Tishwash: Iraqi dollar smuggling returns to the forefront.. Central Bank Governor “beautifies” the bleak picture
Economic researcher, Ziad Al-Hashemi, said that the Central Bank of Iraq suddenly punished 49 Iraqi companies on charges mostly related to smuggling and money laundering through foreign transfers, despite all previous assurances that transfers have become immune to smuggling.
Al-Hashemi considered in a post on the “X” platform, which was followed by “Al-Jarida”, that “this is a procedure that confirms that the Iraqi dollar smuggling system is still very active, and that the Central Bank Governor’s talk about the compliance rate reaching 95% is just rhetoric to beautify the bleak image of the Iraqi banking system.”
He explained that “the 49 companies that were punished are companies operating in various commercial, industrial and service sectors, and this confirms that we are facing a dangerous, broad system that has penetrated the entity of the Iraqi economy and market like cancer!”
He pointed out that “the banking system in Iraq is still heavily penetrated by smuggling and money laundering systems and support for sanctioned entities, and after all these years and promises, it has become not unlikely that there is real collusion and collaboration between the official Iraqi banking system and those smuggling systems.”
He continued, “On the other hand, we are waiting for the Syrian documents that will arrive that reveal the size of the illegal trade and the movement of smuggling dollars from Iraq, which the Assad regime used to live on. Then we will learn the details of one of the most important unknown parts of the process of smuggling Iraqi money, which began draining Iraq in 2004 and continues to this day.” link
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Tishwash: Iraq out of the list of major countries holding US bonds
The US Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that Iraq is no longer a major foreign holder of US bonds.
Shafaq News Agency reviewed the Treasury report for September, which showed that Iraq was not among the top 20 countries holding US bonds, after it was ranked among the top holders last year with a holding of $32.6 billion.
The report indicated that “Japan topped the list of major countries in holding US bonds, with holdings amounting to $1.123 trillion, followed by China in second place with holdings amounting to $772 billion, while the United Kingdom came in third with $764 billion, the Cayman Islands in fourth place with $420 billion, Luxembourg in fifth place with $417 billion, and Canada in sixth place with $370 billion.”
The report explained that Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country that maintained its position among the 20 largest holders of US bonds, as its holdings amounted to $143.9 billion.
The report indicated that the total holdings of US bonds by countries around the world in September amounted to 8 trillion and 872 billion dollars.
US bonds are a type of debt instrument issued by the US government to raise money, and many countries buy them as a safe investment.
In the past years, many Arab and foreign countries, including Iraq, owned large amounts of these bonds, and over time, Iraq’s holdings of US bonds decreased until it left the list of the 20 largest countries holding these bonds. link
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Clare: Iraq and Jordan sign a 5-point joint statement, including support for the outcomes of the Aqaba meetings
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani and his Jordanian counterpart Ahmed Al-Safadi signed a joint statement of five points today, Tuesday, including support for the outcomes of the Aqaba meetings on Syria and support for efforts aimed at stopping the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA) said: “A joint statement was issued from the official talks held by Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani and his Jordanian counterpart Ahmed Al-Safadi, in the presence of members of the Permanent Bureau in the House of Representatives, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the head of the Jordanian-Iraqi Parliamentary Brotherhood Committee, and members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives representing heads and members of parliamentary committees and blocs.
He added, “Al-Safadi appreciated Al-Mashhadani’s visit to the Kingdom as his first official visit since assuming the presidency of the Parliament in Iraq, and the talks concluded with the signing of a joint statement that stated:
First – Strengthening coordination between Jordan and Iraq; to confront the challenges imposed by the circumstances of the region, supporting the brothers in Syria and respecting their will and the necessity of protecting the security of Syria and its citizens, preserving the unity of their lands and ensuring the representation of all their components in the political process, and supporting the outcomes of the meetings hosted by the Jordanian city of Aqaba regarding the situation in Syria.
Second: Enhancing the prospects of Jordanian-Iraqi economic cooperation, removing any obstacles that hinder this, and organizing mutual visits of parliamentary committees and chambers of industry and commerce in both countries, which contributes to opening investment windows in various fields, working to establish cultural and educational cooperation agreements, and benefiting from mutual experiences in the sectors of agriculture, energy and construction.
Third: The importance of completing the project to extend the oil pipeline from Basra to Aqaba, which is considered an economic artery for transportation for the benefit of the two countries, and working to support various joint bilateral and tripartite projects with our brothers in Egypt.
Fourth: Supporting all efforts aimed at stopping the brutal Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip, rejecting attempts to displace our brothers in the Strip and the West Bank, working to double efforts to deliver relief supplies to the Strip, rejecting all forms of extremist actions by settlers against our brothers in various Palestinian territories, and rejecting the violations practiced against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
Fifth: Coordinating joint parliamentary positions between the Iraqi and Jordanian Houses of Representatives, based on a long and extended history of solid fraternal relations between the two countries and peoples, in a way that contributes to achieving common interests and defending the nation’s issues.” link
