STATISTICS SHOW THAT THE ASYCUDA SYSTEM IS HARMING MORE THAN ONE MILLION IRAQI TRADERS, WITH LOSSES AMOUNTING TO BILLIONS.
Economic expert Nabil Al-Marsoumi stated on Saturday that the “ASYCUDA” system implemented by the Iraqi government has caused a decrease in trade transactions and a decline in customs revenues in the country, calling for dialogue sessions with chambers of commerce to reach appropriate solutions after the deterioration of the economic situation as a result of the application of the customs tariff.
This comes at a time when calls have been launched to begin a general strike in markets and shops throughout Iraq starting tomorrow, Sunday, in protest against the application of the new customs tariff, and the accumulation of containers of imported goods and commodities in the ports of Basra in the far south of the country.
Al-Marsoumi said in a post today that commercial activity in Iraq is currently of utmost importance, as there are more than 350,000 commercial establishments and more than one million traders dealing in imported and local goods worth tens of billions of dollars, and employing millions of workers.
He added that this activity is currently suffering from the repercussions of the ASYCUDA system, and from the application of the customs tariff, which, according to official information, has led to a halving of Iraq’s trade transactions with the outside world, and to significant losses for traders and the government, whose customs revenues also decreased in January by 71 billion dinars compared to the months that preceded it.
The economist stressed that “there is an urgent need to hold a dialogue session with the chambers of commerce to reach suitable solutions for the government, merchants and the general public.”
The Iraqi government raised customs duties by percentages ranging between 5% and 30%, distributed across brackets starting from 5%, 10% and 15%, up to the maximum limit of 30%.
These ratios cover the entire customs tariff register consisting of 99 chapters containing approximately 16,400 customs items, which are the items adopted globally in trade.
A few days ago, the General Authority of Customs in the Ministry of Finance issued a directive to adopt a reduction rate of 25% on the average import values recorded in the ASYCUDA system.
Over the past month, Iraq has witnessed angry demonstrations in several provinces, protesting the decision to impose new taxes and fees, and to apply customs tariffs to imported goods.