Baghdad – Mawazine News
The Prime Minister, Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, directed today, Monday, to disrupt official working hours for next Wednesday.
The Prime Minister’s Media Office said in a statement that the Sudanese “directed the disruption of official working hours on Wednesday, 17/7/2024 in all government ministries and institutions, coinciding with the tenth of Muharram, the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, on the day of Ashura.”
BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AFP) – Iraqi authorities called on international private sector companies to bid for the expansion and operation of Baghdad’s international airport after years of neglect in the conflict-scarred country.
In September, the government signed an agreement with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to invite private companies to upgrade Iraq’s main airport.
Iraq “is launching a two-stage public tender to select a private partner to rehabilitate, expand, finance, operate, and maintain Baghdad International Airport under a long-term Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract,” according to the official document calling for bidders and seen by AFP Tuesday.
It is the “first time that the Iraqi government, in cooperation with the IFC, opens its airports to private international investment,” Farhad Alaaldin, the prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser, told AFP.
It is “a step that will elevate the aviation sector to international standards”, he added.
The deadline to submit bids is September 12, and the winner “is expected to modernise and rehabilitate the airport infrastructure, expand passenger and cargo terminal facilities… and operate and maintain the airport in line with international best practise,” the document added.
The IFC, according to the document, “is acting as the lead transaction advisor for this PPP project”.
Alaaldin said the tender process relies “on the IFC to have oversight over the project from its inception and to work on the economic model”.
The IFC’s involvement, it is hoped, will “give more confidence to the world class companies to bid”, Alaaldin said.
“Iraq is open for business and inward investment is on the rise,” he added.
Last month, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani’s media office said an IFC study showed “a compound annual growth rate of 15.7 percent in air traffic” in recent years, with over 3.4 million passengers arriving in Baghdad in 2023.
It said the IFC proposed building a new terminal to increase airport capacity to up to nine million passengers per year.
Baghdad’s airport has undergone no substantial renovations since it opened in the early 1980s under dictator Saddam Hussein’s rule.
It was closed in the 1990s due to international sanctions, forcing people to travel by land to neighbouring Jordan to catch their flights.
Baghdad airport is quickly overwhelmed when travel peaks, and its three terminals are equipped with only basic amenities.
Troops belonging to an international anti-jihadist coalition are stationed in a part of the airport, and have previously come under fire.
Oil-rich Iraq suffers from deteriorating infrastructure and failing public services as a result of decades of conflict, poor public management and endemic corruption.
MarkZ
[via PDK] I am...hearing that we are in the window for the release of the budget and it will be in the Gazette soon. I am blown away from the information out of Iraq...
I am hearing from multiple sources inside Iraq that they are expecting an RI (Re-Instatement) at any moment. I had been told very specifically that they expect a rate of $3.86. I am getting this from so many sources now …all of a sudden…today…that it has become almost overwhelming...I think this is exciting news and am hoping it is accurate...Just buckle up and stay calm.
I did hear interesting things from a couple banking contacts that things have very much moved over the weekend and that they may be using the Republican convention as a distraction to roll things out.
France expressed its readiness to contribute to the completion of the “development path” project, while stressing that Iraq can count on its participation in the (Baghdad Summit) conference to be held next November.
Pompey Peter
Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq has been in Washington that's well covered in articles...The CBI governor was also in Washington. We believe there is a possibility that a higher rate was being discussed which could have been the purpose of the "whites of the eyes" meeting while these gentleman were in the United States...Just an opinion that a higher rate may have been involved and that needed not any approval but support and discussion with support.
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PompeyPeter
The contracts are done in the country they're done with. If contracts are being done with Italy, France, Germany, they're in Euros. Great Britain, they're in pounds. U.S. obviously dollars...When the rate changes that's when the Iqd rate to the equivalence of the local currency becomes relevant. In other words, they're not going to be paid at 1310.
If for one second the new rate had been shown the Council of Ministers, the parliamentary Finance Committee or the House of Representatives we would have heard them singing and dancing and cheering from Iraq. We certainly would have seen it from the CBI first.
What happened then?
...As they've said, the amendments were viewed and passed by the Council of Ministers, the amendments of the 2024 budget were then passed to HOR via the Parliamentary Finance Committee...We definitely know the rate hasn't been exposed.
https://dinarevaluation.blogspot.com/2024/05/rv-update-by-pompeypeter-27-may.html
Summary US sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks reveal a financial plot involving Iran and the UAE, exploiting banking loopholes to fund terrorism....