Thursday I'm guaranteeing you the auctions change. That's the CBI announcement. That's the 28th...that's their banking Friday. That means they automatically go into offline... I wouldn't go crazy looking for something on Thursday but let me tell you, official implementation date is Thursday per the CBI. Whether we see it Friday, Saturday I cannot promise you that...I'll also tell you this, this is very damn close...
What does Sudani come out today and say? He says, 'Hey everybody I am announcing to you we are going to have a special holiday. We are going to have our very own Independence Day and that will be October 3rd'...Iraq has never ever had an Independence Day. Citizens of Iraq, I'm hearing from boots on the ground, are beyond themselves.
They're doing away with the auctions January 1, 2024. But as of this Thursday...the implementation of how you do the auctions are completely changing...it's dinars from here on out only...
There are only two things left to do on this laundry list of things for us to get to the bank. What are they? Change the exchange rate and release the lower denominations...at that point, shortly thereafter if not simultaneously. I have the opinion it'll be on Forex internationally. They'll have an internationally exchangeable currency. That is when we go to the bank...I would not be surprised if something special happened very quickly.
Dollar’s Rising Value: A New Economic Dynamic in Iraq, 28 SEPT
The US dollar has experienced a significant upswing in the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, with the exchange rate reaching a peak of 156,200 Iraqi dinars for every 100 dollars. This is a stark contrast to the previous day’s rate, which was 154,600 dinars for every 100 dollars. The value surge was also mirrored in local markets across the capital, Baghdad, where exchange shops raised their selling prices. The current selling rate is 157,250 Iraqi dinars for every 100 dollars, while the purchasing price is 155,250 dinars.
Value Surge: Not Just in Baghdad
Beyond Baghdad, Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, also saw a rise in the value of the dollar. The selling price in Erbil shops was recorded at 155,300 dinars per dollar, while the purchase price was 155,200 dinars for every 100 dollars. This suggests that the shift in the dollar’s value is a nationwide trend within Iraq.
The sudden increase in the value of the dollar in relation to the Iraqi dinar, as reflected in stock exchange rates and local markets throughout the country, is a noteworthy economic event. This shift affects the cost of transactions and could potentially impact the overall economy. The rise in the dollar’s value observed in Baghdad and Erbil points to a widespread increase, which is significant considering the economic challenges that Iraq has faced in recent years.
Central Bank’s Plan to Strengthen Iraqi Dinar
It’s important to note that the Central Bank of Iraq has a new plan to bolster the value of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar. The measures include reducing the US dollar to Iraqi dinar exchange rate for travel or internet purchases from 1,470 dinars to 1,465 and helping private banks strengthen their foreign currency reserves that are not the US dollar. The Central Bank specifically named the Chinese yuan, the euro, the Emirati dirham, and the Jordanian dinar. There’s also a provision for selling foreign currencies in government banks for the purpose of travel, for the Hajj pilgrimage, medical treatment, and study.
Devaluing a currency has significant downsides as it can lead to a liquidity crisis, as seen in Argentina. But for Iraqis who are paid in dollars, the devaluation potentially gives them more purchasing power. However, people paid in dinars may lose purchasing power since imports and exports are paid for in dollars. A devaluation also means imported goods become more expensive in the local currency. Given the economic hardships Iraq has experienced, these are critical factors to consider.
As the value of the dollar continues to rise against the Iraqi dinar, the impact on the economy and the lives of ordinary Iraqis will become more apparent. While there are potential benefits for those paid in dollars, the overall implications of this shift are complex and far-reaching. As Iraq navigates these economic changes, the Central Bank’s strategies to strengthen the dinar and mitigate the impacts of currency devaluation will be critical.
Advisor to the Prime Minister: Speeding up the approval of the oil and gas law will establish two important things
The financial adviser to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, stressed the importance of speeding up the approval of the draft oil and gas law.
Saleh said in a press statement that "accelerating the approval of the federal oil and gas project law in the House of Representatives as soon as possible will establish a stable national roadmap for investment and production of the country's main sovereign resource, which is oil and gas."
He explained that "this natural resource contributes to Iraq's GDP by a direct rate of nearly 50 percent, and leaves an indirect impact on the total economic activity of our country by at least 85 percent."
"The adoption of a unified national oil policy, and the achievement of investment and optimal production on Iraq's oil area, starting from the southern fields up to the fields of the north and the region, is an important and strategic matter in the matter of benefiting from the opportunity costs in the optimal and homogeneous operation of the Iraqi oil policy currently," Saleh said.
Not to mention "achieving the best financial returns for the country, which we all look forward to to finance the building of the Iraqi economy and the basics of sustainable development," according to Saleh.
Iraq's draft oil and gas law, which is available to parliament, stipulates that responsibility for managing the country's oil fields should be vested in a national oil company and supervised by a specialized federal council.
For its part, the Kurdistan Petroleum Law states that the Iraqi government "has the right to participate in the management of the fields discovered before 2005, but the fields discovered after it belong to the regional government."
The committee, which was formed between Baghdad and Kurdistan to draft an oil and gas law, includes "the minister of oil, the minister of natural resources in the region, the director general of SOMO and the advanced staff in the Ministry of Oil, as well as oil-producing provinces such as Basra, Dhi Qar, Maysan and Kirkuk."
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in early August that "the draft oil and gas law is one of the basic and important laws, representing a factor of strength and unity for Iraq, and it has been stuck for years, at a time when the country today is in dire need of its legislation and benefit from this natural wealth, in all fields and sectors, as well as the contribution of the legislation of the law in solving many outstanding problems."
"There are provinces that have not invested their wealth until today, which is a negative matter for development efforts in all its tracks," he said.
The oil dispute has been a major source of tension between Baghdad and Erbil for years, reaching the judiciary last year, as Erbil believed that the central government was seeking to seize the region's wealth.
In February 2022, the Federal Court in Baghdad ordered the region to deliver oil produced on its territory to Baghdad, and canceled contracts signed by the region with foreign companies. It went so far as to invalidate the judiciary in Baghdad for contracts with numerous foreign companies, particularly American and Canadian.
After years of exporting oil individually through Turkey, the Kurdistan region, as of late March 2023, had an international arbitration tribunal decision that gave Baghdad the right to fully manage Kurdistan's oil.
Exports from the Territory subsequently ceased.
\An interim agreement signed between Baghdad and Erbil in early April stipulates that Kurdistan oil sales will be made through the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company "SOMO", while revenues from the region's fields will be deposited in a bank account with the Central Bank of Iraq or one of the banks approved by the Central Bank of Iraq.
State contracts in dinars and the National Day holiday…the most prominent decisions of the Iraqi government
September 27, 2023 01:03 PM
Iraqi dinarThe Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, chaired the thirty-ninth regular session of the Council of Ministers, during which developments in the situation in the country were discussed, the implementation of files related to various issues at the national level was followed up, and the progress of implementing the priorities of the government program, in addition to discussing the topics on the agenda. And issuing decisions and recommendations related to it.
In celebration of the National Day of the Republic of Iraq, the Prime Minister directed the suspension of official working hours on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, in all ministries and state institutions, on this occasion, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Media Office.
In the field of continuing financial and administrative reform steps, the Council of Ministers decided to commit to all state contracts implemented inside Iraq being in Iraqi dinars, except for those opened by an external documentary credit, which will be according to the agreement between the two parties and for the value of the documentary credit only.
The Council directed that the Ministry of Planning inventory all previous state contracts that were contracted in the currency of the US dollar, with the exception of those for which an external documentary credit was opened, and prepare a table of them to be sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank with the amounts of these contracts due, provided that the Ministry of Planning determines the limit. The highest monthly amount that the Central Bank must cover in US dollars, according to the receivables received from the contracting parties. The Central Bank covers these receivables at an exchange rate of (1320 dinars) per US dollar, deposited in the account of the Ministry of Finance, for the purpose of covering the monthly payments to pay these contracts, and according to Work arms and exchange release orders that meet release controls.
Regarding Iraqi borrowers from government banks (including the Iraqi Trade Bank) in US dollars, the Council of Ministers directed that these banks commit to repaying their loans at an exchange rate of (1,320 dinars) for every US dollar from the borrower, provided that the Central Bank covers these loans in US dollars. It is paid to the lending bank, and this procedure applies exclusively to loans that were made before the issuance of this decision.
The Council of Ministers also approved the recommendation of the Ministerial Council for the Economy (230204 Q), which included postponing the Ministry of Transport’s claim on its debts related to flooring fees and fines incurred by the General Iron and Steel Company and rescheduling them; Payment will be made when the aforementioned company’s factories are operational, and the Ministry of Transport/General Company for Ports of Iraq has taken all necessary procedures with the beneficiary parties and established a working mechanism that ensures the speedy removal of goods from the ports. To avoid fines or floor fees due to delays in issuing them.
As part of the Council’s follow-up of the energy sector and progress in implementing paths of reform, development and exploitation of gas wealth, the Council of Ministers approved the recommendation of the Ministerial Council for Energy (23083 of 2023) regarding the gas gathering and compression project in the Nasiriyah oil field.
The decision included: Approval of the recommendation of the Central Committee for Review and Approval of the Referral in the Ministry of Oil at its session held on August 6, 2023 regarding the request of Dhi Qar Oil Company, one of the companies of the Ministry of Oil, to approve the referral of the gas gathering and compression project in the Nasiriyah oil field under the custody of the coalition (Oil Projects Company / Ministry of Oil and Oil Company) Italian PEG ), at $272 million, which is higher than the estimated cost by (7.3%) according to the Dhi Qar Oil Company’s letter dated July 26, 2023.
With regard to the electricity sector, the Council of Ministers approved what was stated in the letter of the Ministry of Electricity dated September 4, 2023, regarding amending the sales contract by amending and renewing the contract related to the Iraqi-Jordanian electrical interconnection project, which was signed in 2019, to suit the period.
New equipment and amending the terms and conditions, while maintaining the price equation contained in the energy sale contract, which includes the sale of electrical energy from the National Electricity Company in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the General Electric Power Transmission Company – Central Region / Ministry of Electricity, to purchase energy for a period of 36 months after completing the connection. Between the two Al-Risha transformer stations in Jordan and the Al-Qaim transformer station in Iraq, at a voltage of 400 kV.
Within the affairs of the oil sector, completing the export infrastructure and developing Iraq’s capabilities in this field, the Council of Ministers decided to place the Ministry of Finance as a deposit with the Iraqi Trade Bank in the value of the total cost of the two submarine pipelines project (4 and 5) and the new marine platform amounting to 1.265 trillion dinars, which is included in the Ministry’s investment plan. Oil/Basra Oil Company for the year 2023.
It was also decided that the Ministries of Planning and Oil shall be committed to the total cost of the aforementioned project and the annual allocations within the investment budget of the Ministry of Oil for the years (2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), and that the Ministries of Oil and Planning shall notify the Ministry of Finance/Accounting Department of the financing due to the contracting company according to the amount of achievement and the approved contexts, and to finance the Ministry of Oil. The financial account of the company from the deposit mentioned in Paragraph (1) above, and the cancellation of Cabinet Resolutions (29 of 2020), (6 of 2021), and (83 of 2022).
In addition to following up on the provision of fortifications, requirements for security work, and extending stability, the Council of Ministers decided to approve an exception to the contract for implementing the Misk Wadi Al-Tharthar project (purchasing cameras, concrete towers, and establishing fortified points). From the direct contracting methods stipulated in the Instructions for Implementing Government Contracts (2 of 2014), and from the armament controls issued by the National Security Advisory regarding arming the security services, due to the tactical and strategic importance of the project.
The Council also decided to approve the issuance of the Air Defense Institute system, based on the provisions of the Defense University Law for Military Studies No. (4) of 2016, and the provisions of the Constitution, taking into account the observations of the Legal Department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
Winter agricultural plan
The Council continued to follow up on the implementation of agricultural plans, the implementation of methods to combat water scarcity and drought, and the adoption of modern methods of irrigation, as the Council of Ministers approved the recommendations of the minutes of the meeting of the joint permanent committee between the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources regarding the winter agricultural plan approved for the season (2023-2024).
The Council directed that the Ministry of Water Resources adhere to the winter agricultural plan based on the forecasts of international meteorological centers, and that the winter planting and seed distribution season begin on October 1, 2023, and that the Ministry of Water Resources begin increasing water releases on November 15, 2023, and re-review the indicators. Winter agricultural plan for the period from November 15, 2023 to November 30, 2023.
It was decided to determine the areas covered by irrigation in the winter season, so that the areas covered by irrigation through rivers and streams would be one and a half million dunums, and the areas for which the water share would be secured through underground wells at an amount of four million dunums, on the condition that modern irrigation systems be used, and those who were negligent would be held accountable and not included in the next agricultural plan when using Irrigation is Saiha.
The decision also included focusing agriculture on rivers and streams, preventing agriculture within the borders of marshes and floodplains in the governorates of Wasit, Maysan, Basra, Diyala, and Dhi Qar, granting interest-free loans to purchase modern irrigation systems (pivot, fixed, and drip systems) and solar energy systems, and subsidizing the price of fuel to the Ministry. Water resources and the release of fuel shares to address conditions of water scarcity, and continuing the campaign to eliminate violations, especially the campaign to remove unauthorized fish lakes.
According to the decision, the council directed the formation of joint committees from the water resources directorates, agricultural directorates, agricultural committees, agricultural associations, and police directorates in all governorates, and local governments, to follow up on the commitment of farmers and peasants to the irrigation areas approved in the plan above, and to hold transgressors legally responsible for their transgression, and the two ministries are not committed and are not responsible. In considering or promoting any requests regarding compensation in the event that this happens, with setting bi-monthly meetings whose dates are agreed upon, in coordination between the directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture and the water resources directorates in all governorates.
The Council approved the issuance of the Second Amendment System to the System of the Baghdad School of Expressive Musical Arts (16 of 1985), which was audited by the State Council, based on the provisions of the Constitution and the provisions of the Ministry of Culture Law (17 of 2001).
Within the framework of cultural relations, the Council of Ministers approved the reopening of the Iraqi Cultural Center in the German capital, Berlin.
The Council also considered a number of files and issues presented on the agenda, and took the necessary decisions regarding them, which included granting the Ministry of Justice the authority to exclude from the mechanism used in selection, contracting with law firms, with fees commensurate with the value of the case, and the committee composed of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to September 12, 2023, following up on the arbitration decision in the Horus Company case, to unify legal, political and technical efforts.
The Council approved the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the establishment of non-resident diplomatic representation with the Republic of Moldova, through our embassy in Bucharest, based on the provisions of Articles (25) and (26) of Foreign Service Law No. (45) of 2008, and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations for the year/ 1963, and the approval of the recommendation of the Ministerial Council for Human Development (23028 B for the year 2023), which includes the approval of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention in Iraq (2023-2030).
Unraveling The Dynamics of US Dollar and Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rates, 28 sept
The US dollar exchange rates against the Iraqi dinar observed contrasting trends on a recent Tuesday. In Baghdad, the dollar’s exchange rate saw a slight surge at the opening of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges. The rate climbed to 154,600 dinars for every 100 dollars, experiencing a minor increment from the previous day’s rate of 154,400 dinars. On the contrary, in Baghdad’s local markets, the exchange rates remained relatively constant, with a selling price of 155,500 dinars and a purchasing price of 153,500 dinars for every 100 dollars.
A Different Story in Erbil
Meanwhile, in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan Region, the value of the dollar witnessed a decrease. The selling price was 154,100 dinars, with the purchase price set at 154,000 dinars for every 100 dollars in banking shops. These figures clearly depict a divergence in the dollar exchange rates against the Iraqi dinar in various regions of Iraq, underlining the complexity and fluidity of the currency exchange market.
The contrasting trends of the dollar’s value in Baghdad and Erbil underscore the significance of regional economic factors and market conditions in influencing exchange rates. The stability of the exchange rate in local markets in Baghdad may suggest a degree of market confidence. Simultaneously, the decrease in Erbil could indicate local market conditions and economic factors.
A Glimpse into the Dynamics of Currency Markets
Overall, these trends offer insights into the dynamic and regionally influenced nature of currency markets. The US dollar saw an increase in its exchange rate against the Iraqi dinar in Baghdad, while it experienced a decrease in Erbil. The currency market’s nature, influenced by several regional and global factors, ensures that exchange rates remain in a state of flux.
Investing in the Iraqi dinar is similar to investing in any other foreign currency. An investor purchases a certain amount of Iraqi dinar by paying the equivalent amount of U.S. dollars. As with any investment, the main aim is to buy at a price that will eventually rise. The central question, however, is not just whether you can invest in this particular currency, but whether you should. While Iraqi dinars could be useful for those living in or near Iraq, many reasons suggest caution for investors considering this currency.
Following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Iraq’s economy suffered due to United Nations sanctions and official corruption. As the government of Saddam Hussein struggled to contain inflation and speculation, the Iraqi dinar fell from its prewar value of 3 to less than a penny in 1993. However, with the support of several global powers, hopes were raised that the Iraqi economy would soon recover, especially after the country’s economic isolation throughout the 1990s.
Challenges Faced by the Iraqi Dinar
Despite the optimism, Iraq’s currency faces numerous challenges and much uncertainty in both the short and long runs. Major banks and brokers do not offer trading of the IQD/USD pair, and transactions are placed through money exchanges, which often charge hefty fees. Moreover, the value of the Iraqi dinar is set by the Iraqi government, which means that the government decrees the price for the sale and purchase of the currency.
With Iraq housing 11.7% of the world’s oil reserve, it has the potential to recover and establish itself as a stable economy. However, this would require a peaceful, promising business atmosphere to instill investor confidence and revive its economy. Therefore, while the future of the Iraqi dinar may seem promising, investors should approach with caution, understanding the unique challenges and uncertainties that this currency faces.