Today, Sunday, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, set the date for Iraq to leave government cash dealing and switch to 100% electronic collection.
Saleh told Al-Rabaa, “Government collection began at the beginning of this year, and electronic payments have been adopted through cards in various forms, but it takes some time to prepare revenue institutions for electronic payment.”
He expected that “by the middle of this year, the government collection rate will become 100 percent electronic, after important institutions such as the Ministry of Electricity and gas stations begin it, in addition to the gradual adaptation of the rest of the institutions.”
He pointed out that “before the middle of the current year, there will no longer be a government institution that receives final cash, leading to the legal adaptation of electronic payment receipt with the Financial Management Law and the Accounting Systems Law, which are agreed upon and recognized in terms of conformity and compatibility.”
He stressed that “things are going well and accelerating, and the year 2024 will actually be (the year of electronic payment) in Iraq.”
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Masrour Barzani, confirmed today, Sunday, communication with Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani and the Central Bank regarding a number of initiatives related to developing the banking system.
A statement from his office received by Al-Rabaa stated that, “The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, received this evening, Sunday, a joint delegation from the Board of Directors of the Bank of Baghdad and the Jordan Kuwait Bank, headed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Baghdad, Majid Allawi Al-Saadi.”
The statement continued, “The meeting witnessed discussion of opportunities for cooperation in implementing joint business and projects with the Kurdistan Regional Government, in a way that strengthens the banking system and achieves economic development in Iraq and the region.”
Barzani highlighted “the reforms implemented by the Kurdistan Regional Government in the field of the banking system and the digitization of services provided and electronic payment,” stressing “the continuation of work on the (My Bank Account) project.”
He pointed out that he “communicated with the Prime Minister of the Federal Prime Minister and the Governor of the Central Bank regarding a number of initiatives related to developing the banking system, in coordination with the Central Bank of Iraq and according to his instructions.”
The General Company for Iron and Steel in Basra Governorate revealed, on Sunday, the government’s agreement with a Chinese company to establish an industrial city with an area of 3,000 dunums, and while it considered that Iraq is about to a major industrial revolution, it confirmed that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani is interested in supporting the iron and steel industry and supporting the local product.
The Director General of the company affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, Abbas said, in a statement reported by the official news agency, and seen by “Economy News”, that “there is a great government interest and from the highest executive authority represented by Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani with industrial projects, which has been halted for more than two decades, and the General Company for Iron and Steel has stopped since 2003 before it re-works.”
He added, “Government interest does not depend only on the establishment of allocations in the budget law, but there is a personal follow-up from the Prime Minister and through the Minister of Industry and Minerals, for the development and progress of work and achievement and submits a monthly official position to the Prime Minister as he follows up and overcomes obstacles in many matters through quick decision-making and even direct contact with the concerned ministers.”
He added that “our company is not alone specialized in iron and steel, but there are companies in the private sector also producing the rebar material, for example, and we had a meeting with the Prime Minister about two weeks ago under the auspices of the Board of Advisors, and there is a special problem committee to follow up the development of the national industry and the fact that among the demands were the protection of the national product, and the government and the Council of Ministers were rightly supportive and decisions were actually issued to protect the national product, especially armature.”
He noted that “with the large reconstruction and construction movement and the trend to build more than one million housing units, there are existing factories in Iraq and new laboratories currently being built in several governorates, and there is a direction for the government to contract with one of the large Chinese companies in the field of iron and steel, and it was visited in China by a delegation headed by Minister of Industry and Minerals Khaled Batal, and I was one of the members of the Iraqi delegation, and now there are negotiations during this period and two days before there was a meeting in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals.”
He pointed out that “this week we also have meetings with the Chinese company, and this company has been granted three thousand dunums of iron and steel land, and a large industrial city will be built, and this is under the auspices and attention of the Prime Minister, and this will create a great industrial revolution inside the country in addition to the existing factories, including the iron and steel factory, to meet the local need not only at the level of prices, but also in consumer protection and the high quality of the Iraqi rebar produced in our company, and sometimes there is no control over border crossings and some types of rebar are entered that are not within the required specifications.”
He pointed out that “the iron and steel plant in Basra has stopped since 2003 and its energy after completing work in it will reach more than 600 thousand tons and the nodal capacity is more than 500 thousand tons, and we will start production with nodal energies,” pointing out that “during the next few months we will witness the opening of the steel factory that produces (pallet), which is complementary to the (rolling) factory and Iraqi production will meet an important aspect of the national need.”
{Economic:Euphrates News} The financial expert, the former head of the Financial Supervision Bureau, Salah Nouri, revealed on Sunday, the most prominent of the report of the International Credit Rating Agency {Fitch} on the evaluation of the Iraqi Trade Bank.
Nouri said {Al-Furat News} that: “The debts {loans} that are not on the recovery and the first of which is the bank’s debts to the Kurdistan Regional Government, and this debt since the bank’s management was assumed by Hamdia Al-Jaf and still, as well as the loans granted to many Iraqi companies supported by politicians {according to the agency’s information}.” He pointed out that “there are risks about the bank’s ability to continue to be active because of the loans granted and non-refundable, and the government interferes significantly in the decisions of the bank’s management, especially as a provision in the Federal General Maronite Law that the bank should finance part of the general budget deficit.” “The weakness of the bank’s administrations and the doubts about the credibility of the annual financial statements prepared by the bank, and an answer will be prepared by the bank’s management to the questions and evaluation grades issued by the credit rating agency,” Nuri continued. “The report pointed out the possible repercussions of the reluctance to deal with the bank by international foreign banks as correspondent banks for government revenues,” he said.
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