Iraq’s gold reserves rose significantly during February 2024, as IMF data showed that Iraq had increased its possession of the precious metal by 3.079 tons, bringing the total to 145.661 tons. This increase indicates that Iraq’s strategy continues to diversify its foreign reserves and promote long-term financial and monetary stability. Gold is a traditional safe haven for investors, especially in periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. The move comes by Iraq at a time when the world is witnessing a rise in gold prices, as the price reached its highest level in its history last month above $2,400 an ounce. Iraq is among the countries that have large amounts of gold reserves in the Arab region, where it ranks fourth after Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Morocco. In general, this increase in Iraq’s gold reserves is a positive indicator of the health and strength of the Iraqi economy.
Shafaq News / The official spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional-Dalshad Shehab, said that Nichirvan Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan region, is visiting Baghdad on Tuesday.
Regarding the program of the visit, Shehab indicated in a statement published by the official website of the Presidency of the Region today, that President Nechirvan Barzani will meet with the Federal Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani to discuss the relations of Erbil-Baghdad and issues of common interest.
At the end of last April, the head of the region visited the federal capital Baghdad, held meetings with the presidents of the republic and ministers and gathered leaders of political parties and participated in the meeting of the coalition of state administration.
Iraq on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. company Honeywell to support the country’s energy sector.
“These agreements allow the company to explore opportunities for strategic cooperation in Iraq’s oil and gas fields, including stopping the burning of gas associated with production processes and providing development, automation, remote control and monitoring services,” Honewell CEO Ken West said in a press statement, followed by “Economy News.
“The memorandums of understanding were signed during a meeting hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce accompanied by members of his team with the participation of Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, along with a group of high-level officials in the government and prominent companies in the private sector,” he added.
“Honeywell has made outstanding achievements in Iraq, and we look forward to taking these agreements into effect,” West said, stressing that “there is great potential for growth and cooperation to enhance the levels of reliability and sustainability of the energy sector for Iraqis across the country.”
He stressed that “these agreements come within the framework of (Honeywell)’s commitment to provide the best global solutions and expertise to help raise levels of efficiency and sustainability within the energy sector in the country. It also reflects the company’s efforts to align and strengthen its portfolio with three huge trends, including the energy transformation.”
For his part, the head of “Honeywell” company in Iraq, Mohammed Shabout, said that “these agreements reflect the firm commitment of (Honeywell) and the private and public sectors in Iraq to continue working on modernizing and developing the local industry.”
“The focus is increasing on the energy sector where we all have to invest the necessary technology and work to provide a better energy future for the entire region,” he noted.
Honeywell has been operating in Iraq since the 1970s, and has recently appointed Mohammed Shabout as the company’s regional president in Iraq.
The Executive Director of the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, Ali Tariq, praised the Central Bank’s direction to establish digital banks to keep pace with the great development in the global banking sector.
In an interview with “Economy News”, Tariq said that “the world is moving towards digitizing banking services, and Iraq has started its first steps in establishing digital banks, as so far there is a licensed digital bank inside Iraq, and provides its services naturally to the public.”
He pointed out that “the Central Bank of Iraq issued the instructions for licensing banks, which specified their number not exceeding 10% of the total banks operating inside the country, with a capital of 100 billion dinars, provided that traditional banks participate by 30%.”
He added that “digital banks are similar to traditional banks, but differ that they do not have branches, and most of their services via mobile, noting that the size of central banks in the world has increased significantly and reached more than 500 digital banks.”
Tariq pointed out that “traditional banks still provide their services through applications, and they are keeping pace with the development in the banking sector.”
Shafaq News / Member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, Alaa Al-Huidari, revealed on Tuesday the date of final ending the gas import file in Iraq.
Al-Haidari told Shafaq News that “the sixth round of licenses announced by the Ministry of Oil are fields and exploratory patters that will contribute to increasing the quantities of natural gas extraction and self-sufficiency in the coming years, as Iraq imports gas to operate the electric stations, which causes the budget to be overward by about $5 billion dollars in gas imports annually.”
He explained that “the licensing rounds announced include all gas fields from the south to northern Iraq, and therefore Iraq will reach the stage of self-sufficiency of gas extracted from local rights by 2027 and complete the import file.”
Iraq is seeking billions of dollars in investments to develop the oil and gas sector as it looks to increase domestic production of petrochemicals and stop gas imports from neighboring Iran that are currently key to energy production.
More than 20 companies qualified for the licensing round, including European, Chinese, Arab and Iraqi groups.
Chinese companies won contracts to excavate five Iraqi oil and gas fields last Saturday in a licensing round aimed primarily at increasing gas production for domestic use.
The gas expected to be obtained from the current licensing round is equivalent to 200% of the amount of gas imported by Iraq from Iran, which reaches 1700 million cubic meters per day, and the quantities of gas expected to be produced from this round will be about 800 million mion standard cubic meters per day.
{Political: Euphrates News} The Presidency of the House of Representatives decided to hold a session next Saturday to elect the Speaker of Parliament.
It is noteworthy that on January 13, the House of Representatives held an extraordinary session to choose the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the first round of voting ended with the victory of the Shaalan Al-Karim Party with 152 votes out of 314 votes, and was succeeded by MP Salem Al-Issawi with 97 votes, MP Mahmoud Al-Mashahani with 48 votes, MP Amer Abdul Jabbar with 6 votes, and MP Talal Al-Zubai with one vote, but word ary aters were insiden the Council Chamber, which forced the Presidency of the Council to adjourn the session until further notice and no further session was held until the preparation of this report. On April 1, the Federal Supreme Court last dismissed a lawsuit to cancel a session of parliament, which was intended to elect a new president of the council, and it was marred by much controversy. On the 17th of last month, Shaalan Al-Qarim announced his withdrawal from the nomination for the presidency of parliament and his independence from all blocs and political parties under the dome of the council, including his alliance. The deadline for the coordination framework of the Sunni political blocs to resolve their candidate for the post expired on Monday and if they do not agree, he will proceed with a session to elect the president.
On Sunday, the US Ambassador to Baghdad, Elena Romanowski, praised Baghdad’s efforts to make Iraq an attractive environment for foreign investors.
Romanowski said, in her blog post on the “X” platform: “A fruitful meeting with the economic advisors of Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, to discuss increasing international cooperation in modernizing the Iraqi economy, supported by the efforts made by the Prime Minister’s team to make Iraq an attractive environment for foreign investors.”
She added: “Which leads to providing better job opportunities for all Iraqis.”
Shafaq News/ An informed political source revealed, on Sunday, that the Taqaddum Party and the Sadara Bloc announced the nomination of Mahmoud al-Mashhadani as a candidate for the presidency of Parliament.
Al-Mashhadani, 75, headed the Iraqi Parliament from 2006 to 2009.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that the nomination received support from Al-Halbousi and the withdrawal of Talal Al-Zubaie, leaving Al-Mashhadani to remain a solo candidate against Salem Al-Issawi.
The “Sadara” parliamentary bloc announced, after midnight on Saturday, joining the “Taqaddum” coalition led by Muhammad al-Halbousi, in a decision that would advance a candidate for the presidency of the Iraqi parliament.
The “Sadara” bloc includes four representatives: Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, Talal Al-Zubaie, Khaled Al-Obaidi, and Muhammad Nouri Abd Rabbo.
Despite the Council’s extension of its first legislative term – which ended yesterday – for an additional thirty days, “Sunni-Sunni” disagreements and different viewpoints are rage among the leaders of the Shiite blocs under the “Coordination Framework” bloc regarding the names nominated for the position and the hand that will be able to hold the hammer of Parliament.
The position of Speaker of the House of Representatives belongs to the Sunnis, according to the prevailing political custom in Iraq since the formation of the political system after the year 2003, while the position of Prime Minister goes to the Shiites, and the President of the Republic goes to the Kurds.
Parliament failed in four attempts to elect a replacement for Al-Halbousi due to the lack of consensus on a single candidate, in light of the Sunni fragmentation and the coordination framework’s insistence on nominating new figures or keeping Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, the first deputy speaker of Parliament, as acting president.
It is noteworthy that three Sunni candidates are currently competing for the position: Salem Al-Issawi, who received 97 votes during the first session held last January, Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, who received 48 votes, and Talal Al-Zubaie, who received one vote.
The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq announced today, Sunday, that Baghdad will soon send the salaries of its employees for the months of April and May.
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said during a press conference followed by Al Rabaa, “Baghdad will soon send the April and May salaries to the region’s employees after Kurdistan fulfilled its obligations.”
He continued, “We implemented all the requests of the federal government to avoid problems in sending the salaries of the Kurdish people.”
Barzani continued: We began the process of localizing salaries a long time ago. About 400,000 people in the region have registered to receive their salaries through banks.
He stressed: “I want to point out a very important point, which is that what the Kurdistan Regional Government has begun is building the economic capabilities of citizens, and whoever speaks otherwise is against citizens having their own accounts and economic decisions.”
He concluded by saying: “It is the duty of political parties to put aside their interests and support the Kurdistan government, in order to make decisions that are in the interest of the Kurdish people.
Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani announced on Sunday Iraq’s commitment to the OPEC voluntary production reduction agreement, while noting that what is being raised about its non-compliance is a unhealthy. “The Ministry of Oil confirms its commitment to the agreement to reduce production in OPEC,” Abdul Ghani said, pointing out that “the ministry is keen on the cooperation of member states and work to achieve more stability in the global oil market by agreeing on voluntary reduction programs.” He added that “Iraq confirms its role in the OPEC+ Group and therefore is keen to abide by the agreement,” noting that “Iraq has already confirmed its commitment to the agreement and announced its export and productive program for the period from June to the end of the year.” He stated that “a program has been put in place to compensate for the increase in production volumes during the last period,” pointing out that “what has been raised about Iraq’s non-compliance with the voluntary reduction is inaccurate.”
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