Iraq is getting ready to go international and they are going to become a powerhouse in the world because they have a lot of value. They have a a lot of assets. They have natural resources to the extent...they're 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th in the world of having the biggest deposits in the world. They also have one of the youngest populations and growing populations...
The WTO and the World Customs Organization are probably chomping at the bit waiting for Iraq to do what? Give themselves a Real Effective Exchange Rate and to move forward..
Al-Sudani is coming to America and hopefully coming home that he has accomplished everything in Iraq's favor as a whole. So give or take, whether it's before he comes home or after he comes home Iraq is going to be whole. That means everything is in Iraq's cards...they have the ability to be sovereign again. That's what we're waiting for.
The spokesman for the Iraqi government, the name of Al-Awadi, announced on Monday that it has reduced the external debt and decreased to approximately $8.9 billion during the current year 2024.
Al-Awadi said in a statement, seen by “Economy News”, that “as an affirmation by the government of transparency in economic work, and to inform national and international public opinion and media about Iraqi economic performance, and in light of the approval by the Council of Ministers of the recommendations of the Diwan Order Committee 23942, related to the regulation of external borrowing of Iraqi public foreign debt, the government has taken a series of executive measures, and adopted a package of financial decisions, which ended in reducing external public debt by more than 50%, to reduce the debt from $1 19.729 billion in late 2022, to $15.976 billion in 2023, to nearly $8.9 billion this year.”
Al-Awadi explained that “these financial steps, (which included stopping a number of borrowing operations due to their relaxity and non-productivity, regulating, managing and auditing debts, and restructuring some debts and directing them to create strategic projects), aim not to mortgage the Iraqi economy to commitments that may affect, in the future, the political decision, or the path of national development, and they coincide with an urban renaissance, and reconstruction in infrastructure, which opens the way for a promising future and a refreshing economy, in which our current and future generations perform the best performance, and receive the greatest opportunities.”
He pointed out that “the government organized the process of financing cooperation with the international community in specific contexts, including direct and productive borrowing, providing sovereign guarantees to ensure the production of projects carried out by the private sector for the benefit of the government, and the sovereign guarantees provided by the government for the benefit of institutions that finance the Iraqi private sector importing production lines in order to build factories inside Iraq.”
He stressed that “these steps pave the way for the further integration of our country into the international economic cycle, and that the government adopts the principle of productive borrowing only, which effectively leads to an increase in GDP, and the financing of service and productive national projects with economic returns, in order to ensure their completion and not delay.”
Al-Awadi continued, “With these steady steps, the government renews its determination to continue to make a qualitative leap in the Iraqi economy, in parallel with a tangible development in the services, infrastructure and social welfare sectors, which are all the pillars required to meet the aspirations of our people throughout Iraq, and implement the government program with its priorities and objectives.”
I heard there will be more activity from Redemption banks for later this month as they are getting some last minute instructions... They even used the term “Last minute instructions” So I take that as a very good sign. I am hopeful we are in the last few days or weeks at worse….
A big thing that just happened is the reopening of the pipeline between Iraq and Turkey. They say it can handle an unlimited amount of oil. This is huge for the amount of oil they are exporting. This means more money for their currency.
Question: Do you think things have started? MarkZ: After this week I have no doubts that things have started. And are well underway. I think we are in the rollout process right now.
A government consultant explained how Iraq liquidated and reduced its foreign loans and debt.
“A positive indicator of the decline in external obligations, and future external loans will be limited when needed to income-generating and operating projects,” the Prime Minister’s financial adviser, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh told {Euphrates News}.
He pointed out, “Many of the external debts committed to and not withdrawn have been liquidated, which means that Iraq follows {the golden rule} in borrowing, which is spent that the returns on the use of external loans spent on productive projects exceed the cost of the loan itself, and this is what is called {productive external loans}.”
The government spokesman for Al-Awadi announced yesterday that “the government has taken a series of executive measures, and adopted a package of financial decisions, which ended in reducing external public debt by more than 50%, to reduce the debt from $19.729 billion in late 2022, to $15.976 billion in 2023, reaching nearly $8.9 billion this year.” He pointed out, “These financial steps, (which included the suspension of a number of borrowing operations due to their relaxity and non-productivity, organizing, managing and auditing debts, restructuring and directing some debts to establish strategic projects), aim not to mortgage the Iraqi economy to commitments that may affect, in the future, the political decision, or the path of national development, and they coincide with an urban renaissance, and reconstruction of infrastructure, which opens the way for a promising future and a refreshed economy, in which our current and future generations perform the best performance, and receive the greatest opportunities.”
