Shafaq News/ Acting Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohsen Al-Mandalawi denounced recent reports from American media about US Congressman Mike Waltz's proposed amendment to a law that includes a clause concerning Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council President, Faiq Zidan. Al-Mandalawi labeled the proposal a “serious precedent.”
In an official statement issued today, Al-Mandalawi called on Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take diplomatic action, conveying Iraq's unanimous rejection of such “insulting interventions” purportedly driven by foreign influence through a US congressman.
Al-Mandalawi emphasized Iraq’s sovereignty and the mutual respect that underpins its relationships with other nations. He warned that the proposed US law, if passed, could significantly impact bilateral relations between Iraq and the United States.
The acting speaker reaffirmed the Parliament's full support for the judiciary and its president, asserting that any affront to their authority is unacceptable. He stressed the Council's commitment to monitoring these “illegitimate actions” and taking all necessary measures to oppose them.
The situation as I understand it: This should have gone in April. That was Plan A. The USA stopped it. The window for Plan B opens tomorrow at "Sundown" and is a week long. There is no Plan C.
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Word from a source just received:
He got a call from a high banking source at a major bank in the south. “You’ve been bugging me about this for ten years. Well, congratulations buddy. Your dream is about to come true.”
SOURCE: “What do you mean?”
BANKER: “We just got a letter from headquarters informing us to get ready because ‘The Iraqi Dinar is revaluing extremely soon.’”
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The situation as I understand it: This should have gone in April. That was Plan A. The USA stopped it. The window for Plan B opens tomorrow at "Sundown" and is a week long. There is no Plan C.
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The "Bondholder" is once again certain he gets paid out on Tuesday, but he is returning to his city of origin tomorrow. He HAS to be in this location to get his payout. This means the payout COULD come sooner than Tuesday. More as I get it...
💢Mike Bara: High WF banking sources are telling people who hold currency not to bother taking any contracts for work longer than a week or two — no matter how much money is involved.
We are almost there, folks…
💢 Gezelle, Liberty Lounger Extraordinaire, offers clarification for those who might be a little confused
➡️ They are advising not to take any contracts for work (self-employed people) for more than max 2 weeks.
6.21.24
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💢 Update from Mike Bara 6.15.24
💢Mike: OK, I hate to be the Bara of bad tidings, but I just got info from "The Bondholder" — who is not a bond holder but a bond broker waiting to be paid commissions by the US government for bringing in historic bonds — to the effect that he won't be paid until Tuesday.
We were hoping he'd been paid already. This would clear the way for Tier 4B, us, to be paid out.
We were all hoping and waiting for some announcement or notifications this weekend.
That can still happen, but IMO we don't get paid until after guys like him get paid. So we wait... and hope.
A parliamentary committee reveals the reasons for obstructing the legislation of the oil and gas law
Today, Saturday, member of the Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee, Kazem Al-Touki, revealed the reasons for obstructing the legislation of the oil and gas law, while stressing the difficulty of legislating the law.
Al-Touki told Al-Maalouma Agency, “The differences have negatively affected the legislation of the oil and gas law, which faces many political and technical obstacles.”
He added, “Legislating the oil and gas law is not an easy matter, especially after the decisions of the Federal Supreme Court to stop the region’s export of oil through the Turkish Ceyhan port.”
He pointed out that "the legislation of the oil and gas law needs more dialogue and negotiation between Baghdad and Erbil, especially since the legislation of this law was part of the political agreement prior to the formation of the government. link
With what I am hearing from the banking side…this may be it. I am feeling exceptionally good as to where we are at right now. News is pointing to right after July 4th from the banking side. I continue to get similar things for between the 4th and the 15th out of Iraq. I am hopeful this is accurate...We are watching it wind down to completion.
Thurs. 27 June 2024 MarkZ
The new Iraqi Dinar Rate was not in the Wed. Gazette, but they did fully expect their new rate in the month of June. The country cannot function too long with the ATMs loaded with the new gold-backed Dinar Note. Banking contacts say it will happen sometime between July 4-8, while outsiders were saying July 12-13.
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MarkZ
[via PDK] My Iraqi contacts say there was not a rate in the Gazette yesterday. They expected to see a rate posted there yesterday but there was not one according to 3 sources on the ground there. They still expect to see the rate in the month of June and we have a few days left.
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Tues. 25 June 2024 MarkZ
I am getting inundated with bank contacts telling me to expect that things have already started …but coming to fruition in banks after the 4th of July. With a rollout in the days immediately following. I believe the 4th is on a Thursday this year… so I was told the roll out around the 6th and 7th. That is the rumor. Remember, we don’t know the timing. I am sure getting a heck of a lot from the banking side that things are now moving quickly and that is what they are preparing them for.
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I did hear from 3 or 4 military sources and Reno and the Treasury…rumors that are all over the place, some saying it’s happening right now, to no – its tomorrow…to Its already started, to all kinds of timing rumors in an concerted effort to cloud timing. …I think it’s a good things to see them in panic mode trying to cloud timing.
I am getting inundated with bank contacts telling me to expect that things have already started …but coming to fruition in banks after the 4th of July. With a rollout in the days immediately following. I believe the 4th is on a Thursday this year... so I was told the roll out around the 6th and 7th. That is the rumor. But remember we don’t know the timing…but, I am sure getting a heck of a lot from the banking side that things are now moving quickly and that is what they are preparing them for..
2. Bilateral Investment Agreements and Taxation Treaties
Vietnam maintains trade relations with 200 countries, and has 65 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and 26 treaties with investment provisions. It is a party to five free trade agreements (FTAs) with ASEAN, Chile, the Eurasian Customs Union, Japan, and South Korea. As a member of ASEAN, Vietnam also is party to ASEAN FTAs with Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
Vietnam finalized an FTA with the European Union in 2015, but the agreement has neither been signed nor ratified. In addition, Vietnam is a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which was signed on March 8, 2018. Vietnam is a participant in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations, which include the 10 ASEAN countries and Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand, and it is negotiating FTAs with other countries, including Israel.
Vietnam has signed double taxation avoidance agreements with 77 countries, listed at http://taxsummaries.pwc.com/ID/Vietnam-Individual-Foreign-tax-relief-and-tax-treaties . The United States and Vietnam concluded and signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTA) in 2016, but the agreement is still awaiting ratification by the U.S. Congress.
There are no systematic tax disputes between the government and foreign investors. However, an increasing number of U.S. companies disputed tax audits resulting in retroactive tax assessments. These cases may stem from Vietnam’s chronic budget deficits and the need to find sources to fill the revenue gap left from falling tariffs and falling oil revenues. These retroactive tax cases against U.S. companies can obscure the true risks of operating in Vietnam and give some U.S. investors pause when deciding whether to expand operations.
In February 2017, the government released Decree 20/2017/ND-CP, effective since May 2017, which introduced many new transfer-pricing reporting and documentation requirements, as well as new guidance on the tax deductibility of service and interest expenses.
6. Financial Sector
Capital Markets and Portfolio Investment
Although Vietnam welcomes foreign portfolio investment, Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) still classifies Vietnam as a Frontier Market, which precludes some of the world’s biggest asset managers from investing in its stock markets. Vietnam is working to meet the criteria necessary to attain “emerging market” status and attract greater foreign capital inflows.
While the government has acknowledged the need to strengthen both the capital and debt markets, there has been no substantial progress, leaving the banking sector as the primary capital source for Vietnamese companies. Challenges to raising capital domestically include insufficient transparency in Vietnam’s financial markets and non-compliance with internationally accepted accounting standards.
Vietnam has two stock exchanges, which are the HCMC Stock Exchange (HOSE) and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX). The State Securities Commission (SSC) regulates both. As of February 2018, HOSE and HNX had total market capitalization of approximately USD 220 billion, surpassing 110 percent of Vietnam’s GDP. Government bonds account for one fifth of the total market capitalization traded on the HNX. A trading floor for unlisted public companies (UPCOM) operates at the Hanoi Securities Center, where many equitized SOEs first list their shares (due to lower transparency requirements) before moving to HOSE or HNX. Roughly 90 percent of the combined market capitalization is in HOSE.
Vietnam complies with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Article VIII. The government notified the IMF that it accepted the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2, 3, and 4, effective November 8, 2005.
Banks charge relatively high interest rates for new loans because they must continue to service existing non-performing loans (NPLs). Domestic companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), often have difficulty accessing credit. Foreign investors are generally able to obtain local financing.
Money and Banking System
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) estimates that around 70-80 percent of the total population are underbanked or do not have bank accounts, due to an inherent distrust of the banking sector, the engrained habit of holding assets in cash, foreign currency, and gold, and the limited use of financial technology tools. Since recovering from the 2008 global downturn, Vietnam’s banking sector has been stable. However, despite various banking reforms, Vietnam’s banking sector continues to be concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom.
By the end of 2017, state-owned or majority state-owned banks accounted for over 46 percent of total assets, and over 40 percent of equity capital in the banking sector. The estimated total assets in the banking system is USD 454.6 billion. In addition, 31 private joint-stock commercial (private) banks, all smaller than the state-owned banks, are gradually gaining market share. There were also nine foreign-owned banks (HSBC, Standards Chartered, Shinhan, Hong Leong, Woori Bank, Public Bank, CIMB Bank, ANZ and United Overseas Bank), 49 branches of foreign banks, 47 representatives of foreign banks, and two joint-venture banks (Vietnam-Russia Bank and Indovina Bank).
Vietnam has made some progress on reducing its NPLs, but most domestic banks remain under-capitalized with high NPL levels that continue to drag on economic growth. Accurate NPL data is not available and the central bank frequently underreports the level of NPLs. Other issues in the banking sector include state-directed lending by state-owned commercial banks, cross-ownership, related-party lending under non-commercial criteria, and preferential loans to SOEs that crowd out credit to SMEs. By law, banks must maintain a minimum chartered capital of VND 3 trillion (roughly USD 134 million).
Currently, the ceiling for total foreign ownership in a Vietnamese bank remains at 30 percent, with a 5 percent limit for non-strategic individual investors, a 15 percent limit for non-strategic institutional investors, and a 20 percent limit for strategic institutional partners. In early 2017, the Prime Minister promised to increase the limits of foreign ownership in local banks, though he did not specify the new ceiling. Prudential measures and regulations apply the same to domestic and foreign banks.
We are unaware of any lost correspondent-banking relationships in the past three years. However, after the SBV took over three failing banks (Ocean Bank, Construction Bank, and Global Petro Commercial Bank (GP Bank)), and placed Dong A Bank under special supervision in 2015, correspondent-banking relationships with those banks may have been limited.
Vietnam has begun studying blockchain technologies in financial services and SBV established a steering committee on financial technology (fintech) in March 2017.
Foreign Exchange and Remittances
Foreign Exchange Policies
There are no restrictions on foreign investors converting and repatriating earnings or investment capital from Vietnam. However, funds associated with any form of investment cannot be freely converted into any world currency.
The SBV has a mechanism to determine the interbank reference exchange rate. In order to provide flexibility in responding to exchange rate volatility, the SBV now announces the interbank reference exchange rate daily. The rate is determined based on the previous day’s average interbank exchange rates, taking into account movements in the currencies of Vietnam’s major trading and investment partners.
Remittance Policies
Vietnam allows foreign businesses to remit profits, capital contributions, and other legal investment activity revenues in hard currency. There are no time constraints on remittances or limitations on outflow remittances of profits or revenue. However, outward foreign currency transactions require certain supporting documents (such as audited financial statements, import/foreign-service procurement contracts and proof of tax obligation fulfillment, and approval of the SBV on loan contracts etc.).
Sovereign Wealth Funds
The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) technically qualifies as a sovereign wealth fund (SWF), as its mandate is to invest dividends and proceeds from privatization in assets outside of the state-owned sector. It was estimated at USD 2.8 billion in June 2016 (an updated estimate is not available.) However, the SCIC does not manage or invest balance-of-payment surpluses, official foreign currency operations, government transfer payments, fiscal surpluses, or surpluses from resource exports. SCIC’s primary mandate is to manage the non-privatized portion of SOEs. By July 2017, the SCIC managed a portfolio of 141 equitized SOEs, including 134 joint-stock companies, and three limited companies in various sectors. The SCIC invests 100 percent of its portfolio in Vietnam, and the SCIC’s investment of dividends and divestment proceeds does not appear to have any ramifications for U.S. investors. The SCIC budget is reasonably transparent, audited, and can be found at http://www.scic.vn/ .
In addition, the SCIC is working toward membership in the IMF-hosted International Working Group on SWFs.