economy at the present time.” 

The Iraqi Prime Minister’s advisor for economic affairs stated that “the parallel market benefits from the neighboring unrest and does not pose any threat to the Iraqi economy and does not represent anything, and we are immune to what is happening in Syria,” explaining that “the problems in Syria are not new to it and have existed since 2011, so there is no fear for the Iraqi economy, which is immune and neutral from the problems of others.”

Mazhar Muhammad Salih stressed that “our policies are disciplined, so what is happening in Syria does not affect the overall economic situation, and an increase in the exchange rate of the currency by one or two dollars could return to its previous state quickly, perhaps through a single statement.”

He believed that “Iraq’s economic situation is secure, its oil policies are calm, its trade relations with the outside world are going well, and its cash flows from cash revenues are good and beyond reproach, and thus the economic situation is stable.”   link