The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, confirmed that there is a wide transformational program towards digitization and the use of electronic payment tools.
Al-Alaq said in an interview followed by “Economy News”, “There is a wide program that has been transformed towards digitization and the use of electronic payment tools to enhance this large program, which we are witnessing today by developments reflected in the real figures for the use of electronic payment tools, whether in the public sector or in the private sector.”
Al-Alaq added: “We now provide the extensive infrastructure to enable all the tools and products of financial services, to take their part,” usually “playing a very important role in our national economy and also in investing the existing energies, whether material or human.”
The governor of the Central Bank of Iraq pointed out that “there is integration in the roles between electronic payment companies, banks and the Central Bank in a continuous way in order to proceed with this large project.”
“We will reflect the scale of the evolution in numbers in the past period and how the growth has become significant with these tools,” he stressed.
In June 2023, the Central Bank of Iraq announced the entry into force of the Iraqi Council of Ministers Resolution No. (23044) for the year 2023, which is to increase the number of electronic payment devices in government institutions and the private sector to enhance the culture of payment and electronic collection, and reduce the use of paper money in collection and commercial transactions.
I've gotten the weirdest hate mail with a capital H. You people need to just suck it up. I don't care if it's not what you want to hear...I'm just reporting what the policy in Iraq is and whether it's pushing our speculation forward or not. That's all it is. Nothing more than that.
Breitling
I beg you. Do not turn this investment into a religion and
do not hide from facts...People that do that always have financial problems...You have to watch policy.
Breitling
[Iraq's] policy has changed for the very first time since we've been in this...speculation together. The policy is going to change on either side of the aisle...Iraq is going to be punished if they keep moving forward here [moving more and more pro-Iranian]. That's not good. That's not positive for us.
The Untied States is trying to influence [Iraq] to do the right thing. Hopefully they will do it and everything will be hunky-dory. Well the reality is IMO if the CBI had that influence it would have been done already. That's the problem. That's why I'm in the neutral zone. It sucks because I put my heart and soul into this. Don't think for a minute I don't feel it because I do...This could mess up the timeline and push it back, maybe even permanently if Iraq can't handle these financial problems.
Iraq’s oil production continues to exceed OPEC+-mediated target levels; despite the Arab country, along with Russia and Kazakhstan, handing over surplus crude production compensation plans to the Coalition’s General Secretariat for the first 6 months of 2024.
Baghdad, along with Moscow and Nur-Sultan, agreed to gradually reduce oil production by 2.284 million barrels per day from July 2024 until September 2025.
The total of this surplus was 1.184 million barrels per day from Iraq, about 480 thousand barrels per day from Russia, and 620 thousand barrels per day from Kazakhstan.
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, has made serious attempts to fully abide by any additional cuts in OPEC+ crude production, which would support the stability of the global crude market.
The OPEC+ alliance includes members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as well as Russia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Oman, Sudan and South Sudan.
Oil production in Iraq
Iraq’s oil production has again exceeded OPEC+-mediated target quotas during July (2024), as the government confirms the feasibility of policies supporting production reduction by the coalition, according to Argus Media.
The latest data released by the state company Somo, which specializes in marketing oil in Iraq, showed that the country’s crude production increased by 160,000 barrels per day, registering 3.99 million barrels per day during July 2024.
However, those figures did not include production from the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq in the north of the country.
By adding oil production from the Kurdistan region, Iraq’s total oil production exceeds the OPEC+ target of 4 million barrels per day.
In June (2024), Iraq’s oil production touched 4.2 million barrels per day, compared to 4.1 million barrels per day (day) in May (2024), including nearly 250,000 to 300,000 bpd from the Kurdistan region, according to Argos estimates.
treatment plans
Iraq has not been able to meet OPEC+ oil production targets in any month during this year (2024).
Along with the two countries of Kazakhstan and Russia, members of the OPEC+ alliance, Iraq unveiled plans in June (2024) in which it revealed details of a mechanism it plans to take to compensate for the increase in oil production for OPEC+ quotas.
The increase in oil production in Iraq reflects higher exports, which partly offset a decrease in supplies to local refineries and reduced the burning of crude.
Crude exports from the South Basra oil plant touched an average of 3.486 million barrels per day (bpd) in July (2024), with a strength increase of 196,000 barrels per day, from 3.29 million bpd in June (2024), according to Sumo.
Oil supplies for domestic refineries also fell to 469,000 bpd in July (2024), from 475,000 bpd in June (2024).
Jordan did not receive any exports of Iraqi oil in July (2024), according to data from Somo, seen by the specialized energy platform.
However, the two Arab countries recently agreed to renew a crude supply agreement under which Baghdad would supply Oman with 15,000 barrels per day under preferential terms.
Oil consumption in Iraq
Iraq’s crude oil consumption touched 61,000 barrels per day to generate electricity in July (2024); a decline from the consumption rate in June (2024); attributed to the construction of the electricity interconnection line between Iraq and Turkey that will provide the Arab country with a capacity of 300 megawatts during the summer months, according to SUMO.
“In addition, network connectivity with Jordan and the increase in gas production and imports from Iran have all helped reduce dependence on crude oil,” she continued.
Baghdad has often pointed to the stalled efforts to compensate for OPEC+ overshooting Iraq’s oil production target, due to a lack of transparency on crude production from the Kurdistan Region.
Iraqi Kurdistan stopped providing production data following a dispute over the pipeline between Baghdad and Turkey that halted 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of its exports in March (2023).
The Iraqi Oil Ministry has previously confirmed the ease of compensating the increase in oil production in Iraq from the OPEC+ target after the end of the summer season and the start of the decline in temperatures, in statements it made to Argos.
Countries that have not achieved their goals
In contrast to countries whose production shares have exceeded OPEC+ targets, a number of alliance members have not been able to meet their production targets in recent months.
Azerbaijan’s oil production touched 80,000 barrels per day (bpd), below its target of 550,000 bpd during the first 6 months of the year, and Malaysia’s crude production fell below expectations, by an average of 40,000 bpd over the same period.
Similarly, Sudan’s crude production fell to just 20,000 barrels per day, compared to pre-civil war levels of around 70,000 bpd.
South Sudan, which is fully dependent on Sudan for its exports, also recorded a decline in its crude production to more than half, as a result of the continued closure of Sudan’s main pipeline.
REPORT FROM MR SALVAGE : World Statement OF The precatorias of Brazil 🇧🇷
A cordial greeting to all the participants of the program.
The news of the death of four whales in the crash of the plane from Brazil is unfortunate, this information is already going around the world, we want to clarify that these people are of sovereignty and not precatory.
All the leaders who are in Brazil are in perfect condition and working so that all of you can receive in the best way.
On Saturday, the head of the "Iraq Al-Mustaqbal" Foundation concerned with economic affairs, Manar Al-Obaidi, referred to the latest report of the United Nations Development Program, which revealed the exit of more than 5 billion US dollars in foreign direct investments from Iraq in 2023.
The report showed, according to Al-Obaidi, that Iraq lost foreign investments worth more than 52 billion US dollars from 2013 to 2023.
Al-Obaidi stressed, in a statement received by Shafak News Agency, the importance of foreign investments in stimulating economic growth, increasing job opportunities, and transferring knowledge, stressing that foreign investments are an important source of income for funds not linked to state revenues or local investments.
Al-Obaidi identified the main reasons for the exit of these investments from Iraq, which include the deteriorating business environment, lack of transparency, accumulated bureaucracy, and multiple and conflicting decision-making sources, explaining that the lack of clear laws to protect foreign investors’ funds also contributed to this deterioration.
Al-Obaidi described the private sector support programmes as “weak slogans”, pointing out that the totalitarian and socialist thinking is prevalent in government institutions, which has negatively affected the objectives of investment agencies that have focused mainly on local real estate investments rather than in the fields of energy, infrastructure and productive projects.
Al-Ubaidi stressed that the continuation of socialist and pastoral thinking in government agencies will lead to the continued draining of foreign investments from Iraq.
He stressed the need for a real will to improve the business environment through three basic elements: transparency, facilities, and protection, in order to attract foreign investors and strengthen the Iraqi economy. link