TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Thursday Morning 11-9-2023

Tishwash:  Iraq maintains its 30th position in the world with the largest gold reserves

 The World Gold Council announced, on Thursday, that Iraq maintained its 30th place in the world with the largest gold reserves.

The Council said in its latest table for the month of November 2023, viewed by Shafaq News Agency, that “Iraq maintained its ranking of 30 globally out of the 100 countries included in the table with the largest gold reserves, as it has not purchased gold since the month of May, bringing its gold possessions to 132.7 tons, which represents 7.6 tons.” % of the rest of its other reserves.

He added, “Iraq came in fourth place in the Arab world with the largest gold reserves after Saudi Arabia with 323.1 tons, Lebanon with 286.8 tons, and Algeria with 173.6 tons. Egypt came in fifth place with 125.9 tons.”   

He pointed out that “the United States of America leads the rest of the countries with the largest possession of gold in the world, with 8,133.5 thousand tons, followed by Germany with 3,352.6 thousand tons, then Italy came with 2,451.8 thousand tons, while Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked 99th with 1.5 tons, followed by Suriname.” The same quantity is 1.5 tons.

Financial expert Muhammad Al-Hassani said, “All countries, including Iraq, are trying to diversify their basket of currencies and gold to be an investment portfolio to reduce risks and sudden fluctuations that may occur as a result of crises or the decline in the value of currencies. It is a type of hedge and provides monetary stability.”

He added, “Countries do not rely on gold to a large extent in their investment portfolios because it is a heavy commodity, not like other currencies that can be bought and sold quickly. Therefore, we see that some rich countries have gold, but their gold reserves are almost constant and they do not carry out buying and selling operations on a regular basis.” Continuing as America, Germany and the United Kingdom.

On June 27, 2022, Iraq announced the purchase of new quantities of gold amounting to approximately (34) tons, an increase of 35% over what it had in possession, while in May it announced the purchase of 2.3 tons of gold.

It is noteworthy that the World Gold Council, which is based in the United Kingdom, has extensive experience and deep knowledge of the factors causing market change, and its members consist of the largest gold mining companies in the world and the most  link

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Tishwash:  The Central Bank allows the import of Iranian tomans with its latest decision.. Experts  but how? 

The pressure on the dollar has reached its maximum

Iraqi experts said that the Central Bank’s decision to “conditionally” allow the import of foreign currency likely targets currencies subject to American sanctions or restrictions, such as the Iranian toman, or exceeds the limits on some companies in the Gulf and Turkey, via the lira and a number of Arab currencies, but they wondered. How to do that, and what will be in return for it, as part of attempts to alleviate the dollar market, which has been under maximum pressure for months.

Mustafa Hantoush, financial and economic affairs specialist:

What I think is most likely is that the Central Bank of Iraq wants to allow banks to buy currencies other than the dollar, to conduct contracts in these currencies, and have a balance in the lira, dinar, and toman… etc., and thus carry out commercial operations through them, and this does not contradict the Federal Bank, but the decision here is in how the exchange Currency: If you buy currencies from countries under sanctions, such as the toman, the exchange for them must be either an Iraqi dinar or a dollar, so how will we be able to barter them!? Will this be a commercial exchange?

Jalil Al-Lami, economist:

The market is witnessing a shortage of most imported goods, especially consumer tools, so the Central Bank of Iraq decided to work to reduce pressure on the dollar in the parallel market on the one hand, since dollar prices are still high, and to facilitate the import of currency and foreign transfers on the other hand.

The Central Bank of Iraq allows licensed Iraqi banks to import foreign currency in order to provide the required flexibility for banks operating in Iraq and in order to prepare for the next stage that the banking sector awaits early next year, provided that the banks adhere to the conditions announced.   link

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CandyKisses:  Fear of “creating new speculators” after a Central Bank action related to importing foreign exchange

Baghdad today – Baghdad 

The decision of the Central Bank of Iraq to allow the import of foreign exchange from abroad raised many concerns, the most important of which is “creating new speculators,” according to economic expert Nabil Al-Marsoumi.

Al-Marsoumi wrote, today, Thursday (November 9, 2023), in a blog post followed by “Baghdad Today” that, “Under this procedure, any entity or institution that receives remittances from outside Iraq can abandon receiving remittances in Iraqi dinars and at the official rate, which is equivalent to 1,320 dinars per dollar.” He shipped its money in foreign currency by air, paid the cost of transportation and insurance, and then received it when it arrived in Iraq.”

He pointed out that “this measure is linked to the scarcity of foreign currency in the Central Bank of Iraq and its inability to exchange the amounts of remittances in dollars, especially in light of the strangulation practiced by the US Federal Bank for clear political reasons.” “

He pointed out that “there are fears that this will lead to the creation of new speculators who enter the US dollar and then sell it at the parallel price to take advantage of the large difference between the official and parallel prices of the dollar and then buy back the dollar at the official rate through the platform!!”.

“This measure puts big question marks over the source of funds transferred from abroad? Is it from the money of private banks and their wealth abroad?, or through financing through the platform??”.

On Wednesday (November 8, 2023), the Central Bank of Iraq set the conditions for importing foreign exchange from outside the country.

In its communication to all licensed banks, according to a document obtained by Baghdad Today, the central bank obligated the following:

1 – The uses of the amounts for the purposes of meeting the requests of customers from companies, organizations and bodies duly registered and individuals working for foreign companies or institutions who receive mobile phones imported from outside Iraq.

2- Submit an application to the Central Bank of Iraq (Banking Control Department) that includes the quantity required to be entered from the shipment details.

3- The entry of amounts shall be through air ports exclusively.

4- Commitment to register the serial numbers of these shipments and provide the Banking Control Department with them and the data of their recipients later.

5- Providing the Central Bank with the name of the foreign shipping company with a copy of the license granted to it in its country.

The Central Bank confirmed that it continues to provide foreign currency to meet the requests of customers and in accordance with the instructions and controls in this regard.