An Economic Emphasis On The Importance Of Relying On Private Banks To Improve National Income
Reports | 06:20 - 02/15/2024 Mawazine News – Baghdad Economic affairs specialists urged the necessity of seeking to direct the loans and credit facilities granted by banks to the private sector, towards activating and increasing production processes, indicating that these facilities exceeded 50 trillion dinars last year 2023, but they did not contribute to increasing the rates of domestic product.
Overall, stressing at the same time the importance of building more bridges of trust between investors, businessmen and companies with government and private banks with the aim of facilitating the granting of loans directed towards increasing local production.
Unofficial statistics, reported by the economist, Manar Al-Obaidi, showed that “the credit facilities provided by the banking sector to the private sector exceeded the barrier of 50 trillion Iraqi dinars during the past year 2023, which is the first time that this number of credit facilities provided by the banking sector has been recorded.” "The Iraqi."
Al-Obaidi pointed out that “the value of credit facilities provided to the private sector represents 14 percent of the total Iraqi domestic product,” noting that “despite the increase in the volume of credit facilities provided to the private sector during 2023 by 11 percent compared to the year 2022, the credit ratio The percentage of GDP is still low compared to the percentage of Arab countries, as the percentage reached, according to the World Bank, about 55 percent of the GDP.”
Al-Obaidi explained, “Cash credit facilities increased by 19 percent compared to 2022, as the credit facilities amounted to 40 trillion Iraqi dinars, while the pledged facilities provided by the banking sector to the private sector amounted to 12.5 trillion Iraqi dinars,” suggesting at the same time that “the percentage will rise in the coming years.”
As a result of the increase in the value of deposits with banks, which is considered the most important factor for the banking sector’s ability to provide direct credit facilities to the private sector,” indicating that “increasing the domestic product from non-oil sectors will lead to an increase in demand for credit facilities during the coming years, which will improve the reality of credit provided to the sector.” private" .
In turn, the economic expert, Dr. Ali Daadoush, during his speech to “Al-Sabah” followed by Mawazine News, believes that the first step to the success of the partnership between the two parties is to build confidence between businessmen, merchants and investors from the private sector on the one hand, and with the banks on the other hand.
Daadoush stressed, “In order to empower the private sector, we should move towards activating what he called “moral persuasion” as part of the monetary policy that can be followed with the aim of revitalizing the role of the private sector, by directing the banks by the Central Bank to work in accordance with supporting the private sector by increasing... Investment credit, that is, supporting local production,” indicating that this step “is capable of achieving a lot if the banks move towards this matter.”
Daadoush pointed out that most of the funds granted to the private sector in the past went to finance imports and were not invested in building a production base for local industries, and thus this matter led to deepening imports and weakening local production further.
The Association of Private Banks called on the House of Representatives to intervene to “address” the issue of the US sanctions imposed on it.
A statement by the House of Representatives’ Economy, Industry and Trade Committee, received by Mawazine News, stated that it was “hosting the Association of Iraqi Banks and directors of private banks, to discuss the sanctions imposed by the US Federal Bank on some of them.”
She added, “I listened to a detailed explanation provided by the Association and the directors of private banks about the most important problems and obstacles that private banks suffer from, including “freezing their balances abroad and stopping foreign transactions and transfers with correspondent banks.”
The Association of Private Banks stated, according to the statement, that the ban imposed on these banks “He came in a letter from the Central Bank of Iraq without explaining the reasons,” calling on the House of Representatives and the Parliamentary Economics Committee to “intervene to address this issue in cooperation with the Central Bank and the Council of Ministers.”