Tishwash: Al-Sudani: Iraq today is on the right path
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, during a dialogue seminar by the Anki Foundation for Studies and Research on the path to development, in the presence of Mr. Al-Hakim:
Iraq depends on oil as the only source to cover its expenses, which have begun to increase.
The development path needs more study and clarification.
We must think properly to activate sectors that support oil.
– There must be projects that suit Iraq to be a focus of development.
We have started establishing and implementing the development road project, which will transform Iraq into an open country.
We have unnatural materials that have not been exploited in industries and the strategic location of Iraq.
We are in the planning, design and other studies phase and we have approached the World Bank to begin implementing the development road from Basra to Mosul.
Capital finds opportunity in Iraq amid security and political stability
– Many capitals want to invest in Iraq
Iraq today is on the right track
Iraq is witnessing recovery and stability and everyone needs his return
Iraq will enter the gas market after investing in several fields
Iraq is the best corridor in the communications and optical cable file
Providing job opportunities is one of the reasons that prompted us to proceed with the development road project.
We concluded the Faw Investment Refinery contract and it was activated.
With these projects, we will recreate the experience of the sixties and seventies to work in the private sector to provide job opportunities.
– The railway designs for the development road project have been fully completed.
– The third meeting of the Ministerial Council on the development path will be held next November.
We have started preparing a study on forming a body to manage the development road project.
– We have made real reforms in the tax and banking system.
There is no spot on Iraqi territory outside the control of our security forces, and we have directed the preparation of a comprehensive plan to secure the path of development.
The development road project needs 5 years to be completed. link
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Economist: Lower oil prices will not affect dollar exchange rate and salaries in Iraq – Urgent
Economic expert Mustafa Akram Hantoush explained today, Saturday (September 14, 2024), that the decline in oil prices will not affect the exchange rate of the dollar and salaries in Iraq.
Hantoush said in an interview with Baghdad Today, “The dollar exchange rates in Iraq will not be affected by the decline in oil prices, as this issue depends on supply and demand in the local market, and has no relation to the oil file and oil revenues.”
He explained that “in terms of operating expenses, including salaries, they will not be affected by the crisis, even if oil prices reach $50, as the state is able to pay salaries and governing expenses.”
Hantoush added that “the impact of fluctuations in oil prices will greatly affect investment programs, and that oil prices may threaten the state’s investment side, as happened in the past years, including 2015, 2016, and 2017, when projects suffered from significant delays in those years.”
These financial concerns reflect the challenges facing the global oil market, as oil prices have fallen significantly in recent weeks due to weak global demand, especially from China, which is the world’s largest oil importer.
Every now and then, fears are circulated in Iraq about the government’s inability to pay employees’ salaries due to financial liquidity, especially since the country’s oil imports, which constitute more than 90% of the Iraqi economy, are in Iraq’s account at the US Federal Reserve. link
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Tishwash: Are the winds of “economic” change blowing after electronic payment?
Will electronic payment end the fluctuations of the Iraqi economy, and what if it has a negative impact on it? And how can it be controlled without supervision?
These are big questions that the “Iraq Observer” agency puts in the hands of those in charge, while the activities of the “Electronic Payment towards Financial Stability in Iraq” conference were launched today, Saturday, in the capital, Baghdad, under the auspices of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and jointly organized by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Association of Private Banks, and the Central Bank of Iraq, at the Rashid Hotel, with the attendance of Arab and international banking figures.
Absolute rentierism
In turn, the economic expert Abdul Karim Al-Issawi said, “All the economic reforms and legal legislation undertaken by the Iraqi governments in the field of advancing and developing the performance of the economy to reduce the contribution of the extractive sector in the formation of commodity sectors, the contribution of other economic commodity sectors; foremost of which are agriculture and industry.”
Al-Issawi told the Iraq Observer Agency, “The stereotype of absolute rentierism from a single funding source represented by oil export revenues remains as it is.”
The economic expert explained that “one of the reasons for this, most notably the absence of correct and scientific visions to restore life to the manufacturing industries after they were exposed to sabotage and the loss of their qualified cadres, and the industries were exposed to the phenomenon of commercial dumping practiced by neighboring Arab and non-Arab countries, the result of which was their exclusion from competition, in addition to the lack of control over official and unofficial border crossings.”
He continued: “On the other hand, the process of employing workers has doubled as a policy followed by successive Iraqi governments after 2003 for reasons and motives, most of which are political and without well-studied scientific planning. The problem was reinforced by the weak contribution of the private sector to economic development, which did not receive appropriate support.”
He pointed out that there is a point that must be noted and reminded of: the transitional phase laws have increased public expenditures from the federal budget, and as a result, made the allocations for operating expenses account for more than 80% of Iraq’s annual budget.
He added, “It is unfortunate that this large amount of spending is not on Iraqi products, but rather on imports of foreign goods and services, and thus is reflected in the economic multiplier of the countries exporting to Iraq.”
He said that the reality of the Iraqi economy puts the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani before difficult choices that must be made to reduce spending, rationalize government expenditures for the three presidencies, and reduce budget allocations for some ministries that receive taxes from providing services to beneficiaries.
He said: “It is certainly necessary for Iraqi governments to always keep in mind that the issue of diversifying the Iraqi economy is extremely important, given the nature of crude oil in global markets as a commodity that is exposed from time to time to shocks whose effects Iraq cannot avoid due to the lack of economic and financial buffers such as sovereign funds or a stock market, which can be resorted to to provide financial resources to meet the requirements of operational and investment expenses.
He added: “What reinforces these fears are the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the military threats between the occupying entity and Iran and other areas in southern Lebanon and Yemen and from parties in Iraq. There is no doubt that a direct military clash will quickly affect Iraq’s oil exports if Iraq’s ports are targeted and the Strait of Hormuz is closed.”
Official reassurance
In turn, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, reassured citizens after the global decline in oil prices.
“Despite the noise surrounding the global energy markets and the conflicting possibilities about their impact on the national economy, it is necessary to know the strengths of the Iraqi economy,” Saleh said in a statement followed by the “Iraq Observer” agency. “The decline in Iraq’s external debt to its lowest level in the last forty years, not exceeding $10 billion, came from the government’s determination to follow a precise program to settle the external debt, which today constitutes less than 9% of the country’s total foreign exchange reserves, which are approximately $108 billion, and are the highest reserves in the country’s monetary and financial history.”
He added, “In terms of stability and growth in economic activity, the growth indicators in the non-oil GDP have touched 6%, supported by construction and housing activities and infrastructure development, in addition to the development of grain sector production, accompanied by the renaissance of the transportation and communications sector and the growth of the digital economy.”
Quarter of a billion
While the Central Bank of Iraq’s dollar sales amounted to more than $257 million in the currency auction.
The bank sold in its auction the day before yesterday 257 million 345 thousand 110 dollars, covering it at a basic exchange rate of 1310 dinars per dollar for documentary credits and international settlements for electronic cards, at a rate of 1310 dinars per dollar for foreign transfers, and at a rate of 1305 dinars per dollar in cash.
Most of the dollar sales went to boost balances abroad in the form of transfers and credits, which amounted to $244,595,110, up 95% from cash sales of $12,750,000.
The number of banks that purchased cash dollars was one bank, while the number of banks that met requests to enhance balances abroad was 15 banks, and the total number of exchange companies participating in the auction was 22 companies. link
