TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Tuesday Morning 11-28-2023

CandyKisses:  Last month. Chinese companies acquire the largest share of Iraq’s oil

The Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) announced on Tuesday that Chinese oil companies were the most numerous to buy Iraqi oil during the month of October.

According to “SOMO” in a statistic published on its official website and seen by Shafaq News Agency, that “Chinese companies were the most numerous among other international companies in the purchase of Iraqi oil and by 9 companies out of 38 companies that bought oil during the month of October.”

She added that “Indian companies came second with 7 companies, then South Korean companies came third with 4 companies, American companies came fourth with 3 companies, Greek, Turkish and Italian companies came with two companies each, while the rest were distributed among Emirati, Malaysian, (Dutch-British), Spanish, Egyptian, French, Jordanian, Kuwaiti and Turkish companies with one company each.”

Sumo indicated that it “relies in its sale of Iraqi oil on the main criteria for contracting with major and medium international oil companies, independent and vertically integrated government,” noting that “the most prominent international companies that bought Iraqi oil are the Indian company “Andlan Oil, Korean Kokaz, American Exxon Mobil, Italian Eni and British Dutch Shell.”

CandyKisses:  Toppling a network manipulating dollar exchange rates in Baghdad

Baghdad Today – Baghdad

Today, Tuesday (November 28, 2023), the General Directorate of Intelligence and Security announced the overthrow of a network that manipulates dollar exchange rates in the capital, Baghdad.

According to a statement of the Directorate received by “Baghdad Today”, that “after the availability of accurate information about the establishment of a group of smuggling gangs and speculators at the price of the dollar, through their remittances and the sale and purchase of dollars Contrary to the instructions of the Central Bank of Iraq, the detachments of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security of Baghdad affiliated to the same directorate, boycotted the information and obtained judicial approvals.”

The statement added that “the detachments were able to raid one of the exchange companies in the Karrada area of Baghdad and arrest (5) accused of manipulating the exchange rates of the dollar.”

“They carried out remittance operations contrary to official instructions, and were handed over to the competent authorities,” he said.

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CandyKisses:  The Council of Ministers issues a special decision on the import of gold and precious metals

Economy News-Baghdad

The Council of Ministers issued a special decision on the import of gold and precious metals, which facilitates procedures and ensures their safety.
The General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers stated in a document that “the Council of Ministers decided during the forty-seventh regular session held on 21/11/2023, to approve the minutes of the meeting held at the Central Bank of Iraq regarding the amendment of the Council of Ministers Resolution (335 of 2017) on the import of gold and precious metals, which facilitates procedures and ensures their safety according to the following:

 The importer of gold must be an officially registered company in the Federal Companies Registration Department affiliated to the Federal

Ministry of Commerce 2- The entry of imported gold shall be through air freight or the arrival halls of travelers at the airport and pointed out that “the fees and fees for importing gold shall be as follows: Raw gold or bullion:

 The examination fees for the quantities of imported gold shall be 50 thousand dinars per kilogram to be collected from the Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control.
– 100 thousand dinars for each customs duties for each kilogram of gold jewelry (gold jeweled) for the purposes of interpolation of gold, forged  thousand dinars customs fees for each kilogram 50 thousand dinars fees for examining jewellery

She pointed out that “this decision will be implemented starting from 1/12/2023, with the exception of matching the harmonized customs code and the legitimacy and originality of the external transfer, so the General Authority of Customs is authorized to issue the effective date of conformity and coordination controls between it and the Central Bank of Iraq.”

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Tishwash:  The continuation of “insults to the dollar” will force us to undertake a mass migration. Representative of the Association of Exchange Companies

The representative of the Association of Exchange Companies, Dhia Al-Taie, said that the lack of coordination between the security forces and the Central Bank, and the continued exposure of companies to “repeated insults” will lead to a mass exodus of capital from Iraq, stressing that the work of these companies is still completely halted.

 Al-Taie in an interview with journalist Adnan Al-Taie:

Exchange companies operate internally, and they number 2,100 companies. If 10% of them are abusive, that does not mean that all of them are abusive, and it cannot be said that they are the cause of the dollar crisis in Iraq.

The Fed’s report was clear and did not identify exchange companies among the offending parties.

We obtain the dollar in two ways, the first is the traveler’s dollar, and there is a 100% secure platform and a webcam that monitors the process, so it cannot be tampered with. The second way is the dollar circulating in the market, which prevented us from dealing with it currently, so our work stopped completely.

More than 95% of exchange companies have real capital and their owner works directly, and these companies obtain dollars from banks as an intermediary.

We have an A-class exchange company in Amara, with a capital of 5 billion, and a share of 700 thousand dollars from the Central Bank. I obtained it with an official letter and a sequence of numbers. When the owner of the company passed control in Kut, they stopped him, arrested him, and threw him in prison despite all the official papers he possessed. Then He was released on bail after 3 days, but the amount is still withheld at the center, which means that the official and unofficial dollars are treated in the same way, so how will we work as exchange companies?

A ticket, a visa, and a passport, and you will get the travelers dollar from any exchange company in Baghdad, but despite that, there is a terrible and frightening hatred against the exchange companies.

We appeal to the need for there to be coordination between the Central Bank and the security forces so that they do not implement the bank’s instructions, as well as the activation of the team approved by the Prime Minister.

If exchange companies continue to be subjected to the same humiliation, this will lead to a mass exodus of capital.   link