Today, Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance announced the launch of salary financing for Kurdistan Region employees and eligible categories. The Ministry stated in a statement received by Mawazine News that, “Based on the directives of the Prime Minister and the approval of the Minister of Finance, Setif Sami, and based on what was stated in the letter of the Federal Court, the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance launched salary financing for civilian employees of the Kurdistan Region.”
She added, “Also, the benefits for the disabled were launched in the directorates of the Social Protection, Welfare and Social Development Network, the salaries of civilian and military retirees, the benefits for the affairs of martyrs and Anfal, contracts, and the benefits of the region’s departments, as part of the financial allocations for the month of April 2024.”
The Executive Director of the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, Ali Tariq, praised the Central Bank’s direction to establish digital banks to keep pace with the great development in the global banking sector.
In an interview with “Economy News”, Tariq said that “the world is moving towards digitizing banking services, and Iraq has started its first steps in establishing digital banks, as so far there is a licensed digital bank inside Iraq, and provides its services naturally to the public.”
Shafaq News/ A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government arrived, on Tuesday, to the capital, Baghdad, to discuss the 2024 budget.
A statement by the Kurdistan Ministry of Finance received by Shafaq News Agency stated, “The Kurdistan Regional Government delegation arrived in Baghdad this evening, headed by Awat Sheikh Janab, Minister of Finance and Economy.”
The statement explained that “the visit aims to discuss amendments to the budget law schedules and solve the problems and obstacles that appear during the law’s amendment to the Kurdistan Region’s share.”
The Kurdish delegation’s visit coincides with the arrival of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan to Baghdad and his meeting with Federal Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani directed that an “extraordinary” session of the Council be held next Sunday, to discuss the federal budget schedules for 2024.
The Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the Kurdistan Region, Pashtwan Sadiq, said last Thursday, the ninth of this month, during a press conference held in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, and attended by Shafaq News Agency, “We will continue dialogues with the federal government, and we are confident that we will be able to resolve the issue of salaries and others.” One of the problems based on the Iraqi constitution.”
He added, “In the coming days, a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government will go to Baghdad regarding technical issues.”
Special THANKS to KC Green, admin extraordinaire, for this transcription of Mark's bank stories from 5.9.24
Mark (via KC): Mark shares two bank stories here.
The second one was interesting…
My husband went into _ Bank, Arkansas. The female bank manager always waits on him. It’s a small town. She says, “Oh, I can’t wait to retire.”
So Paul said, “May I ask you a question?” She said, “Sure.”
Paul said, “Do you know about the QFS and NESARA/GESARA?”
She smiled real big and then looked around the room. She reached on the desk behind her and pulled out a book, opened the first page, and there was the new USN ten dollar bill that read, “United States Note.”
Paul almost passed out and asked her three times, could he please take a picture of it? She said no, because there are cameras on them. He said it looked just like the photos of them that they had seen circulating.
She said the bank had finished their QFS training and are standing by, ready to go.
The Dollar Is Reeling From A Fatal Blow And There Are Fears Of A Collapse Of The Dinar
Time: 05/10/2024 Read: 33,332 times {Reports: Al-Furat News} Report: Wafaa Al-Fatlawi The fluctuation in dollar prices and the rise in gold prices has significantly affected the contraction of the commercial market in terms of imports and purchases of goods, amid confusion in opinions between the return of the rise in green and its decline to the official price set by the state of 1,320 dinars per dollar. The price of the dollar in the parallel market is currently 1,460 dinars, whether higher or lower than this rate. The Central Bank of Iraq's cancellation of the currency {auction} window at the end of 2024 and Washington's sanctions on Iraqi banks have opened a door of doubts that will end up placing the dollar in the face of speculation, which will make it vulnerable to demand after the recovery of the Iraqi dinar with government orders that limited dealing in the dinar to restrict the movement of the dollar.
While officials find that the establishment of the electronic platform and the level of regularity of the flow of external remittances responsible for financing private sector trade and the escalation of financing rates have reached very high rates through the compliance platform of banks active in this regard, and
the rise in gold prices is not considered a direct impact on the improvement of the exchange rate. This was confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Advisor for Financial and Economic Affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih {to Al-Furat News}, saying: “Active positive factors have affected the recovery of the Iraqi dinar in the secondary exchange market, foremost of which is the high level of regular flow of foreign remittances responsible for financing private sector trade and the escalation of Financing rates are very high through the compliance platform of active banks in this regard.” He explained, "What this means is that the demand for foreign currency through official external transfer operations, which is responsible for 90% of the total desired demand for foreign currency, as most of it is now met at the official exchange rate of 1,320 dinars per one dollar, which gave the official market dominance over the market." Parallel to the exchange.” Saleh stated, “As for the developments taking place in the gold commodity market or gold filigree, especially the sudden price developments therein, up and down, they are not considered an alternative directly affecting the improvement of the exchange rate because they are limited in impact and impact on the movements of the parallel exchange market, and that the main gold trade is financed as foreign trade through Transfers from the banking system and the official exchange market. Contrary to the government opinion, the Parliamentary Finance Committee supported the theory of doubts and confirmed that the dollar would reach {200} thousand dinars with the cancellation of the currency auction.
Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ahmed Mazhar Al-Janabi, said {to Al-Furat News} that “the Central Bank’s decision to cancel the currency auction at the end of the year will open space for exploitation and a problem will occur.
If the auction is canceled and ends, the exchange rate in the markets may double, and if the Central Bank goes towards this option, the dollar exchange will "It will reach 200 thousand dinars," according to his opinion. I am certain that “it will open space for speculators to exploit the matter. The current price is higher than the official price, despite the sale of approximately $250 million per day. So what if the auction stops?” In light of this, economists expected that the demand for the dollar would continue to exceed supply, thus leading to a re-depreciation of the dinar, due to the central bank’s limited ability to provide coverage. Economist Manar Al-Obaidi said in a statement, “The demand for the dollar depends primarily on commercial transactions and covering imports. The greater the demand for imports, the higher the demand for the dollar, and with the central bank’s limited ability to cover this demand as a result of the set limits, it is expected to continue.” Demand is greater than supply and thus leads to a decline in the price of the dinar against the dollar.” He added, "An observer of the exports of the main countries exporting to Iraq notices an increase in the value of these countries' exports, as the value of Turkish exports to Iraq increased by 30% in the first quarter, while Chinese exports to Iraq increased by 20% in the first quarter, as well as the exports of other countries such as the Emirates, India, Iran, and Brazil."". Al-Obaidi attributed the reasons for this increase to five basic factors: 1- The rise in global inflation, which led to an increase in the values of various commodities in various exporting countries.
2- Inflation of invoices, as some merchants agree with the processing party to inflate invoices to obtain transfers in higher amounts. In order to resell the converted dollar in those markets 3- The change in the consumption pattern of the Iraqi citizen and the high population growth rates that increase the demand for various commodities, which increases demand 4- The increase in government agreement as a result of the increase in operational and investment expenses 5- The lack of a capable local industry To compete with the imported product as a result of high costs. Al-Obaidi added,
“These four reasons are mostly due to the loss of tools to control the state’s financial policy (taxes + customs + control of expenditures). In order to control this significant rise in the value of imports, which leads to an increase in demand for the dollar, customs and tax policy must be changed.” "For many sectors, there is a need to possess the tools capable of implementing these policies in a more effective and productive manner." Al-Obaidi added, "Continuing the import bill will lead to an increase in demand for the dollar and thus an increase in its price in the parallel market, which is what many of those who benefit from the low official price are looking for. The inability to control imports and the loss of control over financial policy tools will put the state in front of a single solution." There is no second option, which is the use of monetary policy, which is something that many economic specialists do not favor, and they prefer to always focus on controlling financial policy.” As the Hajj season approached, the Central Bank stopped selling the dollar to travelers, and to find out its reasons, the former director of the Financial Supervision Bureau, financial expert, Salah Nouri, said {to Al-Furat News} that
“the recent Financial Supervision Bureau report, which was covered by satellite channels, about violations in the sale of the dollar to travelers, is a major reason to review the procedures and address them.” The defect in the transfer system, and stopping until the situation is corrected.”
In the same context, the economic expert, Safwan Qusay, revealed the leakage of travelers’ dollars to the parallel market. Qusay said {to Al-Furat News},
“The current policy of the Central Bank of Iraq goes towards auditing the cash dollar, which was marred by many failures in the first periods, especially its leakage through travelers to the irregular market, and
this issue needs a new and clear mechanism.” He added,
"It is assumed that travelers are dealt with through tourism and airline companies, and the travel ticket is not allowed to be canceled unless the traveler returns the amount he purchased from exchange outlets or banks." Qusay stressed that
"this measure will restore confidence in the cash dollar and the possibility of facilitating the mission of real tourists and filling the gaps that accompanied the process of establishing the electronic platform for the cash sale of foreign currencies." He stated that
"the Central Bank will not hesitate to provide the dollar to those entitled to it, whether at the level of Hajj or other windows," noting that
"the Central Bank's emphasis on procedures for granting citizens the cash dollar ensures that it reaches those who need it."
Meanwhile, travelers expressed their surprise at the Central Bank’s decisions to prevent government banks from selling dollars to travelers. Travelers said, via {Al-Furat News}:
“We are surprised by the Central Bank’s decisions to prevent government banks from selling the dollar to travelers and monopolizing it only with financial transfer and exchange companies.”
Travelers called on Parliament and members of the Parliamentary Finance Committee to “intervene and solve the problem and allow government banks to carry out the process of selling the dollar, especially in conjunction with the delegation of pilgrims to the Holy House of God, and they need to buy the dollar at the official price.”
