Iraq is looking for billions of dollars in expatriates in the countries of the world Iraqi News for May 3rd 2022
Why will the dollar exchange rate not return to its predecessor ?until after these years in Iraq
The economic expert, Nasser Al-Kinani, confirmed, today, Tuesday, that the decision .to raise the dollar exchange rate will continue for 5 years
Al-Kinani said in a statement to (Baghdad Today), "The decision to raise the price of the dollar is linked to the draft white paper imposed by the International Monetary ".Fund
He added that "a delegation from the International Monetary Fund will meet with the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and will dictate new conditions for the Iraqi ".economy
And that "the International Monetary Fund controls the Iraqi economic policy ".because of the existence of debts on Iraq with the Fund
The economic expert called on the government to "give a high priority to paying the debts of the International Monetary Fund, which is not large and has negative effects on Iraq, represented by the Fund's interventions in the country's economic policy, ".which resulted in raising the price of the dollar
The International Monetary expects a jump in Iraq's general revenues, amounting to nearly 150 billion dollars
The International Monetary Fund expected that Iraq will achieve a jump in its public revenues during 2022 after the rise in oil prices.
According to the fund's estimates, seen by Shafak News Agency, "it is expected that the Arab oil-exporting countries will witness jumps in their revenues during the current year, in conjunction with the rise in oil prices globally," noting that "it is expected that Iraq's revenues during 2022 will reach 149 billion dollars. And an annual change rate of 73 percent from 2021.
The report added that "Saudi Arabia's revenues are expected to rise $327 billion with an annual change of 28 percent, while Libya's annual revenues for the current year will reach 39 billion dollars with an annual change of 84 percent, while the UAE's revenues will be 190 billion dollars with an annual change of 46 percent, and Kuwait's revenues will be 102 billion." dollars with an annual change rate of 46 percent.
He added that "Qatar's revenues are expected to reach $84 billion with an annual change of 40 percent, Bahrain's revenues will be 11 billion dollars with an annual change of 39 percent, and Oman's revenues will amount to 39 billion dollars with an annual change of 34 percent, while Algeria's revenues will reach 58 billion dollars, with a percentage change of 28 percent." percent".
Oil prices rose during 2022 to above $100 per barrel after Russia, one of the world's largest oil and gas exporters, launched a war against Ukraine, with concerns about a disruption and a scarcity of oil exports.
Al-Kazemi sends text messages to citizens' phones... What is their content?
Today, Tuesday, the caretaker prime minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, sent text messages to citizens' phones.
A large number of Iraqis received text messages on their mobile phones from the caretaker prime minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi.
The messages included congratulations from Al-Kazemi, in which he said, “Happy Eid Al-Fitr and Happy New Year. Your brother, Mustafa Al-Kazemi.”
Mr. Al-Sadr meets members of the Chest Bloc in Al-Hanana
The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, met today, Tuesday, with members of the Sadrist bloc.
A brief statement by Mr. Al-Sadr's office, received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), stated that "the members of the Sadrist bloc were honored to meet the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, in Al-Hanana, on the first day of Eid Al-Fitr."
Adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister: Political ambiguity is pushing the economy toward the abyss
Mazhar Saleh believes that the absence of the 2022 budget has deprived the country of development programs... and the rise in oil prices is "beneficial and harmful"
he financial advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, reviewed the most prominent effects of the current political situation on the economy, and said in an interview with “The Independent Arabia” that Iraq is at a crossroads, the first is the path of economic development in general, human development and investment in people in particular, and the second is the exploitation of economic growth itself for those energies Humanity is a productive force, not a consumer.
Saleh explained that the uncertainty of the country's political future pushes the economic community, especially investors, to a negative state of signs of "uncertainty", deflation, and a failure to initiate new productive activities . He added, "It is something that represents one of the serious challenges facing the business environment that aspires to stability. The longer the political crisis continues, the lower the average economic growth, especially in the absence of a public budget law for the year 2022 that deprives the country of development programs."
Regarding the problems of increasing population growth, Salih says, "Iraq is among the countries with high annual population growth at 2.6 percent annually, meaning that this percentage adds one million people annually to the total population. Despite this, I see that the population increase is within the framework of a human development program Promising for the next 10 years, it is the nation's wealth and the basis of its renaissance."
Crossroads
Adviser to the Prime Minister believes that “Iraq is at a crossroads, the first is to spread economic development in general, human development and investment in people in particular, and the second is to benefit from economic growth itself from those human energies as a productive force, not a consumer, whose presence helps support production activities if the country aspires to achieve growth Annually in the non-oil GDP by no less than seven percent annually, and this level of growth leads to prosperity and a doubling of the level of per capita income within 10 years,” noting that “Iraq is not facing a population explosion as some imagine, but rather a human wealth.” The situation requires that it be well invested immediately by providing supplies of health, education and infrastructure.”
On the pros and cons of rising oil prices on Iraq, Salih revealed that “the Iraqi economy faces two contradictory positions. The first is positive, represented in the prosperity of Iraq’s financial leverage due to the rise in crude oil prices in the world, as the revenues of last March exceeded 11 billion dollars, which are inflows of important cash in budget revenues.
As for the second contradictory position, according to Saleh, it is summed up in the rise in food prices in the world, and as long as Iraq is a net repository of food and at rates up to 80 percent of the country’s needs, the pressure on prices on the standard of living has become a pressure to accelerate emergency support programs for food security, and that According to the emergency food security and development bill currently before Parliament, grain prices rose to nearly 40 percent over their averages during the past year.
Absence of market institutions
On the role of the private sector in developing the performance of the economy at the current stage, Saleh says, "There is almost an absence of regulated or legal market institutions, and 65 percent of the private sector falls within the gray area in terms of the ambiguity of its operations or being unknown to taxes, banks and many state control institutions. Therefore, the rise of the private sector, which still contributes 37 percent of Iraq's GDP, needs to unleash its capabilities in economic diversification according to pivotal policies that support the market and private activity.
Among those policies that support the private sector, according to Saleh, are building market institutions and facilitating the opening and closing procedures for companies’ licensing without any costs, as well as the financing partnership between the state and the market by creating development funds that grant government loans to citizens in a facilitating and supportive manner, and finally including workers in the private sector with a unified retirement fund It is run by the state on a homogeneous basis. He added, "Then we will guarantee an active role in market activity that may exceed 50 percent of the private sector's contribution to the GDP."
Regarding his evaluation of Iraq’s monetary policy and the effects of the decision to reduce the dollar if applied, Saleh acknowledged that “the decision to reduce the exchange rate helped provide resources for the public budget that may have exceeded 20 trillion dinars in the year 2021 and filled a dangerous deficit in public expenditures, but monetary policy remains monitors purchasing power.” For the dinar through inflation indicators, it is necessary to exploit the rise in oil prices, achieve important financial returns and a good accumulation in the Central Bank’s foreign currency reserves, and manage all this with caution to maintain the stability of the general level of prices.
Effects of the Russian War
Salih revealed the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the Iraqi economy by saying, "The lack of energy supplies and the fear that the flow of Russian oil and gas to Europe will stumble on a regular basis due to the Russian war. The West is the main consumer of Russian supplies, and therefore fuel prices will worsen and Iraq's oil revenues will increase, but in In return, the country will be subjected to tremendous pressure due to the impact of imported inflation and high burdens on public finances to protect food security, which is a contradictory equation between harvesting the positives of the war on the energy issue and its negatives on the issue of global inflation, which hits the interests and large social and humanitarian spaces of the people.
The 2022 budget is trapped behind the walls of the current government... The question?
Locked up behind the walls of the current government and it is very difficult to pass it... The 2022 budget is in a cycle of disruption and delay, and the reason is the knot of forming the next government and its differences that directly affected the budget's passage inside the parliament
The knot of government formation was not limited to the political file only, but extended to more than that to threaten the citizen’s food and food security due to the incompleteness of the draft federal budget for 2022. It is, according to the data, confined to the caretaker government
The question here? What prevents from sending the budget to the House of Representatives from a government that has expired and has restricted powers to
answer and with a legal interpretation, there is no objection to that, provided that Parliament grants Al-Kazemi’s government a special mandate as it is the legislative authority of the executive authorities amid assurances that the current government will not risk sending the law, in anticipation of the problems that the new government will face with a draft Formulated according to policies that differ from its policy
And since the formation of the government may be delayed beyond the deadline given by Al-Sadr to the framework forces, Parliament, specifically the Finance Committee, seeks to implement the alternative, which is the Emergency Food Security Support Law in order to pass it as soon as possible in anticipation of any emergency complicating the scene more than it is..
Iraq is looking for billions of dollars in expatriates in the countries of the world
The financial advisor to the Iraqi government, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said that his country is seeking to legislate a law that encourages the return of Iraqi expatriate capital to the interior, to benefit from it in the investment map.
Saleh did not disclose the size of those funds, or whether they were intended to be funds that were smuggled after the US invasion of the country in 2003, as a result of the corruption and money laundering crimes that spread in the country.
Saleh said that "the money that left the country is considered as expatriate national capital, and it is unfortunately cut off from its mother country, Iraq."
The financial advisor added that "in order to return the Iraqi expatriate investments abroad, it is appropriate to issue legislation or a law that encourages their return to the interior to find their way on the investment map in Iraq and to advance the development of our country."
He stressed that "full legal protection must be provided for these funds and they should enjoy the same privileges that the foreign investor obtains through the effective investment law, as well as enjoying all legal protection rights."
Saleh stressed "the necessity of the birth of a semi-official entity that serves as (the Investment Board for Iraqi Expatriates) to establish the best relations with the Iraqi expatriates to invest their money in their country of Iraq, whether real or financial investment and with the various assets that will be allowed by the Iraqi expatriate capital investment law that we propose to issue."
And at the end of last year, the President of the Republic, Barham Salih, said that he was "in the process of developing a legal code dealing with mechanisms to recover Iraqi funds located abroad." At a time when Finance Minister Ali Allawi spoke about the existence of about 250 billion dollars stolen from Iraq since 2003, considering that these thefts led to a decline in Iraq's economic capabilities, but the Integrity Committee of the Iraqi Parliament had estimated early last year the amount of money smuggled outside the country About 350 trillion dinars (239.7 billion US dollars), a figure that has exceeded the country's budget for more than two years, according to estimates by the Iraqi parliament.
complex files
For his part, the independent member of the Iraqi parliament, Basem Khashan, pointed out that "the file of recovering Iraqi funds abroad, whether it is intended for looted after the occupation or emigration from companies, merchants and businessmen, is one of the most prominent complex files and needs a strong government that is not supported by political parties that engage in trade." By itself, it interfered with the smuggling of Iraqi funds, in addition to international support for Iraq in this aspect," according to his expression
Al-Kazemi affirms Iraq’s keenness to consolidate joint Arab and regional action
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, affirmed on Tuesday, Iraq’s keenness to consolidate joint Arab and regional action.
This came during a phone call that Al-Kazemi made to the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Media Office, received by Shafaq News Agency.
Al-Kazemi expressed, according to the statement, his sincere wishes for continued progress and prosperity for the government and people of Saudi Arabia, stressing “Iraq’s keenness to consolidate joint Arab and regional action, for the stability of the region and the well-being of its people, and to build sustainable development for peace-loving peoples.”
For his part, bin Salman offered congratulations and blessings on the occasion of the blessed Eid, and conveyed the wishes of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Iraqi people for well-being, the consolidation of stability, and more bilateral cooperation at various levels and fields.
Al-Kazemi’s advisor determines two directions for spending the expenses of the surplus oil prices in the budget
Today, Tuesday, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, identified two directions for disbursing the expenses obtained from increasing oil revenues due to the increase in oil prices globally in the 2022 budget, while stressing that 3 areas will be given priority.
Saleh said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "the expenditures obtained from the growing revenues from oil revenues will be spent on a budget with an expansionary pattern in two directions, and the priority will be for three areas: the poor classes, food security and income-generating investment projects."
He added, "The first trend goes towards strengthening operational spending towards addressing the problems of poverty and poor classes, especially by supporting social welfare programs to include in their ranks the poorest segments to be integrated into the social welfare programme, in addition to expanding the ration card work program and supporting grain producers for the purposes of food security." .
He added, "The other direction will be a shift towards income-generating investment projects that operate with productive packages within strong investment payments."
He pointed out that "this will be evident in the budget law for the year 2022, and the preparation of the 2023 budget, in order to maintain sustainable economic growth that exceeds population growth and enhances job opportunities and prosperity in the national economy."
Earlier, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, set a condition for depositing the financial surplus in a sovereign fund, while
indicating that spending on social spending and addressing poverty will be a priority.
Saleh told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Based on the text of Article 19 / Second of the amended Federal Financial Management Law No. 6 of 2019, if the actual revenues exceed the total expenses or expenditures, including financing the planned deficit in the annual budget, the surplus amount is deposited In a (sovereign fund) provided that a budget law is available, otherwise the said financial surpluses will be deposited in a reserve account and will undoubtedly be an opening balance in financing the federal general budget for the year 2023 in whole or in part and according to the exchange sections and its future priorities.
He added, "Spending on social spending and addressing poverty will be the first priority, in addition to making it easier with the investment spending associated with the implementation of strategic projects that operate work and inevitably generate income.
Our door is open for partnership.. Coordinating Committee sends ”an invitation coinciding with the feast of “wise people
Today, Monday, the leader in the coordination framework, Aid Al-Hilali, expressed his hope that the blessed Eid Al-Fitr will be a gateway to true tolerance and open new .pages between the political parties for the purpose of ending the political blockage
Al-Hilali said in a statement to (Baghdad Today) that "the door of the coordination framework is open for dialogue and real partnership in managing Iraq towards a better future for its people," noting that "we must invest these days to open the door for dialogue and meetings with everyone to choose the president of the republic as a .start, and then an agreement will be made on a president." Ministers and his cabinet
Al-Hilali expected that "the next stage will witness a real development in the political ".scene for the better, because the blockage, even if it is prolonged, will not last
He stressed that "the wise people exist, and they are concerned with the nation's interest, and we believe that no matter how different the views persist between the ".partners, the matter is the end of détente
