Thursday, April 18, 2024
"IMPORTANT IRAQ NEWS:NEWSPAPER: BIDEN WILL DEMAND FROM SUDANESE TO END IRAN’S INFLUENCE AND LIMIT THE ACTIVITY OF ITS ARMS IN IRAQ" BY MNT GOAT, 18 APRIL
NEWSPAPER: BIDEN WILL DEMAND FROM SUDANESE TO END IRAN’S INFLUENCE AND LIMIT THE ACTIVITY OF ITS ARMS IN IRAQ
The Iranian threat will overshadow the discussions of the Iraqi Prime Minister when he visits Washington and meets with US President Joe Biden, on April 15.
While the Iraqi delegation, headed by Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, prepares to pack its bags early next week, the region awaits the situation to explode if Tehran fulfills its promise to retaliate for the bombing of its consulate in Syria on April 1.
Al-Sudani will focus in Washington on the file of “security cooperation and the state of the international coalition forces to fight ISIS,” and will devote “a major part of the visit to the dollar file and the American sanctions on Iraqi banks,” as an Iraqi government source says.
Major General Yahya Rasul Abdullah, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said on Tuesday evening that the Iraqi Military Committee and its counterpart affiliated with the International Coalition had agreed to “establish a stable security partnership with the United States.”
A statement from the committee said, “The United States will contribute to raising the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces and working to develop them. “This enhances the stability and security of Iraq and the region.”
The source indicated, “Biden will speak with Al-Sudani about “Iran’s role in Iraq and limiting the activity of its arms,” and it is likely that he will “also discuss Iraq’s role in stopping the Iranian escalation against the backdrop of the bombing of the consulate.”
On Thursday, Reuters reported from an informed source that the US envoy to the Middle East, Brett McGurk, called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq, to ask them to deliver a message to Iran urging it to reduce tension with Israel, and they did so.
It does not appear that the Iranian response will include Iraqi territory, nor American interests there, as two Shiite sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat.
According to the sources, “the pro-Iranian factions will not again open the arena of confrontation with the Americans,” and they spoke of a “concluded agreement” between the leaders of these groups regarding the recent escalation between Iran and Israel.
Even today, the political forces and pro-Iranian factions avoid dealing with the “Iranian revenge” issue, as is the norm whenever Iran engages in regional tension.
The political interest of these forces was focused on Al-Sudani’s visit to Washington, and while many expressed their support for the government’s efforts, the head of the “Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq” movement, Qais Al-Khazali, said that “there is no room for these forces to remain,” addressing them: “And if you do not learn and understand this message, Then there is the full justification for resisting this illegitimate and illegal presence by all means, most notably military operations,” he added, adding that “the American exit is inevitable.”
During the past week, the government extinguished three inflammatory files, before Al-Sudani traveled to Washington.
While the government is controlling the factions’ truce with the Americans until today, it decided to disburse more than 400 billion dinars in salaries to employees of the Kurdistan region, which it said it had already received.
During the past week, US Ambassador Alina Romanowski traveled between Baghdad and Erbil, to reach understandings between the two parties with political and governmental leaders on controversial issues between the two parties.
Finally, Al-Sudani resolved one of the files that worried the Americans, when he invited Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako to return to his ecclesiastical headquarters in Baghdad.
The Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world announced, on Thursday, the return of its leader Sako to his headquarters at the invitation of Al-Sudani, after he had transferred his authority to Erbil, in protest against a crisis with the President of the Republic. The President issued a decision to withdraw the Republican decree appointing Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the world.
With the resolution of these files, Sudanese’s path to the White House will be facilitated, as described by a leader in the “coordination framework,” but he pointed out that “failing to achieve gains from Washington as wanted by Shiite party leaders may mean the return of tension again.”
"THIS IS WHAT WE SHARED WITH YOU YESTERDAY!!!" BY FRANK26, 18 APRIL
KTFA
FRANK26:"THIS IS WHAT WE SHARED WITH YOU YESTERDAY!!!"........F26
The Sudanese advisor expects the dollar to decline after the Washington discussions
4/16/2024
Baghdad,
The political advisor to the Prime Minister, Sobhan Mulla Jiyad, expected Iraq's readiness to transform the relationship with the "International Coalition" into bilateral relations, anticipating a relative decline in the "dollar" with the Sudanese visit to Washington.
Mullah Jiyad said in a televised interview followed by Mawazine News: “Iraq wants to transform the relationship with the International Coalition into bilateral relations.”
He added, "We expect the dollar to decline relatively with the Sudanese visit to Washington," noting that "Iraq wants to transform the relationship with the International Coalition into bilateral relations."
"ONCE AGAIN!!!.......... THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE TAUGHT YOU WOULD OCCUR AT THE END OF THE MONETARY REFORM." BY FRANK26, 18 APRIL
KTFA
FRANK26:"ONCE AGAIN!!!.......... THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE TAUGHT YOU WOULD OCCUR AT THE END OF THE MONETARY REFORM.".............F26
After 21 years of the dollar auction... Iraq is close to closing the window amid reassurances and warnings
4/16/2024
Report: Ammar Al-Masoudi
Iraq is approaching the end of the closure of the dollar selling window at the Central Bank - which has been controversial - over the past two decades.
The Central Bank's management plans to gradually cancel the dollar auction during the year 2024, leading to its complete cancellation by the end of the year, and to maintain it for audit and statistical purposes, in an effort to enable Iraqi banks to establish and establish solid banking relationships with the global and regional banking sector in order to achieve the sobriety of the Iraqi banking sector and full commitment. According to international standards and requirements.
Iraq relies on the platform for selling currency directly to local banks and companies, which was previously known as the daily dollar auction, as one of the mechanisms for preserving the value of the Iraqi dinar and combating speculative operations in the parallel market.
The visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani to Washington provided a strong impetus in closing the Central Bank window and moving towards direct commercial banking transactions.
According to the joint statement of the Iraqi-American discussions headed by Al-Sudani and President Joe Biden, the latter “discussed Iraq’s advanced efforts to reform the financial and banking sectors, which help link Iraq to the international economy and increase trade while protecting the Iraqi people from the harmful effects of corruption and money laundering, and what was achieved during the years 2023 and 2024.” “With banks in Iraq expanding (correspondent relationships) with international financial institutions to enable trade financing.”
The statement notes that "the majority of trade financing operations are now carried out through these channels."
Iraq and the United States pledged their commitment to "strengthen their cooperation to achieve greater transparency and cooperation against money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, corruption, and sanctioned activities that could undermine the integrity of the financial systems in both countries."
The two countries expressed their commitment "to support the Central Bank of Iraq in ending the electronic auction platform for international financial transfers by the end of 2024, through direct dealing between licensed banks in Iraq and approved global correspondent banks, to achieve this transformation that will connect Iraqis and Iraqi companies to the international economic system."
In this regard, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, confirmed to {Al-Furat News} that the agreement of Iraq and the United States to end the electronic platform of the Central Bank of Iraq for selling the dollar at the official price means the cancellation and end of the foreign currency window that was established since 2003.
Saleh said, “It is not One of the functions of central banks in the world is to carry out financing operations for foreign trade in their countries. Central banks are banks that work on monetary stability as they are banks that issue the national currency, as well as the function of supervising banking activity and ensuring its safety and stability.
He added, "But Iraq's rentier conditions, and because of the foreign cash flows entering the country through which foreign exchange reserves originating from oil export revenues are created, such a necessity was imposed in financing foreign trade for the private sector through the establishment of the foreign currency window (auction) a month ago." October 2003, during which this window played a dual role in the work of the Central Bank of Iraq’s monetary policy, both in controlling local liquidity levels (monetary sterilization) and the so-called open market process, which requires exchanging the dinar for the dollar for the purposes of external transfer related to financing domestic trade. In addition to achieving the goal of controlling the stability of the Iraqi dinar exchange rate at the same time.”
Saleh noted that, “In order to return to the principles of financing trade through the commercial banks themselves directly by opening documentary credits with correspondent banks abroad, their external accounts opened with their correspondents from foreign banks will be fed with their requests for foreign currency through the Central Bank of Iraq in order to enable them to... Opening documentary credits to finance foreign trade to the private sector in a more transparent manner and at the same time subject to international compliance rules through the role that these international banks with high credit ratings will play.”
He explained, "What practically means canceling the auction or the foreign currency window that was established in October 2003 and its expected lifespan was two years, but unfortunately it continued for more than twenty years!"
He continued, "Based on the above, the efficiency of using foreign currency will undoubtedly increase through continued control of local liquidity levels and the imposition of stability in the Iraqi dinar exchange rate, but in a different way that is consistent with the new banking applications fully approved in the year 2024."
On the other hand, specialists warn against stopping the platform for selling the dollar, especially with the continuing delay in Iraqi banking systems and the failure to activate Iraqi commercial banks’ dealings with international banks, because this will lead to a monetary disaster that will ravage the Iraqi market.
But Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, the economic expert, downplayed the seriousness of these warnings.
He told {Al-Furat News}, "The subject of the agreement with the American side does not mean that the currency auction will end, but rather it will return to work according to the old mechanism for enhancing balances. However, the Iraqi banks that will be entitled to external transfer must be linked to solid correspondent banks."
He stated, "The mechanism will not change. Rather, the Iraqi Bank will be transformed into a correspondent bank, and its balance will be enhanced by the Central Bank."
Al-Mashhadani ruled out, "The exchange rates in the markets were affected because they are not directly related to these matters. Rather, the decline and rise are due to trade with the sanctioned countries, for which there are no solutions because they are financed from the parallel market, and without solving them, there cannot be stability in exchange rates."
Another economic expert believes it is necessary to tighten control to prevent the "leakage" of the dollar.
Bassem Jamil Antoine told {Al-Furat News}, “When the dollar crisis is addressed scientifically, economically, and financially, there will be a floatation of the currency through supply and demand, so that the citizen will obtain the quantities of dollars to the extent he wants, as the scarcity is now in the dinar and not in the dollar from which it is received.” On a daily basis, no less than 300 to 400 million dollars.”
He stated, "This process goes to the financial stability of the country, as the import is through correspondent banks that transfer money amounts, and this process requires follow-up, time, and knowing the fate of the money."
Antoine explained that "the process of floating the currency must be under conditions, and Iraq differs from other countries because its financial imports in dollars are very large, and there must be control over the process, stopping the leakage of the dollar, and not leaving it floating under the freedom of speculators. There will be difficulty in achieving balance, and this matter needs a rule." Productivity away from imports, creating job opportunities and ending unemployment, and this process requires more time and strict oversight to stop the currency auction, which has greatly destroyed the country,” he said.
Oh…could it be Ali-Alaq is putting in reforms they don’t like? BY MNT GOAT, 18 APRIL
PARLIAMENTARY FINANCE: CHANGING THE GOVERNOR OF THE CENTRAL BANK IS AN “URGENT NECESSITY”
The Parliamentary Finance Committee confirmed today, Saturday, that changing the current governor of the Central Bank, Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq, has become an urgent necessity due to his failure to manage the bank. It is expected that changing Al-Alaq will be discussed during the visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani to Washington due to the importance of this on the Iraqi economy.
Committee member Muhammad Nouri told Jarida, “Changing the current central bank governor has become an urgent necessity for the country’s economic situation, given his dealings with the dollar file and his failure to take any real reaction to the sanctions imposed on a large group of Iraqi banks, which affected prices.” The dollar inside Iraq.”
Nouri revealed, “There is information indicating that the Central Bank is involved in smuggling delusional information to the US Treasury and the US Federal Bank to stop some banks affiliated with entities or people who are not subject to the dictates of the current governor, as well as its mismanagement, which brought the Central Bank to the current situation and inflation, in addition to the issue of currency printing.” which is one of the many files that proved Al-Alaq’s failure in managing the Central Bank of Iraq.”
The representative continued, “There are also dark sides within the Central Bank, including corruption in the Investment Directorate and the economic systems that were opened in the bank and the current governor could not manage them. Therefore, it is expected that one of the topics of the meeting during the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington will be changing the governor of the Central Bank due to the importance of this issue of the Iraqi economy.
(Just remember whenever everything does not progress perfectly, they go after the CBI director and want to change him out. Why would the US have to get involved even in this effort, if Iraq claims to be a sovereign nation? Why can’t they research and designate someone who is qualified themselves? Oh…could it be Ali-Alaq is putting in reforms they don’t like?….. 😊 )
https://mntgoatnewsusa.com/latest-mnt-goat-newsletter/"THIS IS THE CARD THAT EDDIE SHOWED YOU." BY FRANK26, 18 APRIL
KTFA
FRANK26: "THIS IS THE CARD THAT EDDIE SHOWED YOU.".............F26
Al-Rasheed announces the start of the direct issuance of shopping cards to citizens
4/16/2024
Baghdad
Al-Rasheed Bank announced, today, Tuesday, the allocation of two branches to issue electronic cards to citizens.
The bank stated in a statement received by Mawazine News, that “those wishing to obtain the card can visit its two branches (Ragha Khatoun and Al-Salhiya Branch) and bring with them personal documents.”
He pointed out that "these cards are used for shopping, filling fuel, and electronic shopping."