NEWS OF IRAQ BY MNT GOAT, 22 JULY

 EXCLUSIVE: US ISSUES NEW 120-DAY WAIVER LETTING IRAQ PAY IRAN FOR ELECTRICITY

| Reuters (7/18/23)

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) – The United States on Tuesday moved to let Iraq pay Iran for electricity via non-Iraqi banks, a U.S. official said, a step Washington hopes may keep Tehran from forcing unpopular power cuts during the sweltering Iraqi summer.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a 120-day national security waiver allowing Iraq – heavily dependent on Iranian electricity – to deposit such payments into non-Iraqi banks in third countries instead of into restricted accounts in Iraq, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(Oh..how nice of the US to grant it…..lol..lol..lol.. They are just “saving face” for they know they must preserve relations with Iraq)

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IRAQ’S NEED TO LEGISLATE IMPORTANT LAWS, INCLUDING THE OIL AND GAS LAW TO COMPLETE THE BUDGET

MP Kazem Al-Touki stressed Iraq’s need to legislate important laws, including the Oil and Gas Law, which complements the federal budget.

Al-Touki said in a press interview seen by “Taqaddam” that: “What matters to the work of the House of Representatives is legislation and oversight, and the country today needs to legislate important and strict laws related to the citizen.”

“Today, laws have been enacted, including the Intelligence and National Security Law, and we have already issued important laws, including electronic extortion,” he said.

“We are waiting for the most important law complementary to the budget and the stability of the country’s economy, which is the controversial oil and gas law,” he said. “All parliamentary committees continue to host officials with intensive visits to state institutions,”  

(The oil and gas law compliments the new budget, Article 140 compliments the oil and gas law. Get it? They are all hard to separate and are connected. They have had 20 years already so what took them so damn long? Now they rush? )

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(HERE COMES ARTICLE 140!)

PARLIAMENT: A NEW MECHANISM TO ACTIVATE THE WORK OF THE ARTICLE 140 COMMITTEE, AND THESE ARE ITS FINANCIAL ALLOCATIONS

The Parliament announced the establishment of a new mechanism to activate the work of the Article 140 Committee, stressing that the financial allocations allocated by the government are very low.

The second deputy Speaker of Parliament, Shakhwan Abdullah, said, in a joint press conference with members of Parliamentary Committee 140 today, Thursday, that “the temporary committee formed in the House of Representatives to follow up on the work of Article 140 of the Constitution Committee, which was suspended for more than 10 years, was activated after the agreement of the political blocs to support the activation of this article.”

See full article in the articles section.

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ENHANCING CONFIDENCE IN THE IRAQI DINAR

To enhance the ability of the Iraqi dinar against foreign currencies to circulate within the country, the following was decided:

1.Collection of all cash guarantees shall be in dinar currency exclusively for internal credits, bank guarantees and letters of guarantee issued to the benefit of the beneficiaries (governmental and private), even if they are in dollar currency and at the official exchange rate.

2.The payment of the sums of the letters of guarantee upon confiscation shall be exclusively in Iraqi dinars and at the official exchange rate.

We ask all authorized banks to take the necessary measures in accordance with the above

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COMPLETION OF THE KARBALA REFINERY AND THE START OF ACTUAL PRODUCTION IN IT

Economy News-Baghdad

Iraq’s oil refining capacity has risen to 1.1 million barrels per day.

According to the Energy Agency, “the oil refining capacity in Iraq is 1.116 million barrels per day in 2022, up from 976,2021 barrels per day in <>,” noting that “the rise came as a result of the completion of the Karbala refinery and the start of actual production in it.”

(VERY GOOD NEWS! Why is this news so important? It is the very start of the end of the dependency of Iraq to import refinery products from outside the country namely from Iran. These are refined fuels such as petrol, diesel fuels needed to run automobiles, small generators and construction machinery. Right now they also mostly need the fuels to run power plants. They will especially need these products to rebuild the Iraqi cities. Iraq did not have refineries and contracted a firm to build one for them. Many more are slotted to be built in this new budget to meet the demands of Iraq.)