US STATE DEPARTMENT URGES BAGHDAD AND ERBIL TO END OIL DISPUTE
Mawazine News-Baghdad The US State Department announced that the United States will continue to seek the resumption of the export of oil to the Kurdistan Region, an issue in which it has engaged “at the highest level,” calling on all parties to reach an agreement on this regard.
Washington is urging Baghdad and Erbil to work together, ministry spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press conference, noting that during their meeting today, the US and Iraq foreign ministers discussed the problems between Baghdad and Erbil.
In this regard, he pointed out that the US Secretary of State told his Iraqi counterpart that “stabilizing relations between Erbil and Baghdad will bring economic benefits to all Iraqis,” noting that “will be a good thing for the region, and we encourage the two partners to work together.”
On Washington’s efforts to resume oil exports, he said that “the United States has engaged at the highest level in this issue, and we urge all parties to reach an agreement to resume the export of oil via the pipeline.”
Sudanese Advisor: Iraq Is Within The Safe Range Countries In Terms Of Paying Foreign Debts
Economy | 04:32 - 04/04/2024 Mawazine News - Baghdad, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, revealed today, Thursday, the reasons for reducing annual allocations to pay off foreign debts, while indicating that Iraq is among the countries in the safe range in terms of debt repayment.
Saleh said, “According to international standards in calculating the ability of the national economy to bear the burden of external debt, Iraq is among the group of countries in the safe range in terms of the global standard for the ratio of the external debt stock,” indicating that “the gross domestic product, according to estimates, does not exceed 20 percent.” While the global measure of the debt-to-GDP ratio allows up to 60 percent.
He explained, “Given Iraq’s regularity in repaying its external debts due annually, of which only approximately 20 billion dollars remain, the annual allocations to pay external debts through the federal general budget allocations have begun to show a clear decline and decrease in the amount of external debts due, and this has been reflected.”
This is in the 2024 budget tables regarding allocations for external debt payments, compared to the 2023 budget tables, with a difference of decrease that may exceed a billion dollars.
He added, "This matter is reflected in Iraq's high creditworthiness in repaying its debts to external creditors and its commitment to repayment since the Paris Club Agreement in 2004 until the present. These are annual financial allocation mechanisms whose installments and interest are paid on a regular basis through the annual general budget, and they are decreasing. This means that the external debt gap is heading towards shrinking and then almost disappearing.”
He noted that "the Paris Club Agreement in 2004 dropped more than 100 billion dollars of Iraq's pre-1990 debt after Iraq obtained a discount on its debts at that time, which was 80 percent and more, and only a little of the remnants of those debts remained after it was removed.
" The remainder of it has been scheduled and is paid annually according to a precise and regular accounting mechanism on the part of Public Finance and the Central Bank of Iraq, and the continuous decrease in its allocations is demonstrated by the amount of the decrease in the annual allocation of external receivables from the debts that must be paid and their waiver annually.” https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=245311
Question: Mark do you think this will happen before 2025? MarkZ: Yes I do…I don’t think we will get anywhere close to 2025 before it happens. But, nobody knows the exact timing.
Question:
Did Iraq get their bank accounts and money back from the US? MarkZ: YES. This is huge. This is enormous. Iraqs money for oil sales is no longer going through the United States. I was told this is what Iraq has been waiting on before they forced things to fruition...
The closed DFI account is huge… And one of the things I was consistently told from government contacts in Iraq is how hard it has been for them with oil revenues going through the US. This has enormous repercussions for Iraq and their economic sovereignty.
This is an important key piece that we just saw occur...Now we need the announcement on the HCL front, which I believe has already happened- we just need the announcement.
The Securities Commission Calls On The Central Bank To Launch Lending Initiatives
Economy News – Baghdad Chairman of the Securities Commission, Faisal Al-Haims, called on the Central Bank to launch development initiatives to support the real estate, industry and agricultural sectors.
Al-Haims said in a television interview followed by “Al-Iqtisad News” that he “chaired a committee formed by the Prime Minister, to provide solutions to banks that are prohibited from using the dollar in their daily transactions,” noting that the committee had submitted recommendations to the Ministerial Economic Council that included launching development lending initiatives by The Central Bank, and activating the national exchange for banks that are prohibited from using the dollar.”
He added, "The recommendations also included the use of gold and other commodities in settling financial transactions between banks prohibited from using the dollar and foreign banks."
