BANK STORY WOMAN: All the way up until a few months ago, I kept buying dinar from this bank...The VP came into the office and says, 'Hey, we want to know why are you buying all this dinar? Is there something you know that we don't know?'
FRANK: Oh, my goodness. BANK STORY WOMAN: I kind of gave them the foundation of it and then before you know it I end up walking into the bank [weeks later] they sort of shouted at me, so have you heard anything? This was in the lobby! I was looking around like oh, my gosh why are they talking so loud?
I have my fingers next to my lips. They said, oh it's okay everybody is invested here.
FRANK: They got invested and now every time they see you they want to know more. Yeah, this is a small bank. That's why they don't know too much about it. But the fact that you planted a seed with them and you know very well they went and asked questions to the right people in the banking industry. Next thing you know they're waiting.
BANK STORY WOMAN: ...They have a lot of branches in 5 or 6 states. They're big but they're not big like Well Fargo or other companies.
The Prime Minister, Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, announced on Wednesday, the announcement of 10 residential cities in Iraq.A statement from the Prime Minister’s Information Office said that “the Sudanese announced, this morning, the launch of work on the new Al-Jawaheri residential city project, in Abu Ghraib district, west of the capital Baghdad, one of the five new city projects, which were announced within the government’s strategy to address the housing crisis and reduce overcrowding on the centers of major cities.”The statement added, “This came during a ceremony held on the occasion attended by a number of ministers, members of the New Cities Implementation Team, and members of the family of the late great poet Mohammed Mahdi Al-Jawaheri, as well as representatives of Chinese and Iraqi companies jointly implemented.
”He stressed that “the government, since the beginning of its tasks, diagnosed the imbalance in the housing crisis, and prepared deliberate plans to address it, which involved the construction of integrated residential cities, not complexes, and the choice of sites for them on the outskirts of Baghdad and the provinces, away from overcrowding areas.”The statement continued, “The government announced 5 residential cities as a first phase, to be built in the capital Baghdad, Babylon, Karbala, Nineveh and Anbar, and later 10 new residential cities will be announced in other governorates.
”He pointed out that “the goal is to reach 250-300 thousand housing units, through which the poor and medium classes are targeted, and there will be a commitment to the prices of residential units to remain constant.”Al-Sudani pointed out that “the new jewels city project will include, for the first time, 25% of the serviced land that will be distributed by the government among citizens according to mechanisms that will be adopted.”
USING NATIONAL CURRENCY NEEDED FOR RESPECTING STATE SOVEREIGNTY, SAYS IRAQI PM ADVISOR
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The financial advisor to Iraq’s prime minister on Wednesday stressed the need for all internal transactions to be conducted using the Iraqi dinar, telling Rudaw that using anything other than the national currency is a disrespect to the state’s sovereignty.
(Why now to do this? Why didn’t they do this in 20212 or 2013 when Dr Shabibi was governor? Why wait so long and all of a sudden.) The Iraqi dinar has been losing value against the US dollar for several months, leading to a surge in prices of basic goods and consequent outcry from the Iraqi public. The depreciation has been attributed to the smuggling of dollars out of Iraq, mainly to neighboring Iran.
The Iraqi government has for months been trying to control the fluctuations in the exchange rate between the dinar and the US dollar. The value of one dollar currently sits at around 1,530 dinars in the currency markets of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, which is significantly higher than the value set out in the federal budget.
“One of the requirements for any country to respect its sovereignty is that there should not be two currencies within the economy,” Mudher Mohammed Saleh, the financial advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, told Rudaw.
“The purpose of foreign currency is to deal with it outside the [national] economy, so it is not possible to consider the existence of a price in the dollar and a price in the dinar: one rises and the other falls. No monetary policy can control such a situation,” he added.
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) in September announced that all the transactions inside Iraq would be made using Iraqi dinars starting in 2024.
The advisor stressed that all internal transactions, including the payment of financial entitlements and salaries, need to be made using the Iraqi dinar, while external transactions can be carried out using foreign currencies at their specified exchange rates.
The 2023, 2024, and 2025 Iraqi federal budget, passed in June, set the exchange rate of $1 to 1,320 Iraqi dinars. The ongoing smuggling has prevented the suggested value from being reached.
“The exchange rate will be fixed, especially since it has been fixed in the federal budget law for three years,” said Saleh.
The discrepancy between the dinar value set in the budget and the exchange markets has compounded the economic woes of citizens, who typically receive their salaries in dinars but are forced to deal with more expensive prices due to the devaluation of the currency on the black market.
The US in July banned transactions with 14 Iraqi banks for allegedly violating its rules. The move further dropped the value of the Iraqi currency.
(All I can say again is “I told you so” lol,,lol,,lol,,lol,,, Are we waiting for the Oil and Gas law. Makes total sense to me. The fact that they could not get agreements in place in time and the law passed could be a reason why January target was stalled.Just saying….)
US Targets Hezbollah Sites in Iraq: Escalation of Geopolitical Tensions,27 DEC
In a drastic retaliation to a drone attack injuring three US service members, President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq, thereby intensifying tensions with Baghdad.
The US strikes targeted sites associated with Hezbollah, leading to condemnation from Iraq which perceived the act as a hostile violation of its sovereignty. The US’s strategic move has not only heightened geopolitical tensions but also exposed the intricate dynamics in the Middle East.
US Retaliation: A ‘Hostile Act’
The retaliatory airstrikes orchestrated by the US targeted militia sites, effectively destructing facilities and likely causing militant casualties. This move comes after months of escalating threats and actions against American forces in the region.
However, Iraq condemned the airstrikes on its territory as a ‘hostile act’, further accusing the US of violating its sovereignty. Among the injured were 18 people, including civilians, and a member of Iraq’s security forces was reportedly killed.
Hezbollah’s Rebuttal and The Complexity of the Region
Kataib Hezbollah, the group that claimed the drone attack against the US forces, criticized the US-led strikes, warning against testing their patience.
The US military, on the other hand, argued that the strikes were in response to a series of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, which the US considers terrorist organizations.
This incident accentuates the complex geopolitical dynamics where the US aims to curtail activities of groups it perceives as threats to its interests and regional stability, all while navigating the sovereignty concerns of countries like Iraq.
The Widening Scope of Conflict
Geopolitical tension is escalating in the region, with fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could spiral into a wider regional conflict. The US and the UK have accused Iran of instigating attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on international shipping in the Red Sea.
These attacks have compelled major companies to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, leading to longer and more expensive journeys. This incident underscores the increasing complexity and gravity of the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East.