Shafaq News / The Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Kurdistan Region announced, on Tuesday, the deposit by the federal government of a financial amount of approximately 700 billion dinars, the salaries of security forces in the Kurdistan Region for the past May and June.
The ministry said in a statement received by Shafaq News that an amount of 676 billion and 36 million dinars was deposited in its bank account to finance the salaries of May and June for the Peshmerga forces and the security services of the Kurdistan Region.
On Thursday, July 11, the Kurdistan Regional Government announced that the federal government had decided to pay the salaries of the security and military forces of the region for the past May and June.
Last Tuesday, Peshmerga Minister Shorush Ismail said the federal government had agreed to pay the salaries of Peshmerga forces.
During the past months, the federal government has been funding the monthly salaries of employees in the Kurdistan Region, with the exception of the salaries of the military, and Kurdish officials in the regional government say that there are no political or legal problems behind this, and it is up to technical issues and the audit of the lists of elements of the Peshmerga forces and the internal security forces.
FRANK: They're not talking about the 3-zero notes...They're talking about the new currency that's going to match a new exchange rate.
FIREFLY: Any new currency will have to be lower notes...
FIREFLY: My bank guy just flat out came out and told me, to be honest with you I think it will reinstate to what it was before and then it's going to float like any other international currency...It's more from the rumor mill.
FRANK: I know it's going to reinstate. You know it. The money exchangers know it, that's why they went ape %$^%. That's why they're happy! ...This is the 3rd time your bank friend tells you $3.22 and it will float...That is the most logical thing for the CBI to do.
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.
[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.
