Experts Call For Strict Measures Against {Dollar Smuggling}, 5 OCT

 Experts Call For Strict Measures Against {Dollar Smuggling}

The first  10/05/2023   Baghdad: Huda Al-Azzawi    Specialists in financial and economic affairs have warned that the issue of dollar smuggling carries a political connotation, in addition to the economic dimension, and that influential parties stand behind its continuation.

The government must be serious and have a strong will to stand up to the apparent smuggling of dollars, indicating that despite the Federal Integrity Commission’s ability to One month after recovering approximately 219 billion Iraqi dinars, the smuggling of dollars abroad has reached levels exceeding ($600 billion) since 2003.

Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Finance Committee for the fourth session, Dr. Ahmed Al-Saffar, stated in an interview with “Al-Sabah”: “The funds smuggled outside Iraq are very large, and what was recovered is perhaps less than 1% of the volume of funds accumulated outside Iraq, which belong to influential parties and were invested in Giant projects from which the host countries have benefited,”

stressing that “this matter requires a strong will on the part of the Iraqi government and a policy, organization, and committees through which coordination can be made with those countries that must cooperate to recover these funds, which are, in most cases, benefiting from their presence.” Therefore, the recovery process is difficult.”

Regarding dollar smuggling, Al-Saffar said:“The process of smuggling the dollar is a political, economic and financial process, and the main factor that prevents the recovery of the price of the dinar is the political factor.

Iraq has become an arena for conflicts, interests and political conflict, between countries that form entities that agree with American interests and others that are punished and economically prohibited from trading the dollar, because that A sovereign process for Washington, and there is a conflict between America and these regional countries that have a commercial, economic, political and social relationship with Iraq,” indicating that “ if the political solution is achieved, the official dollar exchange rate can be restored,

and the other factor for dollar smuggling is the structural imbalance of the Iraqi economy.” In light of the lack of a real domestic product, and the country’s reliance on importing all its needs by 95%, which are paid in dollars, he explained that “a large percentage of this money goes to smuggling, so whenever Iraq is able to restructure economically and address the structural imbalance, and is able to revitalize The real economic sectors (agriculture, industry and trade), and rely on real output and reduce imports, this problem will be solved.”

He stated that “the last and important factor - which the government must pay attention to - is the presence of a chaotic financial policy, and we can say that there is no clear financial policy by extrapolating the budgets that were legislated and implemented in Iraq after 2003 until now, especially since the largest percentage of funds It goes to the consumer operational budget,” stressing,

“Today we need radical solutions to control the smuggled dollar, as I mentioned earlier.”

For his part, the head of the Regional Center for Studies, Ali Al-Sahib, indicated in an interview with Al-Sabah: “Although the Federal Integrity Commission was able, within one month, to recover approximately (219) billion Iraqi dinars, the smuggling of dollars abroad has reached Levels exceeding ($600 billion) since 2003, according to statements, after the Federal Integrity Commission rolled up its sleeves with real solutions to the files of rampant corruption in the body of the Iraqi state, which turned from a state to a phenomenon, then to a rule, and has now become a pandemic.

He pointed out that “the Integrity Commission, with its new administration, was able to manage the file with good steps and recovered to the Iraqi treasury about 300 billion Iraqi dinars from corruption files at home, but what remains important, even more important, is the amount of money looted and smuggled abroad, which figures indicate that it is around (600 billion). Dollars),

we also have convoys of corrupt people and plunderers of public money abroad who are still enjoying this huge amount of money and no lawsuits have been filed against them, even though Iraq is one of the countries that has agreements and cooperation with (Interpol).”

 Edited by: Muhammad Al-Ansari   https://alsabaah.iq/85023-.html