Sudanese Advisor: America Gives Us Instructions And Does Not Impose Pressure On The Dollar Issue, 15 OCT

 Sudanese Advisor: America Gives Us Instructions And Does Not Impose Pressure On The Dollar Issue

Politics   10/15/2023 Number of readings: 189   Baghdad - Iraq Today:  Muhammad al-Najjar, advisor to the Prime Minister for Investment Affairs, stressed that the method of cash in Iraq must be electronic, noting that the US Federal Reserve’s instructions to Iraqi banks were years ago, but previous governments “ignored” them.”

Regarding the impact of the dollar exchange rate on internal investment in Iraq, Al-Najjar said in a press interview that this problem produced confusion in the market at the beginning of its appearance, due to the presence of contracts signed in dollars, but now it has “adjusted” because most of the contracts, especially the executive ones, were signed in Iraqi dinars, indicating that the issue The effect will decrease until the old contracts signed in US currency expire.

He pointed out that countries around the world approve contracts in local currency, with exceptions, according to the type of project.

Regarding the possibility of controlling the dollar exchange rate or not, he commented that this is “related to the transfer of a culture, from paper to electronic, and this process takes time,” stressing the need for the method of cash in Iraq to be electronic and not as is prevalent through paper currency.

The Prime Minister's Advisor for Investment Affairs pointed out that “some are trying to exploit this stage,” pointing out that the process of transferring from cash to data “is in the interest of the Iraqi state to control and track funds, especially in light of the existing financial corruption.”

Regarding the US Federal Reserve’s pressure on Iraq, Muhammad al-Najjar considered it “instructions, not pressures,” adding that the US government has the right to set controls on the use of its currency.

He continued: “The US Federal Reserve had requested these demands from Iraq several years ago, and previous governments had constantly ignored them, but now it has become unhealthy for these practices to continue, which have led to a large scale of financial corruption because the amounts cannot be tracked."

Regarding the Iraqi government's vision in the field of investment, he revealed that the Board of Directors of the Iraq Fund for Development will approve it in the next session of the Council of Ministers, after approving the bylaws, noting that the delay came due to the delay in approving the budget.

He added: “After the Board of Directors is approved, the executive director of the fund will be appointed to launch investment projects, the results of which we will see at the beginning of next year.”

The Iraq Fund for Development promised that it would serve as “a middle ground between ministries and provide funding to individual innovators and grant loans to young people to start new projects.”

He explained that the government is working on several programs to reach a strategic plan on how to activate and employ graduates annually, in order to train them professionally in preparation for new specializations that the government will need in the future, such as information technology, adding that the final plan for the total absorption of graduates does not yet exist.  LINK