Iraq Seeks to Boost Economic Ties with Lebanon, Syria
The head of Iraq's National Investment Commission (NIC), Dr. Haidar Mohammed Makkiya, has met with the Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade, Mr. Amin Salam. During the meeting, Makiya affirmed Iraq's desire to expand cooperation in the investment sector.
The NIC chairman stated that the Iraqi government aims to achieve integration in economic and trade relations between Iraq and regional countries, including Lebanon.
The meeting included discussion of the project to rehabilitate the existing oil pipelines between Syria and Lebanon, with investment funding by the Iraqi side, while safeguarding the sovereignty of both countries and working on extending an Arab optical fiber communications network.
He added that the commission works to provide an attractive investment environment for businessmen and foreign investors through the implementation of the amended Investment Law No. 13 of 2006, which guarantees investors' rights. The law also offers necessary advantages and facilities to ensure the success of investment projects.
For his part, the Lebanese minister expressed his government's readiness for joint work to develop the sector in vital areas. link
Traveling to realize your IQD profits - People in high places reprimanded [me] for saying this...Iraq...could print new money. That would mean that you, I, anyone would need to travel if allowed to exchange your Iraqi dinar bank notes for the new currency like Zimbabwe did.
They gave the world two weeks to make the exchange. In Zimbabwe's case it did not matter if you were a citizen or not. If you showed up with the old currency...then you received the new ZIG currency. Could we be so lucky with Iraq? ...We must be smart about how we look at our Could options. We may not have a choice. We may have to travel.
The Central Bank of Iraq denied issuing a new currency denomination.The decision highlights the bank's confidence in the strength and stability of the Iraqi dinar, Even as other economies toy with the idea of introducing new denominations..
No one in the Middle East wants big daddy America to make Iraq wealthy. Oh, wait, Iraq is already wealthy. It's just a matter of maximizing, investing and building the infrastructure for long-term wealth...It's only a matter of time before Iraq opens the gates to massive success
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Last week marked a sensational milestone for the central bank of Iraq. In a stunning financial twist, foreign remittance sales skyrocketed by a whopping 90%, surpassing cash sales by over $252 million...The majority of these sales...were strategically utilized to bolster balances abroad through remitt..FOR READ MORE: https://dinarevaluation.blogspot.com/2024/06/rv-update-by-sandy-ingram-11-june.html
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No one in the Middle East wants big daddy America to make Iraq wealthy. Oh, wait, Iraq is already wealthy. It's just a matter of maximizing, investing and building the infrastructure for long-term wealth...It's only a matter of time before Iraq opens the gates to massive success. Last week marked a sensational milestone for the central bank of Iraq. In a stunning financial twist, foreign remittance sales skyrocketed by a whopping 90%, surpassing cash sales by over $252 million...The majority of these sales...were strategically utilized to bolster balances abroad through remittances and credits. By regulating the flow of foreign currency the central bank instills robust confidence managing Iraq's balance of payments. A [Community member] wrote and then deleted the following comment in response to...the results of the emergency budget meeting, 'The rate is still 1310 for the next budget....for read more:
Al-Badri: America is using pressure cards to maintain the presence of its forces in Iraq
Political analyst Saeed Al-Badri said on Monday that Washington continues to use pressure cards against Baghdad in order to perpetuate the presence of its forces inside Iraq and the region.
Al-Badri told Al-Maalouma, “The American administration has no seriousness in removing its forces from Iraq, as it is using pressure cards in order to perpetuate the presence of its forces in Iraqi camps and lands.”
He added, "The government's position must be clear by dropping the pressure cards used by the American administration."
He stated that "the presence of American forces inside Iraq raises concern, and is considered a destabilizing factor for the entire region." link
I do feel comfortable saying it has started…we are seeing movement…My understanding may be a little off as to how they are executing it...It’s been pretty quiet from Iraq sources over the weekend. They seem to finish things first over there and then tell us.
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Question: Is it necessary for Iraq to publish the rate in the budget before we make appointments? MarkZ: I do not think it’s necessary. I believe they will try to keep the rate private as long as possible like what they did with Kuwait.
Question: I saw that Iraq has holidays coming up. Would this slow them down releasing the rates? MarkZ: Everytime we have looked in the past we saw Kuwait revalued during Ramadan…. Iraq revalued in the early 70’s during a holiday. I wouldn’t be too worried about those things.
It certainly appears to be the “Perfect Storm” right now...
[Referencing Mike Bara post below, 6-14-2024]Revaluating? I thought this was important...I had sat down with some bankers who wanted to run through scenarios with me and my currency and train some people. And that was the exact term they used in banking then. It is going to revaluate…Its revaluating. That is the terms the banks use. They do not say RV or that it’s going to revalue. Its revaluating.
So, I decided to ask my CBI contact on my Wednesday call to Iraq and I was told that YES, the dinar will be backed by gold.
Or more like they told me it is being NOW being backed by gold.
It is a process to get there.
They are moving quickly in this process.
Then because of a negative article this period on this subject of gold, of citizens purchasing gold and keeping this money out of the banking system, I asked if this was harmful and could it negatively impact their effort to revive the banking sector.
I was told it was not an major issue as they are tracking the notes and dollars as they are used to buy gold.
To buy large sums of gold they must go to special dealer that is registered to sell.
Petty jewelry sales will not impact.
They are watching large buyers.
Also I was told that they may place a limit on personal gold possessions.
This also by itself confirms that the dinar is going to be backed by gold soon.
What else is of importance in the news?
Stock exchange and Securities
Today, Wednesday, the Iraqi Securities Commission announced the signing of an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), affiliated with the World Bank.
Al-Youm Al-Akhbariya said and I quote-“We continue our efforts aimed at incorporating good international practices in developing the performance and effectiveness of the Iraq Stock Exchange and other activities related to securities.”
Just read the Pillars of Financial Reform.
Here we go again more of it.
They are attacking all these sectors.
Diversification of Revenues
Specialists in economic affairs called for the necessity of working to enhance non-oil revenues and reduce dependence on oil in a manner consistent with economic reforms.
The specialist in economic affairs, Dr. Ahmed Al-Rawi, explained oil because of its international and strategic importance, oil is considered a causal commodity.”
For economic activity or even influencing political decisions it has become necessary to take practical measures regarding reconsidering revenues away from rentier expectations of oil alone and raising all forms of unnecessary revenues for public expenditures.
Activating non-oil revenue systems, such as the system of taxes and public fees, and revitalizing economic sectors so that the economy becomes capable of providing revenues for the budget as job opportunities for the young workforce and diversifying incomes, as well as developing nonoil production.
Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) an unusual idea?
Then also in the news the economic and financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, proposed an “unusual” idea to establish a sovereign wealth fund.
Whoever wrote this article is not telling the entire story.
Just months ago, we read an article telling us this was the plan.
So, the plan to establish the fund is not new and is already in the making.
Why will this fund be so important to Iraq?
Saleh said {to Al-Furat News} that: “The SWF sovereign wealth funds, which Kuwait started with the Generations Fund since the 1950s, were followed by surplus countries exporting raw materials in general and oil in particular, on the basis of diversifying the investment of those financial surpluses in financial and real investment opportunities in major economies.”
Outside their countries through a fund called the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) whose function is to manage the investment of surpluses in financial and real assets outside their countries, and the reason is due to an issue called “weak absorption capacity.”
He explained, “that is, the weakness of the ability to convert those surplus savings from revenues from exporting natural resources into investments within the state itself due to many internal structural factors.
Those revenues from exports are immediately invested in operations within the economy, noting that those surpluses are capital assets that can be reinvested and generate value-added chains that multiply the national income of their countries many times over.
So, in other words what Saleh proposed in establishing the SWF is to invest the surplus revenues and not just piss them away on projects.
Instead, if you invest this revenue you can multiply the money many times over and then just draw from the fund to meet deficits when needed.
The principle in the fund always exists and is there also in times of dire emergencies.
Unlike the CBI reserves that are mandated by the IMF to cover the government expenses in time of emergencies, the SWF is more flexible and gives an additional pad of money for stability and security. This fund will also cut down the reliance on oil revenue and help them move more quickly out of the rentier economy WOW!
Is the parallel market now under control?
In recent news I showed you articles on the departure of the UNAMI mission from Iraq.
They told us it would not fully conclude until the end of 2025.
But already just the news of it gave a feeling of relief and renewal that Baghdad will emerge from international guardianship, and this strengthened the confidence in the Iraqi dinar.
It’s called “perception”.
Investors invest on perception and research for their speculative investments.
In addition to the policies of the Central Bank having an impact too on the dinar, but the dollar will remain within a safe range from the dinar.
There will be some difficult changes that that Iraq must go through in the coming months but the groundwork has been laid.
It was pointed out in the article, and I quote from it – “that Iraq is currently led by a services government and it seeks, according to economic paths, to build paths that contribute to financial stability in the private sector,” noting that “parallel market prices are not worrying, and their variables will remain within a slight range.”
To me this sounds like they have the parallel market under control and that is what matters.
Yes, we still see fluctuations but what is the average that matters.
Is it now stable for the most part?
The CBI tells us it is.
Yes, “the writing is on the wall” now as this is the BEST news of this period as observers and specialists in political affairs expressed their optimism about Iraq’s exit from the list of “high-risk countries” that was officially announced by the FATF last week.
I quote from the article – “noting that the international declaration represents an important step in the correct path that the Sudanese government is taking in achieving reforms.
Financial and economic along with political stability.”
Iraq’s exit from the list of high-risk countries could not get any better.
They are slowly clearing the way to the reinstatement, one obstacle at a time.
They were not about to release the currency back to FOREX with this in place.
Just look at all the progress made just since December 2022 when Iraq announced they were finally entirely out of Chapter VII.
And now the spigot is wide open the final issues preventing the reinstatement are being dealt with one by one.
Whilst my contact in the CBI told me there is a very high probability that we would see the currency swap out in this month of June and so we watch and wait.