FRANK26:"COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING REDUCES INFLATION... AND THAT'S THE GOAL OF THE MONETARY REFORM!!!"
Al-Handal stresses Iraq's commitment to combating money laundering.. What about inflation?
5/23/2024
Baghdad
The head of the Iraqi Private Banks Association, Wadih Al-Handal, confirmed today, Thursday, that Iraq is committed to combating money laundering, pointing to the role of the Central Bank of Iraq in reducing inflation to 3.8%.
Al-Handal said during a speech he delivered at the Arab-Turkish summit in Istanbul, followed by Al-Iqtisad News, that “Iraq’s policy is focused on economic openness to all countries, to build a network of strong economic relations, and to attract foreign investments in infrastructure development.”
He added, "Bilateral relations between Iraq and Turkey are going through their golden age. Trade exchange reached 20 billion dollars last year, and cooperation is great between Iraqi and Turkish companies in implementing strategic projects inside Iraq," noting that "the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month To Iraq, it will reflect positively on the Arab region, starting with the development road project.”
The head of the Association of Iraqi Private Banks stated, “The Iraqi Development Road Project is one of the projects that will transform the form of transporting goods between East Asian countries and Europe, because it will contribute to shortening the time on the ship departing from the port of Al-Faw to Europe by fifteen days compared to other transport lines.” As well as reducing the cost in terms of insurance and transportation fees, which will be reflected positively on the final price of the goods, in addition to the fact that the project will provide more than 100,000 direct job opportunities with the establishment of large factories inside the country.”
He pointed out, "The development road will link the countries of China, India, the Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, and Turkey, all the way to Britain, through rail and land lines to transport goods and people. It is the leading project in the region currently, as it will contribute to transporting fifteen million passengers annually and more than 22 million tons of food." Goods, and will cost seventeen billion dollars, with revenues for Iraq amounting to about 5 billion dollars annually.”
Al-Handal called on Arab and foreign banks to “contribute to financing investments while continuing to work on providing sovereign guarantees, in a way that contributes to accelerating work and achieving development for all.”
He stated, "The Central Bank of Iraq worked with its Turkish counterpart, during the previous stage, to adopt the Turkish lira and the euro to finance trade exchange between the two countries."
He stressed that "the private banking sector is progressing rapidly in growth, despite the great challenges surrounding it, and that some banks that faced difficulties in dealing in the dollar continue to work in other currencies, in implementing the aspirations of their customers, in addition to increasing the types of banking services, which... “It reflects positively on the sector’s work in increasing the rate of financial inclusion.”
He explained, "The monetary policy, led by the Central Bank of Iraq, during the current stage, has worked very successfully, contributing to reducing inflation from 7.5 percent to 3.8 percent," noting, "Iraq's foreign currency reserves have reached more than 111 billion." $, and gold 145.6 tons, which makes it ranked fifth in the Arab world.”
Al-Handal thanked the Union of Arab Banks, praising this two-day Arab-Turkish summit, wishing to come up with urgent decisions that contribute to changing the face of the region economically and give hope to our people, who are suffering from the effects of inflation, high prices, and the migration of foreign investors.
He concluded by saying: “Iraq is one of the countries committed to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, according to what was announced by the Financial Action Task Force for the Middle East and North Africa (MINFATF), which is an indicator that all countries rely on,” praising “the role of the Central Bank and the Iraqi judiciary in preserving To classify Iraq globally as one of the ..countries committed to combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
"HKMA Updates Social Performance Module (SPM) to Drive Banking Sector Upskilling"
We have recently been talking about many banks going through logistics training and especially in their foreign currency exchange departments.
Here, we have a report that Hong Kong is Upskilling their banking practitioners.
Part of the reskilling of their banking employees deals with The Exchange Stabilization Fund. The ESF deals with three types of assets:
* The US Dollar
* Foreign Currencies
* Special Drawing Rights
The SDR is an international reserve asset. It is created by the International Monetary Fund. This particular asset class is a transitional currency. It will help stabilize and redistribute monetary volumes and access expansion to various currencies to aid in the process of moving from a World Reserve Asset to a local currency regimen backed by gold.
This process will begin to create price pressures on global currencies. Credit valuation adjustments will be a part of this process.
As of August 2023, the SDR basket of currencies consist of the following percentages:
* US dollar: 43.38
* Euro: 29.31
* Chinese yuan: 12.28
* Japanese yen: 7.59
* British pound sterling: 7.44
These percentages will shift during the transition as new alliances have been formed the last few years through new trading partners. Don't be surprised if we do not see a digital currency added to this list.
Hong Kong is an open market economy driven by supply and demand. Currently, the United States dollar is their main asset to drive their Market, but a shift change to a gold backed regimen will immediately change everything for Hong Kong and those who trade with them which is many countries.
Hong Kong has been through several digital pilot programs and completed many of their projects. They are well equipped for the new shift in our economy.
China is currently driving the gold market to new highs along with new BRICS Nations. These changes will come at a heavy price on the US Dollars' performance.
We are in a transition that has taken a lot of time, but the shifts to the global economy are beginning to take a different shape.
Iraq announces investments amounting to about $1.5 billion
Economy News - Baghdad
Today, Friday, the Iraq Fund for Development outlined three achievements it has achieved since its founding, while announcing investments amounting to about $1.5 billion.
The Executive Director of the Iraq Fund for Development, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Investment Affairs, Muhammad al-Najjar, said, “Since its establishment less than a year ago, the Fund has achieved three achievements, the first of which is: signing 17 memorandums of understanding with 17 different companies (Saudi, British, and American) to enter into... Iraq".
Al-Najjar added, "The value of the total investments achieved by these memorandums approached one and a half billion dollars," pointing out that "these imports for the first time enter Iraq, not in the field of energy, but in the field of industry, agriculture, and gas production, that is, industrial gases."
He pointed out that "the second achievement was the launch of the investment schools project, and applications were submitted to build 2,000 schools through investment, and the state rents them from investors, which saves huge sums of money, since for the price of 100 schools we can build 1,000 schools in a much shorter period of time than was thought." That is, school crises will be resolved as quickly as possible.”
He continued: “As for the third achievement, it represented the launch of social projects for the first time, such as building schools and so on, implemented through the private sector, and for the first time we can attract the private sector to this number and this number of investments related to the state, which is considered a fundamental change that the government and the Fund have succeeded in establishing.” For him, under the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.”
He pointed out that "there is an international desire to enter the fund, but our tendency is for participation to be through companies investing in Iraq, and not directly in the fund, because the fund has the peculiarity of being financed from the general budget and subject to the laws of the Iraqi state."
He stated that "funds and companies often prefer to operate under the laws of the private sector, so we have attracted investments for companies," stressing that "the amount of investments that entered compared to the fund's capital is very large."
He concluded by saying: "We are currently working according to the rule that for every dinar we attract ten dinars, meaning that if a trillion is allocated, we try to set investment rates worth ten trillion dinars in return."
The Unit’s structure, anchored in gold and BRICS+ currencies, provides for de-dollarization, along with a stable and decentralized monetary framework
In This Article:
Introduction to the BRICS+ Unit
Addressing Global Financial and Payment Issues
Economic and Political Benefits
Technological Features and Adoption Prospects
In 2024, the global financial landscape is poised for a significant transformation with the introduction of a groundbreaking concept: it’s called
the Unit.
A boring and unremarkable name, but it makes total sense and it’s financial implications will be profound.
Proposed by the financial services and investments working group of the BRICS+ Business Council, the Unit aims to establish a decentralized monetary ecosystem.
Expected to become official BRICS+ policy by 2025, the Unit seeks to address critical geoeconomic issues, particularly the global crisis of trust in existing monetary frameworks.
Introduction to the BRICS+ Unit
The Unit, conceptualized by Alexey Subbotin, founder of Arkhangelsk Capital Management, is designed to tackle the inherent flaws of centralized monetary systems established over 80 years ago at Bretton Woods.
This financial sovereignty is particularly appealing to countries seeking an alternative to the current centralized, dollar-based systems.
These flaws include chronic deficits, speculative bubbles, politically motivated sanctions, and a lack of fair arbitration.
The Unit proposes a reliable, quick, and economically efficient solution for cross-border payments, functioning as a new form of international currency issued in a decentralized manner and regulated at the national level.
Addressing Global Financial and Payment Issues
The current global financial system faces numerous challenges, including speculative bubbles and politically motivated sanctions.
The Unit aims to address these issues by providing a decentralized monetary framework that is both reliable and efficient for cross-border payments.
By doing so, it tackles the root problems of chronic deficits and lack of fair arbitration, offering a solution that can restore trust in the global financial system.
Economic and Political Benefits
The Unit offers numerous benefits, particularly for the Global Majority, by providing a form of apolitical money. It aims to harmonize trade and financial flows, maintaining independence from political pressures.
This financial sovereignty is particularly appealing to countries seeking an alternative to the current centralized systems. The Unit’s structure, anchored in gold (40%) and BRICS+ currencies (60%), provides a stable and trustworthy monetary framework.
Technological Features and Adoption Prospects
Technologically, the Unit is designed to be compatible with both traditional banking operations and the newest forms of digital banking.
It aims to upend unfair pricing in commodity trading by establishing the Eurasian Mercantile Exchange, where trading and settlement can be conducted in this new currency.
This approach facilitates the development of new financial products for foreign direct investment (FDI), bridging trade flows and capital.
The Unit employs distributed ledger technology to ensure transparency and prevent capital controls or exchange rate manipulation.
This technology allows connections to all open decentralized exchanges (DEX) and digital platforms operated by both commercial and central banks worldwide.
The end goal is for everyone to use the Unit for accounting, bookkeeping, pricing, settling, paying, saving, and investing.
Implementation Timeline and Adoption Prospects
The BRICS Business Council has already backed the Unit, and it is on the agenda for the upcoming ministerial meeting in Russia.
The roadmap for its adoption will be discussed at the BRICS+ summit in October 2024 in Kazan.
With the potential for implementation as early as 2025, the Unit presents a feasible technical solution for creating a globally recognized payment and trade system immune to political pressure.
The Bottom Line
The Unit represents a groundbreaking approach to addressing the shortcomings of current centralized monetary systems.
By offering a decentralized, apolitical currency, it promises economic and political benefits for the Global Majority. Its technological innovations and potential for wide-scale adoption position it as a key player in the future of global finance.
Ending the UNAMI Mission Marks a Step for Iraq Regaining Full Sovereignty
Farhad Alaaldin-The Iraqi Prime Minister's Advisor for Foreign Affairs
Saturday - 25 May 2024
In a formal letter, dated 8 May 2024 and addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani called for “ending the mandate of the United Nation’s Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) on 31 December 2025", emphasizing that "after more than 20 years of democratic transition and overcoming great and diverse challenges, the justifications for a political mission in Iraq are no longer present".
This letter was delivered in time, by the Iraqi Charge d'Affaires at the United Nations, before the Security Council (SC)’s scheduled meeting on 30 May 2024, to vote on UNAMI's fate. Iraq is not a member of the Council, however, it will be difficult for the existing SC members to ignore the wishes of an elected Government of Iraq.
The strategic review
In May 2023, Iraq made a formal request to the SC to reduce the UNAMI mandate. In response, the Council set up a three-man committee, headed by Volker Perthes of Germany, to carry out a “Strategic Review” of UNAMI's mandate, based on the SC resolution 2682 (2023). The committee visited Iraq in Nov 2023 and conducted 250 interviews with various stakeholders, including the Federal Government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, political parties, civil society organizations, think tanks and the UNAMI staff all over Iraq. They also reviewed the papers and work of UNAMI both in Iraq and New York, before submitting their report to the Secretary General in Feb 2024.
The ‘Perthes’ report unequivocally acknowledged the progress made in Iraq, and that: "the Iraqi political system has, at least over the past eighteen months, increasingly demonstrated its ability to manage crises". It further adds "no UN political mission should stay in a country forever. Prolonged third-party presence may discourage local solutions and national ownership". Perthes therefore recommend that “the Mission begin to transfer its functions to national institutions and the United Nations country team in a responsible, orderly and progressive manner within an agreed time frame."
Thus, both the Iraqi Government and Perthes’ Strategic Review agree on ending the mission, with a slight variation in the timing and process, as the Iraqis want to end the mission by Dec 2025 with an immediate winding down and switching the focus away from the political file, to "economic reform, service provision, sustainable development, and climate change”. Perthes’ report, however, recommends ending the mission by June 2026 while keeping the political files with a gradual weaning process.
Iraq facing its own challenges
This year will see the end of three significant missions in Iraq that were all set up under various Security Council Resolutions, namely the UNITAD, the UNAMI and the International Coalition to fight ISIS. As a result, Iraq will be a step closer to taking full responsibility for its destiny as a confident and fully sovereign state. Critics might see the ending of these missions, all in one go, leading to Iraq’s isolation. However, the Iraq of 2024 is not the same Iraq of 2003 when the regime collapsed, or the Iraq of 2014 when ISIS ripped through the country and took over one-third of it. Today’s Iraq is more stable, confident and forward looking.
Iraq is now seeking to confront its own challenges directly, but with international cooperation. Many of the key challenges have persisted for over two decades when the UNAMI was operational in the country. Clearly the issues are complex but experience shows that solutions come primarily from within, as acknowledged and encouraged by the Strategic Review Report. The report emphasized that "ownership of these issues is now in the hands of Iraqi institutions. They have the capability to advocate for peace and stability within the country and with external actors." Indeed, such capability was vividly illustrated in Kirkuk, where the Prime Minister presided over the meetings of the various political parties to hold Kirkuk provincial elections, which have not taken place since 2005. Another example is the border security agreement signed with Iran, and the Strategic Cooperation Agreement signed with Türkiye to deal with the most difficult challenges relating to both Water and Security.
Thank you UNAMI
The Iraqi Government deeply appreciates the UNAMI and other UN agencies' positive roles in Iraq over the past two decades. In a statement issued on May 12, the Iraqi Government expressed "gratitude to UN Secretary-General Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq, Ms. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and all UNAMI staff for their support over the past years." Undoubtedly, Ms. Hennis-Plasschaert’s dynamic and energetic engagement and significant contributions to Iraq have been instrumental and widely acknowledged.
However, many critics within Iraq often highlight the failure of UNAMI to execute some of its mandates over the past two decades, despite ample national and international support. Some go as far as accusing the UNAMI of systematically ignoring the shortcomings of Iraq’s political system, the widespread election fraud and human rights abuses that the Iraqi government itself had recognized. It was during the UNAMI’s presence that Al-Qaeda flourished, ISIS invaded the country, violence erupted in the aftermath of the Kurdish Referendum of independence and Iraq suffered the worst political deadlock after the 2021 election which led to the withdrawal of the Sadrist Movement from the political process. Other outstanding processes that fall within the UNAMI’s mandate that remain unaccomplished, include the Kuwaiti’s missing persons and national archives in Iraq, the implementation of the Sinjar agreement and the failure of Kurdistan Region to hold general elections for two years.
That said, the Iraqi Prime Minister firmly believes that these ongoing issues can only be resolved through national efforts, by bringing together Iraq’s political leaders to hammer out practical solutions. This is exactly what recently led to breakthroughs in Baghdad – Erbil cooperation, and the holding of Iraq’s first and most peaceful provincial elections since 2013.
Furthermore, Iraq is going to ask for UN help in some of the files, such as elections, Iraq would seek UN help with a team of experts to provide technical support as they have done in the past, however, such help would be temporary and only for the duration of the election process. Another example would be the continuation of the tri-partite process of the Kuwait file, where the Iraqi government will work diligently to conclude this file with the help of the International Red Cross and technical support of the UN if needed.
The future
PM Al-Sudani has frequently asserted that “the guiding principle” of his foreign policy is "Iraq first", via building strong partnerships based on common interests with friendly countries in the region and beyond. Iraq will work with all its international partners to forge bilateral alliances that help its security and stability, and will open up to business and economic partnerships. Signing the Development Road agreement with Türkiye, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates is a good example of using economic opportunities as launching pads for future regional cooperation.
The Iraqi government is working hard on addressing the three areas of concern that is highlighted in Perthes’ Strategic Review, where he concludes that “the stability of Iraq today is fundamentally threatened by three phenomena: (a) the fragility of institutions; (b) the proliferation of armed actors; and (c) the potential for the emergence of a new ISIS or other forms of terrorism and violent extremism.”
Significant strides have been achieved in bolstering the institutions, fighting corruption and depoliticizing the institutional leadership positions. On the proliferation of armed actors, the Prime Minister made it clear that “these groups grew out of the complex circumstances that Iraq encountered while confronting terrorism. But little by little, as security and stability are restored, the need for weapons outside the control of the state and its institutions will disappear. We are working concertedly toward that end”. As for terrorism and violent extremism, the Iraqi government believes that ISIS is now defeated and no longer poses a threat to the state of Iraq. Its comeback is rendered even more difficult by the enhanced capability of Iraqi security forces, the new stability that Iraq enjoys, and the economic boom which no part of Iraq is feeling left out.
Iraq is now poised to play the pivotal role it is destined to play in the region, and regaining its sovereignty is the first step. Ending international missions such as UNAMI will strengthen Iraq further by relying on its own institutional capacities to tackle the various challenges it continues to face.