The President Of The Republic Stresses The Need To Expedite The Approval Of The Oil And Gas Law

28/03/2023

2528

Earth News / President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid stressed on Tuesday the need to speed up the adoption of the oil and gas law to ensure that Iraqis enjoy their national wealth fairly and equally.

A statement by the Presidency of the Republic received by Earth News said that “President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid received in Baghdad, Chairman of the Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee, MP Hebit Al-Halbousi, the first and second vice presidents of the committee, and a number of members of the committee.”
During the meeting, the President stressed “the need to expedite the adoption of the oil and gas law in order to ensure that Iraqis enjoy their national wealth fairly and equally, and to be the property of the people and future generations, pointing out that the adoption of the law is important in resolving the outstanding issues between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.”
The president touched on “the need to support the oil industry, especially with regard to investment projects in the gas sectors, oil exploration and refining industries and addressing the obstacles they face, stressing that they have priorities in the government program.”
The President of the Republic stressed “the need for good planning and management and following modern methods in the implementation of projects aimed at increasing and improving the level of oil production in the country, and working to find appropriate mechanisms to benefit from the gas wealth in the country and not waste it, and reducing dependence on importers from oil derivatives.”
The President of the Republic spoke about “his participation in the United Nations Water Conference held in New York, and the realistic picture presented by the Iraqi delegation of the risks facing the country as a result of water scarcity that has become affecting the lives and livelihoods of citizens in general.”
The President also stressed “the importance of taking urgent measures to confront the water crisis and reduce the severity of these risks by finding innovative and sustainable relief solutions at the local, regional and international levels,” stressing that “he touched during his meetings with a number of leaders of the participating countries in solidarity and support of Iraq in the face of water scarcity and climate changes represented by desertification and drought, which he bears greatly.”
In turn, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee stressed “the committee’s interest in the President’s directives, and working to invest the natural resources in the country in the best way and in order to achieve progress and well-being for our country and our people,” calling for “to adopt the water file in order to find solutions to reduce its effects.”
Al-Halbousi pointed out that “the committee is working to approve the oil and gas law that has been suspended in parliament for years,” pointing out that “there is a desire among most of the blocs to legislate this law and to reflect positively on strengthening and developing the reality of the oil sector in Iraq.”

رئيس الجمهورية يؤكد على ضرورة الإسراع بإقرار قانون النفط والغاز

Parliamentary Finance discusses with the International Monetary Fund support for the 2023 budget law

• Time: 2023/03/28 21:04:56
• Reading: 52 times

  

The Finance Committee, chaired by MP Atwan Al-Atwani, and the presence of a number of its members, hosted the representative of the International Monetary Fund, Dr. Ghazi Al-Shabekmat, on Tuesday, 28/3/2023, to discuss support for the Federal Budget Law of 2023 and the general economic situation in Iraq.

At the beginning of the meeting held at its headquarters, the Committee welcomed the representative of the Fund, appreciating the continued cooperation between Iraq and the International Monetary Fund.

For his part, Dr. Ghazi Al-Shabaqat expressed his happiness at the meeting, adding that the Fund has a long relationship with Iraq, while the report of the consultations on reforming the Iraqi economy and the policy of financial reform with the Iraqi side as a result of the problems that have been solved in the country that led to the stagnation of the economy, stressing the importance of activating governance and restoring sustainable development.

The committee also heard observations on low oil prices and fears of slow circulation in the global market, stressing the activation of the private sector, ending unemployment and not relying heavily on the public sector, supporting the reform process by helping the poor classes, in addition to the need to avoid risks that affect the economic and financial reality in Iraq.

The committee discussed with the network how to diversify the Federal General Budget Law of 2023 and the importance of finding alternatives to achieve comprehensive development, financial sustainability in the budget law, the trend towards diversifying economic sources, investing the private sector in the labor market to finance the budget, and automation of the tax system.

In the same case, it was stressed the need not to rely on oil and the Central Bank to implement the budget, reduce the deficit, rearrange spending priorities and protect the fragile classes from rising prices and automation of banks, while setting a strategic path to address the financial situation and end the deficit, and planning a future vision.

The interventions of the members of the committee focused on the need to regulate the policy of banks and automation of the financial system, diversify the sources of revenues in order to alleviate the deficit, and help in the automation process, as well as having a vision of the set of legal provisions related to the revitalization of the economy during the 2023 budget, discussing the economic structure and developing a program for the public function and supporting the orientation to the private sector.

At the end of the meeting, the representative of the International Monetary Fund expressed his readiness to provide technical assistance in everything that would create financial space for the country.

https://alforatnews.iq/news/المالية-النيابية-تبحث-مع-صندوق-النقد-الدولي-دعم-قانون-موازنة-2023

The dollar crisis. Al-Alaq is optimistic and the money ends in Lebanon

Reports And AnalysisBreakingLebanonCentral Bank Of IraqExchange The DollarThe Dollar Crisis

2023-03-28 06:59Font

Shafaq News / The American newspaper “Final Times” reported that Iraq is still trying to control the currency crisis, which indicates that its oil-dependent economy 20 years after the US invasion, is still fragile, revealing continuous frauds to smuggle the dollar by bypass roads to Lebanon.

The US report, translated by Shafaq News, quoted Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alaq as saying, defending the measures he took to stabilize the currency market, where there was a scarcity of the dollar and the depreciation of the dinar, explaining, “We focused on solving the roots of the problem and we are witnessing some positive indicators, after the crisis last November.”

The Iraqi authorities coordinate with the United States by applying strict rules to banks as part of efforts to eliminate money laundering and secret cash flows abroad, but these measures caused unexpected repercussions, including a significant decline in the dollar supply, which exacerbated inflation and created difficulties for Iraqis, as dealing in dollars prevails due to mistrust of the dinar.

The report pointed out that Baghdad can only access oil sales money through the US Federal Reserve, which has held Iraq’s foreign exchange reserves since the invasion, a mechanism that states that the central bank requests its dollars from the Federal Reserve and then sells them to commercial lenders and exchange companies in exchange for the dinar, in what is known as the dollar auction, but US and Iraqi officials have long complained that widespread frauds allowed the withdrawal of large sums out of Iraq, and the money reached US sanctions groups in Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

The report quoted U.S. official working in Baghdad David Burger as saying, “We have seen an increasing number of suspicious transactions. Large sums of money left through electronic transfers on clear fraudulent grounds.”

After the $2.5 billion “theft of the century” and the ban on 4 banks from transactions, the report recalled the decision to abandon paper transactions in money transfer procedures, and to implement a more transparent digital platform for transfers. But some banks and traders were unwilling to disclose the details of the final recipients, while some were late in adjusting to the new rules.

Al-Alaq was quoted by the report as saying that there are signs of progress as “we are seeing an increase in the number of transactions on the digital platform, and there are more Iraqi traders officially registering to participate.”

Among the measures followed to contain the dollar crisis and the value of the dinar, a scheme was put forward that allows travelers to exchange the dinar for up to $7,000 at airports to use abroad, which allowed cashiers to book flights that they will not use, but only to reach the US currency, and then sell them on the black market.

“We saw flights to Amman or Beirut that were completely out of the planes but the planes were empty (passengers),” the report quoted an employee of an airline at Baghdad airport as saying. The report pointed out that this gap has been narrowing since last week as the available amount was reduced to only $1.5.

Some of these dollars ended up in Lebanon, which is suffering from its own economic crisis, the report noted. The report quoted one of the tellers as saying that he was sending dozens of Iraqis daily to withdraw dollars from Baghdad airport to bring them to Lebanon, explaining, “We make about $1,200 from every 10,000 dollars we get from Iraq.”

Al-Alaq was quoted in the report as saying that “our biggest problem is that Iraqis rely on cash dollars. Isn’t it weird to pay for a foreign currency in one’s country? The whole world is moving towards giving up cash, and Iraq should do that as well.”

https://shafaq.com/ar/تقارير-وتحليلات/زمة-الدولار-العلاق-متفا-ل-وال-موال-تنتهي-تحايلا-في-لبنان

Sudani Adviser Determines Through “Earth News” The Date Of The Demise Of The Dollar Price Difference

28/03/2023

2584

Earth News / Prime Minister’s economic adviser Mazhar Mohammed Saleh set on Tuesday when the difference in the dollar price from the central bank from the market will disappear.

Saleh told Earth News that “the exchange market in Iraq is still gradually adapting to international compliance controls in financing foreign trade for the private sector. The adjustment process is developing gradually, positively and rapidly, but it takes some time, as the Central Bank’s procedures and a package help manage external transfer routes within the international banking and financial system and through compliance mechanisms and a really wide freedom for those who want to transfer at the official price of the dinar against the dollar adopted on February 7, 2013.

He added that “sales of foreign currency with the Central Bank of Iraq have taken a wide daily period and their daily amounts have touched $200 million every working day through the Central Bank of Iraq window to sell and buy foreign currency, which is a great indicator of stability of the currency.

Saleh continued, “However, due to the existence of a surplus of demand accumulated on foreign currency that was not met previously resulting from the administrative applications of the compliance platform in the four months preceding the launch of the flexible packages of the Central Bank of Iraq, we find that the country is still trading two exchange rates, which is very temporary and will disappear over the days with the decrease in the previously accumulated demand surplus on foreign currency, which will inevitably be met according to compliance channels and regular external transfer controls. It is gradually support of the process of adapting the market to the climate of international compliance in an accelerated under the appeal of the Iraqi dinar exchange rate of 1300 dinars per dollar.

مستشار السوداني يحدد عبر “ايرث نيوز” موعد زوال فارق سعر الدولار

Al-Alaq: Central Bank Packages Contributed To The Stability Of Dollar Prices

28/03/2023

Earth News / Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alaq announced today, Tuesday, the stability of dollar exchange rates after the three packages launched by the bank during the last period.

Al-Alaq said in a statement followed by Earth News, that “the measures of the Central Bank are continuing, and the packages it launched are serious and contributed to the stability of the dollar exchange rate and we are still continuing our procedures.”

He added that “the central bank’s reserve depends on oil revenues through the sale of oil as it is the source of foreign currency reserves that come from Iraq’s oil exports is the main factor in determining the reserve,” noting that “the central bank reserves are within international standards.”

العلاق: حزم البنك المركزي ساهمت باستقرار اسعار الدولار

Parliamentary Finance: We received the draft budget and returned it to the government not necessarily

• Time: 2023/03/28 13:09:40
• Read: 1,092 times

  

{Economic: Al-Furat News} The Parliamentary Finance Committee ruled out the return of the draft financial budget law to the government.

Committee member Moeen Al-Kazimi told {Euphrates News} that: “The committee so far has not received the draft budget law with all its details and annexes, but only received the first draft and shows that there is a large deficit estimated at 64 trillion dinars.”

“There is a possibility for the committee to have a say in this deficit,” he added.

Al-Kazimi stressed that “talking about the re-budg budget to the government is not necessarily, but the Finance Committee will make amendments to the project in cooperation and consensus with the Ministry of Finance.”

On March 16, the House of Representatives announced that it had received the draft budget law.

It is noteworthy that the Council of Ministers approved in its session on March 13 the three budgets and referred them to Parliament for approval.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said, after the council meeting in a press conference, that: “The total budget is more than 197 trillion dinars, the operational budget is more than 150 trillion dinars and investment is more than 47 trillion, and the budget deficit is 63 trillion dinars.”

He pointed out that “the total revenues amount to more than 134 trillion dinars, and oil revenues of them amount to more than 117 trillion based on the price of oil at $ 70, and non-oil revenues amount to more than 17 trillion dinars.”

From.. Raghad Daham

https://alforatnews.iq/news/المالية-النيابية-تسلمنا-مسودة-الموازنة-وإعادتها-الى-الحكومة-ليس-بالضرورة

A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government visits Baghdad to continue talks on oil

KurdistanKurdistan RegionBaghdadBreakingDelegation

2023-03-28 02:30Font

Shafaq News / The government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq announced on Tuesday that a delegation headed by Minister of Finance and Economy Awat Sheikh Janab is visiting Baghdad to continue negotiations with the federal government.

According to a statement issued by the territorial government, the delegation, in addition to its chairmany by Sheikh Janab, includes: Kamal Mohammed, Acting Minister of Natural Resources, and Omid Sabah, Head of the Staff of the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Region.

The statement added that the KRG delegation will discuss with Iraqi officials the issue of oil in Baghdad and will continue negotiations aimed at resolving differences, and important high-level meetings are scheduled.

In turn, regional government spokesman Jotyar Adel said in a tweet on social networking sites “Twitter”, that “regarding the discussion on the oil file, the region’s delegation is returning to Baghdad today.”

Regional Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced a few days ago that a government delegation will be sent to Baghdad to discuss the oil file after the French court’s decision that it is illegal to export the region’s oil to Turkey without the approval of the federal government.

The Federal Ministry of Oil announced, on Saturday, the winning of an international arbitration lawsuit filed by Iraq against Turkey regarding the export of crude oil from the Kurdistan Region through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, while stating that it will discuss the export mechanism through the port itself with the concerned authorities in the region and the authorities in Ankara according to the new data.

A delegation from the regional government visited the capital Baghdad on Sunday, and met with a delegation from the Ministry of Oil headed by Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani. The two sides discussed new mechanisms and data for the region’s oil exports, after the decision issued by the Arbitration Court of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, last Thursday, March 23, 2023 in the arbitration lawsuit filed by Iraq against Turkey.

The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government had considered that “the decision of the French court in favor of the Iraqi government against Turkey will not hinder relations with the Baghdad government.

https://shafaq.com/ar/كوردســتانيات/وفد-جديد-من-حكومة-قليم-كوردستان-يزور-بغداد

A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government visits Baghdad to continue talks on oil

KurdistanKurdistan RegionBaghdadBreakingDelegation

2023-03-28 02:30Font

Shafaq News / The government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq announced on Tuesday that a delegation headed by Minister of Finance and Economy Awat Sheikh Janab is visiting Baghdad to continue negotiations with the federal government.

According to a statement issued by the territorial government, the delegation, in addition to its chairmany by Sheikh Janab, includes: Kamal Mohammed, Acting Minister of Natural Resources, and Omid Sabah, Head of the Staff of the Council of Ministers of the Kurdistan Region.

The statement added that the KRG delegation will discuss with Iraqi officials the issue of oil in Baghdad and will continue negotiations aimed at resolving differences, and important high-level meetings are scheduled.

In turn, regional government spokesman Jotyar Adel said in a tweet on social networking sites “Twitter”, that “regarding the discussion on the oil file, the region’s delegation is returning to Baghdad today.”

Regional Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced a few days ago that a government delegation will be sent to Baghdad to discuss the oil file after the French court’s decision that it is illegal to export the region’s oil to Turkey without the approval of the federal government.

The Federal Ministry of Oil announced, on Saturday, the winning of an international arbitration lawsuit filed by Iraq against Turkey regarding the export of crude oil from the Kurdistan Region through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, while stating that it will discuss the export mechanism through the port itself with the concerned authorities in the region and the authorities in Ankara according to the new data.

A delegation from the regional government visited the capital Baghdad on Sunday, and met with a delegation from the Ministry of Oil headed by Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani. The two sides discussed new mechanisms and data for the region’s oil exports, after the decision issued by the Arbitration Court of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, last Thursday, March 23, 2023 in the arbitration lawsuit filed by Iraq against Turkey.

The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government had considered that “the decision of the French court in favor of the Iraqi government against Turkey will not hinder relations with the Baghdad government.

https://shafaq.com/ar/كوردســتانيات/وفد-جديد-من-حكومة-قليم-كوردستان-يزور-بغداد

The Central Bank of Iraq records the largest reserve in its history

EconomyCentral Bank Of IraqIraq’s Reserves

2023-03-28 05:15Font

Shafaq News / The Central Bank of Iraq recorded the largest financial reserve in the country’s history, the government’s financial adviser said Tuesday.

The prime minister’s adviser for financial affairs, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, said in a press statement seen by Shafaq News that the central bank’s reserves are currently the largest in Iraq’s history after reaching $115 billion.

Saleh considered that “the Iraqi economy is strong and faces crises easily and the situation is moving towards improvement,” noting that “Iraq is towards gradually improving the digital payments climate and compliance towards the world.”

He stressed that “the packages launched by the Central Bank are smart and give reassurance to the Iraqi citizen,” explaining that “we have entered the stage of digital payments correctly in Iraq.”

On January 19, the Central Bank of Iraq announced significant growth in its foreign currency reserves last year.

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq Ammar Hamad said on January 23 that “the reserves of the Central Bank amounted to more than $99 billion.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers had approved the adoption of the decision of the Central Bank of Iraq to raise the value of the dinar against the dollar to 1300 dinars instead of 1470 dinars, in a move aimed at enhancing the value of the local currency.

The rise in oil prices over the past year, which in some months reached more than $100, contributed to the rise in Iraqi financial revenues, which was positively reflected in the rise in Iraq’s hard currency reserves.

https://shafaq.com/ar/اقتصـاد/البنك-المركزي-العراقي-يسجل-كبر-احتياطي-بتاريخه