TNT – “Tiddbits From TNT” Saturday 12-16-2023

CandyKisses:  Member of the parliamentary investment: an economic forum in Iraq attended by giant foreign companies

{Economic: Al-Furat News} A member of the Parliamentary Investment Committee, Asaad Al-Bazouni, stressed the country’s need for investment projects in economic development, agricultural and industrial fields, and health.

Al-Bazouni told Al-Furat News that “Basra is a good incubator for investment, especially foreign investment, as large foreign companies intend to invest in the province, and all this requires security stability to attract investors.”

He pointed out that “the adoption of the Ministry of Industry for the Forum of Investment Partnerships in the presence of investors and giant foreign companies is a good step with the presence of the security, investment and environmental incubator.”

CandyKisses:  Two people arrested for manipulating exchange rates through shell companies

Baghdad Today – Baghdad

Today, Friday (December 15, 2023), the General Directorate of Intelligence and Security announced the arrest of two defendants for manipulating exchange rates through shell companies.

A statement by the directorate, received by “Baghdad Today”, said that “through careful field follow-up of speculators in exchange rate rates contrary to official instructions and after obtaining judicial approvals, the detachments of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security of Baghdad affiliated to the General Directorate of Intelligence and Security at the Ministry of Defense were able to adjust one of the fictitious companies in the Arsat area in Baghdad, which carries out internal and external remittance operations contrary to the instructions of the Central Bank of Iraq, which negatively affects the national economy and creates a crisis and currency price conflict.”

He added, “Two defendants were arrested and were caught in possession of a sum of money amounting to one million US dollars, where the necessary measures were taken against them and referred to the competent authorities.”

************

CandyKisses:  The Association of Banks announces the imminent death of the parallel dollar market

Baghdad – Iraq Today:

The Association of Iraqi Private Banks said that the battle with dollar speculators has reached its last round, and the so-called parallel dollar (black) began to die, and while praising the procedures of the Central Bank to regulate the movement of funds in order to achieve financial reform and the bank, it stressed that it will contribute to reclassifying banks, increasing their capital and raising the level of services provided to citizens.

Samir Al-Nasiri, economic and banking advisor to the Association, said in a press statement: “The Central Bank’s procedures and efforts made since the beginning of 2023 and with the support of the government have borne fruit and began to give their results as planned, and the so-called parallel dollar (black) began to die and the speculators who deal with it were besieged to harm the national economy and currently the battle with them in the last round.”

He added, “This is what was explained in detailed procedures and administrative, technical and negotiating steps with the US Federal Bank and the US Department of the Treasury, and the understandings on regulating foreign trade financing by approving the opening of accounts for Iraqi banks in US, Chinese, Emirati and Turkish correspondent banks to deal directly with them for foreign transfers in the currencies of these countries, which include the dollar, the euro, the Chinese yuan, the Indian rupee, the UAE dirham and the Turkish lira, leaving the electronic platform in 2024 and supplying dollars and currencies foreign banks into Iraq from Iraqi bank accounts with correspondent banks or abroad.”

“Reaching agreements to open 40 accounts for Iraqi banks in correspondent banks for foreign trade,” al-Nasiri said, noting that “the central bank’s new strategy to reform the banking sector will adopt reclassifying banks and increasing their capital to the ceiling set by the central bank according to the specified timelines until the end of 2024, which will raise the capabilities of our banks to provide the best banking products and services to customers, which will reflect positively on the movement of the economy, investment, development and the transition to comprehensive digital transformation.”

He added that “since the beginning of 2023, financial policies have been reviewed in accordance with a new vision for banking reform that complies with the requirements of the global financial system, and a new strategy has begun to be implemented with mechanisms based on studying and diagnosing the causes of imbalances and determining the roadmap, steps and executive procedures that have been and will be applied at the level of the Central Bank departments, banks, banking support bodies and government agencies related to comprehensive economic reform, as the Central Bank has previously issued new instructions for external transfers for the year 2023. And three procedural packages to facilitate and control the movement of circulation of foreign currency in the monetary and commercial market.”

Al-Nasiri added that “the Central Bank issued in August of this year its important statement, in which it outlined its new strategy to organize foreign trade financing according to new foundations that move Iraq to the stage of regularity in the global financial system, in which it clarified the executive measures to control the stability of the exchange rate, and the most prominent of what is stated in it:

Adopting the electronic platform exclusively for foreign remittance transactions, controlling illegal trade through official and informal border crossings, and stopping trading and dollar transactions on the black market. Preventing all websites and media television channels from publishing exchange rates on the black market for violating the law, importers proving that all their imports were made through the platform at the official price, and the Customs Authority and the General Tax Authority implementing proposals and treatments for the entry of small traders to the platform duly, and this is in line with the government’s initiative to launch the national project to control prohibited imports.

He continued, “As we are in the last days of 2023, the Central Bank’s strategy for banking reform in all its axes has become clear features for the coming year 2024 and subsequent years, and it is an embodiment of what it set out in the roadmap that he explained in the roadmap that he explained in theWe are with the government in accordance with the provisions of the government curriculum in axis 12 (financial and banking reform) and paragraph 7 thereof, which is related to the development and empowerment of banks to contribute to development and investment.”

He explained that “we can summarize here the plan of the Central Bank, which is currently working to implement it accurately and as follows: First:

Providing a stable financial system that lies in accompanying financial electronic systems.

Second: Commitment to establishing the rules of compliance, risk management, transparency and integrity of financial operations.

Third: The transition from the monetary economy to the digital economy and the so-called fourth revolution and the accompanying measures that have achieved a qualitative leap in dealing between the government and the Central Bank.

Fourth: Implementing the financial and banking reform plan that is characterized by international standards that keep pace with global developments in the field of financial digital economy.

Fifth: Work to strengthen international relations, including the establishment of a network of relations with foreign correspondent banks.

Establishing Riyada Bank in line with the Prime Minister’s initiative and redirecting work on initiatives to finance small and medium enterprises according to specific criteria.

Preparing and launching a strategy for financial inclusion and putting it into implementation in coordination with the relevant authorities.

Launching the national lending strategy based on the financial capabilities of banks in attracting deposits and investing them in providing the best banking products to customers and contributing to development.