Iraq and Saudi Arabia sign 12 memorandums of understanding for specific investment projects
Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed memorandums of understanding with 12 Saudi companies with the aim of enhancing cooperation in a number of specific investment projects.
A statement from the ministry, a copy of which {Al-Furat News} received, said, "The memorandums of understanding signed with 12 Saudi companies came with the Iraq Fund for Development, with the aim of enhancing cooperation in a number of qualitative investment projects in Iraq."
Last December, Saudi Arabia signed a partnership agreement with Iraq in the field of industrial investments for the private sector, as part of the two countries’ efforts to strengthen their bilateral relations and attract foreign investments. link
The exchange rate is in the budget to be voted on by parliament. But the budget is waiting for the new exchange rate. The budget is not waiting for any vote on parliament.
You know how close you are to this? If you're not as close to being prepared, good luck.
Sudani said to his citizens, 'Before the end of Ramadan, before the start of EID it is my desire to make a major announcement.' Ramadan comes to an end on the 8th of April. On the 9th EID starts. From the 9th to the 11th we have an amazing window to study and to see what happens with our investment because on the 15th Sudani will go to Washington DC to see the president of the Untied States.
PRESERVING FOREIGN RESERVES. AN IRAQI ACADEMIC STUDY ANSWERS THE QUESTION “THE STABILITY OF THE IRAQI DINAR AGAINST THE DOLLAR”
(This article is a history less of what happened in the past 4 years, even covers the Covid pandemic time period. But we want to know where the dinar is right now. Go to the next article for this information.)
Shafaq News / At a time when the price of the dollar is still fluctuating between high and low, and forcing the market to live in a state of confusion, because the hard currency constitutes an important tool in Iraqi trade, being a trade that depends on imports in most of the products in the local market, a researcher whose master’s thesis was discussed, at the Faculty of Administration and Economics at the University of Tikrit, on Monday, some possible solutions to hold and control the price of the dollar, as his message came about the role of the bank The central bank and the window of selling the currency and their role in the stability of the dinar against the dollar and the importance of maintaining foreign currency reserves.
Ahmed researcher Abdullah Okil told Shafaq News Agency that “the study aims to know and measure the extent of the impact of some of the Central Bank’s tools in achieving the stability of the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar during the period (2004-2022) in order to know the places of imbalance and negatives that hinder the stability of the value of the local currency according to what suits the nature of the Iraqi economy, as the goal of maintaining the value of the local currency was the main goal of the bank in order to maintain the level of prices mainly related to the exchange level local dinar against the US dollar.”
He added that “the variables of the study were analyzed and measured according to the program (Eviews 13), and it was found that there is a positive relationship between some of the Central Bank’s tools as independent variables and the official and parallel exchange rate as dependent variables in the short term, with some negative and positive correlations for some variables in the long term, as it was noted that some tools were ineffective in influencing the currency exchange rate, such as the legal reserve, the rediscount rate and open market operations, but the impact of some of them was limited to inflation.”
He pointed out that “while the impact of the interest rate and the window was positive on the value of the local currency as a result of its reduction to the nominal exchange rate, and this indicates the ability of the Central Bank to influence the stability of the exchange rate of the local currency against foreign currency, especially through the window of sale of currency throughout the study period, except for some last years of the study period, as the nominal exchange rate returned to rise, as well as the case in the parallel market by a decision of the monetary authority represented by the Central Bank, for the purpose of facing public expenditures. And facing the repercussions of the global health crisis related to the Corona epidemic and the accompanying decline in oil prices, which is the main source of the US dollar due to the rentier nature of the Iraqi economy.”
He continued: “It was also noted that the gap between the official exchange rate and its counterpart in the parallel market increased due to the increase in demand for foreign currency, and the study made a number of recommendations, the most important of which is to continue to work in the window without overusing foreign reserves and diversifying sources of obtaining foreign currency by advancing development and activating the real sector, industry and agriculture, in order to achieve a reduction in imports, which reduces currency depletion, in addition to tightening control measures to prevent the smuggling of foreign currency and works that affect the supply of it, which contributes to to stabilize the exchange rate of the local currency.”
He stressed that “continuing to work in the window of selling currency without wasting foreign reserves, and diversifying the sources of obtaining foreign currency so that the exchange rate does not remain hostage to oil prices, as it is almost the only source of obtaining foreign currency.”
He pointed out that “advancing development in Iraq, activating the real sector, activating industry and agriculture to reduce imports to relieve pressure on foreign reserves of the dollar, keeping the Central Bank away from political pressures and granting it the necessary powers to deal with fluctuations in the economic situation, including exchange rate fluctuations, and tightening control measures to prevent the smuggling of foreign currency abroad so as not to affect the supply of foreign currency, and thus the value of the local currency.”
Article: "Iraqi economy faces threat as US closes oil revenue account" This latest move by the United States is something I'd be a little concerned about...Why the hell would you do that...? Maybe Biden is going to tell Iraq, 'You don't need these accounts no more. We're going to go ahead and turn everything over to you. All this is now in your control.' Which would be good for Iraq...It would be a big move on the United States part to go ahead and turn over all of that money to Iraq...
The protection of Iraq's assets and funds were because you had tons of individuals...companies and corporations...nations going after Iraq for one reason or another...If everyone was allowed to sue Iraq then it would take forever for Iraq to recover...What we need to find out is once the protections are lifted are those individuals that could have sued Iraq in the past able to sue them now? What they've done is turn over all of the money to Iraq to handle from now on.
Here's the good and the bad of everything...With Iraq in control of the Development Fund they have access to that money...There are no restrictions on it. They don't have to ask permission to get the money when they do their budget. That is a huge step forward. In addition to that it just wouldn't look good for Iraq to go into the World Trade Organization having anther country control the money that you use for trade or anything else. So yes, that is another huge step toward reinstating full sovereignty for Iraq.
The only thing left is to remove the troops out of Iraq. No more coalition forces...US military, get them out of there. Then Iraq would have full sovereignty. It is exciting. But the real reason why the United States closed the fund is because...there was an audit done, there's billions of dollars missing...The big question is, well who's responsible for those missing billions?Is it the United States or is it Iraq? Not to mention the money that was sent to Iraq for projects were being mismanaged, misused and somehow come up missing..
FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICIES SUCCEED IN UNDERMINING THE PARALLEL DOLLAR
The exchange rates of the dollar in the parallel market witnessed a noticeable decline, reaching yesterday, Monday, around 146 thousand dinars per 100 dollars, a number that specialists believe may decline further in the coming periods as a result of the success of the financial and monetary policies, stressing that the superiority of the official market, represented by the platform for selling the dollar.
The Central Bank, in meeting the needs of foreign trade, led to a decline in the effects of the parallel market for the green currency, while specialists attributed the reasons for this decline to the introduction of the customs automation program (ASYCUDA).
According to specialists, this decline constituted a positive factor in controlling the prices of goods and materials in local markets. They expect inflation rates to decline in the coming periods if monetary policy continues to succeed in meeting foreign trade financing.
In an image that confirms the solidarity of the executive and legislative authorities to confront the effects of the parallel market, the Parliamentary Finance Committee hosted earlier the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, to discuss a number of important files, most notably the procedures for addressing the large gap in the sale of the dollar between the official price and the parallel market, as well as foreign trade remittances. Through (the platform).” Al-Alaq indicated during the hosting that there were ongoing meetings with the US Treasury, and it was agreed to reconsider the sanctions imposed on Iraqi banks, and that such decisions should not be issued in the future except after discussing and informing the Central Bank of Iraq, as it concerned with monitoring its activity.
In the midst of this, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr. Mazhar Muhammad Salih, believes that “economic policy played a major role in imposing a climate of stability in the general level of dollar exchange rates,” indicating that “the state of superiority of the official exchange market in financing Iraq’s foreign trade caused a decline in the effects of the “Parallel” market and receding its illegal activities.
Saleh pointed out to the Iraqi News Agency “INA”, that “the decline in the parallel market rates in favor of the official exchange rate is a tangible success in the cohesion of the country’s economic policy in its three aspects
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financial, monetary and commercial,” pointing out that “the work and high coordination of policies led to providing an incubator of stability embodied in relative price calm and containing seasonal price fluctuations for high-demand items, specifically providing basic goods related to consumption and daily living for citizens,” noting “the importance of using the customs policy, which was represented by (reducing customs tariffs and diversifying imports without quantitative limits for basic and necessary goods) as part of the performance of the financial policy in providing stability.” price and guarantee the supply of food and essential goods and production supplies at the official exchange rate and in accordance with the requirements of the national economy.”
Confirming the views of the government advisor, the economic expert, Manaf Al-Sayegh, pointed out that “the existence of coordination measures between the financial and monetary policies indicates the presence of a sound reading among the pillars of the Iraqi economy, and that the strategy that was developed to enhance the value of the dinar has begun to bear fruit.”
However, Al-Sayegh, during his talk to “Al-Sabah,” urged the necessity of knowing the real measures that led to the decline in the parallel exchange rate to ensure its sustainability during the coming periods, with the aim of absolutely controlling the green currency and preventing its rise again, stressing that this decline in the exchange rate could achieve a number of economic gains, The most prominent of which is controlling the prices of goods and materials in local markets, and reducing the rise in inflation rates during the coming periods, and therefore this is in the interest of Supporting individual economics.
Al-Sayegh pointed out that the past few days witnessed a clear decline in the demand for the dollar in the parallel market, which led to a decline in its exchange rate, indicating that the decline in demand resulted from meeting the needs of financing foreign trade by the Central Bank, and therefore the dinar can gain a lot during the coming periods if it is filled. Most of the external financing needs of the private sector.
Dadoush also believes during his talk to “Al-Sabah” that “this decline will positively affect the level of per capita income, and will also push people who hoard the dollar to give it up and sell it, which could contribute to the continued decline in the exchange rate, indicating at the same time that this decline in the currency Green prices will ultimately lead to a positive effect of controlling the prices of some goods necessary for the individual, while the rest of the goods, especially luxury goods, will remain high as a result of their connection to global prices, which are high mainly as a result of global inflation.