{Economic:Euphrates News} The Central Bank of Iraq specified the parties covered by obtaining their foreign transfers in cash in dollar currency starting from January 2, 2024.
A statement by Al-Bitek said, a copy of it said: “External transfers include all diplomatic missions, international organizations and agencies operating in Iraq, and non-governmental civil society organizations registered in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in the event that the foreign donor requires the payment of the amounts of foreign transfers received in dollar currency inside Iraq.”
He added, “It also includes government contracts in force in the US dollar currency, and continuous contracts on grants, loans and foreign agreements,” noting “40 percent of incoming transfers to Iraqi exporters resulting from their exports abroad.”
The statement continued, “Banks are allowed to deliver their customers the amounts of their remittances received from abroad in cash and from the self-resources available to the bank and according to the agreement between the bank and the customer.”
Shafaq News / The Iraqi Prime Minister on Monday promised Iraqis that 2024 will be the year of achievements.
Al-Sudani said in a statement distributed by his media office and reported to Shafaq News; “I extend to our honorable Iraqi people with the best words of congratulations, and pray to the Almighty to God to preserve him in our beloved Iraq.”
He added, “We enter a new year, in which we carry the aspirations of our people and hold hope and determination, and renew the insistence on it to be a year full of progress, work and giving, and to proceed with what the government has committed in its program and executive priorities, as a government of services and reform and the achievement of requirements and needs, which meet the aspirations of citizens everywhere in this dear country.”
He continued, “Our new year will be (the year of achievements), God willing, it will be the year of turning plans into a reality, and harvesting the fruits of effort, to meet the ambition of our citizens everywhere.”
Shafaq News / Iraqis entered 2024, amid celebrations and fireworks launch in several cities, including the capital Baghdad, and the cities of the Kurdistan Region.
The Iraqi authorities have taken proactive measures in anticipation of any emergency, as well as issuing warning wills and guidance to prevent the recurrence of dozens of injuries and fires similar to those in previous years.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudi directed the concerned authorities to open the celebrations square on the Karkh side of the capital Baghdad, in front of the movement of citizens, and to keep the gates of the Green Zone open after midnight on New Year’s Eve, on Sunday and Monday this week, on the occasion of the new year.
Baghdad and the rest of the provinces celebrate Christmas every year by roaming the streets in festive clothes, and the red “Santa Claus” hats on their heads, releasing the moment the new year begins, fire crackers that light up the sky and streets of the city.
Iran, like other BRICS members, will abolish the use of the dollar in trade, economic and financial dealings within the group, and has already begun several steps in this direction.
“Within this organization, we have many planned tasks and joint work with other BRICS members,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and Chief Negotiator Ali Bagheri Kayani announced this, an interview with Novosti correspondent.
“One of the most important actions was to eliminate the use of the dollar in commercial and economic transactions and financial cooperation. Activities like this have begun in the work of the BRICS, and we hope to strengthen and grow these activities in order to implement this task as soon as possible.”
The BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but more recently 23 countries have already expressed a desire to join this economic bloc.
At the last summit held in Johannesburg in August, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia were officially invited to join the BRICS as of January 1, 2024.
Shafaq News / US Ambassador to Iraq Elina Romanski revealed, on Saturday, the provision of $73 million to the Iraqi government for the purpose of cooperation with civil society and improving services.
The Iraqi government’s goal of supporting community participation and effective local governance is a key priority within the comprehensive US-Iraqi partnership,” Romanski said in a tweet via her official X-Twitter account.
She said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID Middle East) provided $73 million through the “Iraq Together” program to enable the government to collaborate with civil society and local communities to improve public services.
Shafaq News / The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported on Saturday that Iraq ranked second in the Arab World in terms of the country with the most oil reserves for 2023.
She said in a report, revised by Shafaq News, that the list of the 10 most Arab countries with oil reserves during 2023 witnessed the continuation of the export of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE, in light of the leading role of the Arab region in the global market, noting that the list of 2023 did not witness any changes in the reserves of Arab countries, except for the UAE, which succeeded in increasing crude reserves of those fossil fuels.
She pointed out that global oil reserves rose during 2023 to 1.754 trillion barrels, compared to 1.746 trillion barrels in 2022.
She added that during 2023, Saudi Arabia continued to stay on the throne of the list of the 10 most Arab countries with oil reserves, amid its stability at 267.19 billion barrels, and in second place on the list came Iraq with oil reserves that settled at 145.01 billion barrels, unchanged from 2021.
The UAE came third in increasing its oil reserves during 2023 to 113 billion barrels, followed by Kuwait with its stability at 101.5 billion barrels, followed by Libya fifth at the level of 48.36 billion barrels, followed by Qatar sixth by 25.24 billion barrels, followed by Algeria 12.20 billion barrels, followed by Oman by 4.90 billion barrels.
Egypt and Yemen came with reserves of 3.3 billion barrels of crude oil, followed by the last place by the State of Yemen with oil reserves that stabilized at 3 billion barrels.
{International: Al-Furat News} The governor of the Central Bank of Iran revealed the start of the project of settling the country’s exports abroad in the national currency of the riyal.
On the sidelines of the meeting of the Government Council and the private sector in the province of Khorasan Razavi (northeast), Mohammed Reda Farzin said
The issue of settling Iranian exports via the riyal currency outside the borders has been been considered by the central bank for several months, and its introduction will address the requirements of exporters for Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also said that this topic is one of the demands of Mashhad traders to export to Afghanistan, and through the implementation of the “Rial F Shore” project (Rial outside the border), traders will be able to benefit from it instead of foreign currency.
He pointed out that the regulation of the cross-border riyal project was drafted by the Central Bank and practically two banks started this project, and soon it will be circulated to all banks of the country.
Iraq ranked fourth among the “10” countries with the growth of “foreign investment momentum” until 2024, with a growth rate in expenses of more than 370% from 2021 until the end of 2023.
According to a report by the fdi website on foreign investment in the world, many economies enjoyed strong investment momentum until 2024.
She pointed out that the Asian continent was particularly good, as 6 out of 10 countries were Asian countries.
The ranking of the ten most dynamic countries in foreign investment until 2024 was as follows:
1- Kapmodia
2- The Philippines
3- Kenya
4- Iraq
5- Namibia
6- Kazakhstan
7- Azerbaijan
8- Morocco
9- Serbia
10- India
The degree of the momentum index of foreign direct investment in Iraq came at about “86” points out of 100, while the growth of GDP 2024 is 2.90%, inflation is 3.60%, the growth in capital expenditures for foreign direct investment between 2021 and 2023 amounted to more than 370%, and the growth in foreign direct investment projects between 2021 and 2023 amounted to about 95%.
The Parliamentary Finance Committee confirmed today, Friday, that the 2024 budget schedules have not yet reached Parliament, but the total revenues and expenditures must be reconsidered. Committee member, Mustafa Al-Karawi, said, “The Prime Minister has not sent any letter regarding the 2024 budget yet, but in general it is assumed that the issue of revenues and total expenditures and the percentage of the deficit achieved in the new budget will be reconsidered, based on expectations of oil prices and quantities exported according to the OPEC decision.” , indicating that “if changes occur to these three numbers, there will be a major change to the rest of the budget schedules,” according to the Iraqi News Agency.
Al-Karaawi explained that “the volume of expenditures distributed across the spending lines, and according to the available amounts and expected revenues, there will be a redistribution of the budget schedules, and as a result there will be a major change in the schedules,” noting that “what the political forces aspire to are the budget items. Especially in the Kurdistan region, with regard to actual expenses and others.”
He stressed that “the committee is determined that there be social justice between the governorates, and that everyone is obligated to pay the actual expenses,” noting that “these points are the sum of the differences that we will witness in the budget during the coming period.”
He added, “We hope to send its data for the 2024 budget after the legislative recess, so that it can be amended quickly.”
Al-Karaawi confirmed, “There is no increase in fuel prices. Rather, it is regulating the process of processing fuel by converting it to electronic form and using payment cards, but there is not yet any official decision regarding fuel prices.”
The Association of Private Banks praised, on Friday, the monetary strategy of the government and the Central Bank, and stressed that the measures taken recently, including the opening of foreign Iraqi accounts in the currencies of the euro, the Turkish lira and the UAE dirhams, will contribute to the continued decline of the exchange rate in the parallel market.
The Association’s advisor Samir Al-Nusairiri said in a statement to official media that “the objectives and tasks of the Central Bank focus on financial and banking reform, and they are in accordance with the government curriculum, especially with regard to the transition from the monetary economy to the digital economy through the development and deployment of electronic payment devices in trends that achieve the fourth global revolution by moving to a society of cashless.”
He added, “The Central Bank of Iraq and the government have taken a new strategy to manage monetary policy due to the fluctuation that occurred in the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar at the end of 2022, so there were new goals to control the exchange rate and ensure its stability.”
Al-Nusairiri explained that “was also among the objectives of regulating foreign trade financing and the regularity of the Iraqi banking sector in accordance with the standards of the global financial system followed in most developed countries of the world in the banking aspect and completely ending the battle with speculators who play a harmful role for the national economy by dealing in dollars in the black market, which is held accountable in accordance with the law.”
He pointed out that “the reconsideration of lending policies according to a new strategy called the National Lending Strategy, in which the operational aspects of bank financing have been used in previous years and the move towards a new strategy that will be widely implemented.”
He continued that “the central bank’s administrative, procedural and negotiating efforts, which lasted for about 8 months with the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank and international banks, resulted in allowing agreements, arrangements and understandings that allowed the entry of new currencies to deal with foreign transfers, including the Chinese yuan, the UAE dirham, the Indian rupee, the euro and the Turkish lira.”
He saw that “these agreements are successfully implemented, which reflected on the exchange rate and led to its decline, and soon, it was agreed with Turkish banks to enhance the balances of Iraqi banks in Turkish lira and euro, and the Central Bank strengthened this with tens of millions of euro currency, in addition to the agreement with First Abu Dhabi Bank that the UAE dirhams will be dealt with in UAE dirhams to finance the trade of Iraqis with the UAE.”
“All these measures will allow the exchange rate to continue to decline in the parallel market, which is currently continuously falling,” the consultant of the Association of Private Banks pointed out.
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