Tishwash: Rafidain Bank directs its branches to work on Saturdays and Sundays to disburse outstanding financial dues.
Today, Friday, March 28, 2025, Rafidain Bank directed its branches to work on Saturdays and Sundays to disburse “pending” financial dues.
A statement from the bank’s media office, received by Baghdad Today, stated that “Rafidain Bank has directed its identified branches (Al-Muheet – Arab Quarter – Haifa – Al-Waziriya – Sheikh Omar – Al-Zawiya – Nasr Square – Bab Al-Muadham – Seven Palaces) to work on Saturday and Sunday.”
He pointed out that the directive to work is to “disburse financial dues to owners of outlets and collect revenues from petroleum products and gas stations.” link
Tishwash: Iraq prepares for the largest leap in electricity production: historic contracts with GE and Siemens and plans to compensate for gas shortages.
Minister of Electricity Ziyad Fadhil revealed on Friday that Iraq is about to sign two historic contracts with the American company General Electric and the German company Siemens to boost electricity production. The first contract will provide 24,000 megawatts, while the second will add 10,000 megawatts to the national grid.
The minister confirmed in a statement received by Al Furat News that “the issue of importing Iranian gas has not yet been resolved, explaining that the ministry has not received any official notification of the suspension of supplies, while discussions on the matter are still ongoing.”
In the face of any potential gas supply shortage, Fadel noted that “the government has alternative plans, including the use of kerosene, taking advantage of electricity interconnection projects with neighboring countries, solar power plants, combined-cycle units that do not require fuel, and the establishment of a floating gas platform at the port to enhance energy sources.”
The minister noted that “the ministry is currently implementing the largest campaign to resolve power grid bottlenecks in all governorates, by upgrading and creating new lines and installing transformer stations, with the goal of achieving greater stability in supply hours.”
Regarding warnings of an electricity crisis next summer, Fadel confirmed that “there is an exaggerated hype,” emphasizing that the government is well aware of the challenges and has clear plans to address them and ensure stable electricity supply in the coming months. link
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Tishwash: Al-Sudani: Restrictions are useful, and I asked the Americans about their silence on the dollar chaos before me!
Answered about selling 300 million daily
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani asserted that US sanctions were the best way to eliminate “rogue shops” and that the punitive measures imposed on Iraqi banks were a result of the previous government’s failure to fulfill its commitments to the US. He also said that the Treasury described the progress in reforming the banking system as “the revolution we dreamed of.” During a lengthy interview, al-Sudani justified the increase in the Central Bank’s dollar sales by the acceleration of construction activity and the import of building materials.
He also promised to launch a reform plan to correct the banking sector, which is “the most important in Iraq’s history.”
Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, during an interview with journalist Samer Jawad:
There is an exaggeration of the problems facing Iraq, even though countries face many similar challenges, even on the security level. During the ISIS crisis, they said that Iraq was finished, and on the economic level, they said that the economy was finished, but things later proceeded normally.
After assuming the premiership, I faced the issue of the agreements between the previous government, the Treasury, and the US Federal Reserve, which were two years old at the time, regarding a roadmap for Iraq to enter the global financial compliance circle. However, the previous government did not implement any of them, and the deadline expired at the beginning of my government.
My government was able to transform the challenge and commitment to the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve into an opportunity to reform the Iraqi financial and banking system. This came at a social and political cost, which our opponents exploited. However, we leveraged the issue to end the anomalous situation of dollar-selling shops, which we all complained about, and we were able to implement the imposed obligations.
The sanctioned banks were sanctioned for violations committed during the previous government’s term. The sanctions imposed by international institutions were related to that period, but there are no violations in this regard now.
We have been able to implement the standards, and now the Iraqi banking system operates transparently, in accordance with international compliance standards and certified by international institutions. During my last visit to New York, the US Treasury representative informed us that Iraq has achieved a revolution we had dreamed of in previous periods. International compliance standards have been applied to all Iraqi financial transfers, via correspondent banks and the US audit firm. Not a single dollar is spent without passing through these bodies.
The only cash dollars exchanged are for travelers, and are spent at the plane door. Therefore, not a single dollar is exchanged outside of improper transactions and procedures. The Central Bank’s increased dollar sales have a different interpretation related to construction and development in the country, unlike what used to happen in the days when the process was conducted through receipts and chaos. Thirty percent of the value of our annual imports goes to construction materials, and this reflects the scale of construction and development.
The Iraqi banking system has reached such a level of reliability that international banks have begun opening credit lines here. We have contracted with Oliver Wyman to reform the private banking system, and we will launch the reform plan after Eid. It will be the most important plan since the founding of the Iraqi state. The government banking sector will be reformed under the supervision of Ernst & Young. link
