ANALYSIS OF IRAQ NEWS: BANKING REFORM METHODOLOGY AT THE CENTRAL BANK (2016-2026) BY MNT GOAT, 23 OCT

BANKING REFORM METHODOLOGY AT THE CENTRAL BANK (2016-2026)

The steps of banking reform that the Central Bank has been taking since 2016 began when Mr. Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq on 9/9/2014, which is a difficult and complex stage in Iraq’s security and economic history.

Iraq was facing security and economic shocks due to the occupation of 40% of the country’s territory by the terrorist ISIS and the global drop in oil prices in June 2014 by 75%. Al-Alaq was reassigned again on 1/23/2023 after the emergence of new crises and challenges at the economic, financial and banking levels, focusing on the lack of control over the unprecedented rise in the US dollar exchange rate and the rise in the annual inflation rate to (7.5%) in January 2023.

The Central Bank worked from 2016 to 2020 to address the effects of the economic and security shocks, the most prominent of which was the government’s inability to pay employees’ salaries on time. The Central Bank was able to use its foreign exchange reserves and the method of rediscounting treasury transfers from government support in the amount of 16 trillion dinars, and the crisis was overcome at the time.

In 2015, in light of these difficult economic conditions, the Central Bank began to move to develop its plans for the coming years and draw up a methodology for banking reform and structural, technical and administrative development of the Central Bank.

THE ISSUANCE OF ITS FIRST STRATEGY (2016-2020):

This resulted in the issuance of its first strategy for the years (2016-2020), which included 5 main objectives and 140 sub-objectives, 129 of which were achieved, at a rate of 92%, during the years of implementing the strategy. It contributed to establishing the basic structures and pillars for moving to a new stage of financial and banking reform, accompanied by the strategic banking projects plan for the years (2019-2023) and the issuance of the second strategy (2021-2023).

THE ISSUANCE OF THE SECOND STRATEGY (2021-2023):

The issuance of the second strategy (2021-2023) was to complete the achievement of the sub-objectives that could not be implemented in the first strategy, numbering (11) sub-objectives, during which the government continued to resort to the Central Bank and obtain (30) trillion dinars, and the total amount owed by the government became (46) trillion dinars.  

During the second term of the Governor, which began in 2023, the Central Bank worked on studying the achievements of the two previous strategies and diagnosing the foundations of the desired reform. The efforts to prepare the third strategy continued throughout 2023, and the foundations and foundations were built to set the goals for this new strategy for the years (2024-2026),

THE ISSUANCE OF THE FOURTH STRATEGY (2024-2026):

The next strategy, the fourth for the years (2024-2026), which derived its main and sub-goals from the state’s general  economic policies and its strategy for financial and banking reform adopted by the government in the government program and from Central Bank Law No. 56 of 2004. It included programs with clear goals and initiatives for a period of three years in a special, complex economic and financial circumstance fraught with risks and challenges at the level of internal and external economic and financial relations.

The third strategy identified the main goals with 7 goals, 24 sub-goals and 75 initiatives to achieve the main and sub-goals, and charted the path for banking and financial reform according to the following strategic goals:

• 1.Supporting and enhancing monetary stability.
   
• .2Enhancing digital transformation, activating electronic payment and supporting cyber security.
  
  
• 3.Enhancing financial inclusion .
  
  
• 4.Maintaining a sound financial system

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• 5.Developing the organizational structure and developing human resources capabilities.
  
  
• 6.Enhancing the position of the Central Bank locally and internationally.
  
  
• 7.Enhancing compliance of the banking sector and the non-banking institutions sector in line with international standards.

 Programs, policies and initiatives have been identified to achieve the goals, and perhaps the most prominent program is the launch of the National Strategy for Bank Lending in Iraq (2024-2029) and the approval of the Council of Ministers to implement it, which will restructure banking financing in Iraq in addition to leaving the electronic platform and adopting correspondent banks in foreign transfers, protecting the financial system, enhancing financial inclusion, managing monetary and financial stability, developing oversight and supervision, developing regulation in the banking sector, completing the development of the infrastructure for digital transformation, licensing digital banks, implementing regulatory policies in the Central Bank in accordance with the frameworks and technologies adopted in global central banks, raising the capabilities of human resources, developing banking operations, strengthening the bank’s internal and external relations, and representing it locally and internationally.

What has been presented for the ten years of the financial and banking reform process confirms that the next two years will inevitably result in the transition to comprehensive and radical reform of the Iraqi banking sector and its transformation into a solid sector that contributes to sustainable development.

https://mntgoatnewsusa.com/latest-mnt-goat-newsletter/

FRANK26….10-22-24….BANK ON THE CENTERS ….& GOLD PROMO

Minister of Communications: We will start negotiating with international companies to operate the fifth generation of mobile phones, 23 oct

 Minister of Communications: We will start negotiating with international companies to operate the fifth generation of mobile phones

Minister of Communications Hiyam Al-Yasiri explained the contents of the Cabinet’s decision to negotiate with international companies on fifth-generation technology. While confirming that the ministry will proceed with this, she explained that it will include the national license that the ministry is working on, revealing positives related to internet speed, electronic payment services, and cybersecurity.

Al-Yasiri said in an official statement, followed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "today the Council of Ministers took an important decision regarding the national mobile phone license, as the Council of Ministers had previously issued a decision to grant the license for the mobile phone opportunity with fifth-generation technology to the Ministry of Communications to establish a government company and launch a government license with modern technology

And today, after efforts that lasted several months, the Council of Ministers issued a decision to form a direct negotiation team with global operators and authorize the team to negotiate directly in person with a number of global operators with experience, competence and specialization in the field of the national license with fifth-generation technology, as well as those who have extensive experience and those who have the desire to work in Iraq and those who have experiences in Middle Eastern countries."

She added, "The decision authorized the Ministry of Communications to negotiate with these international companies to choose the best of them, as well as to provide financial support to prepare the preliminary procedures for launching the project, which will be completed, God willing, in the coming months. Iraq, thank God, and with the strenuous efforts of the National Services Government, succeeded in convincing international operators to work in Iraq, as it is an attractive environment for investment and supports foreign investors, and provides investors with all the possibilities for success, developing Iraqi infrastructure, and providing the best services to citizens.

We succeeded in convincing a number of international operators who are among the first class in terms of experience and specialization, and the global name. On the other hand, during that period, we were also in direct contact with the Communications and Media Commission to prepare the technical requirements necessary to launch the license, and the Commission is still carrying out some procedures in terms of calculating the license price, determining frequencies, etc., and in a continuous and strenuous effort in this field. On the other hand, we worked with the Retirement Fund and the Guarantee Fund to secure the necessary funding for the project, ensuring that a wide segment of the Iraqi people benefit from the revenues of this project."

She added, "This project is distinguished by the fact that for the first time in the history of Iraq, there will be a government mobile license with modern technology, which is the fifth generation technology, which differs from the current fourth generation technology and previous generations in terms of providing very high internet speeds, as well as other advanced services that support digital transformation, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and others. In addition, this license is distinguished from all licenses currently operating in Iraq in that its revenues return entirely to the state in reality, and it will be directed towards maximizing the state's financial resources in order not to keep oil as the only primary source of income for the Iraqi state. Today, most countries in the world have begun to move towards launching government licenses in order to maximize their revenues and increase the state's resources through the communications sector. Iraq was also one of the pioneering countries in this, and in reality, there is great support from the Prime Minister and daily follow-up." 

The Council of Ministers decided today, Tuesday, that in order to proceed with the procedures for implementing the national mobile phone license project, the Council decided to form a team headed by the Minister of Communications to negotiate with global operators from reputable international companies, with experience and competence in the field of building, operating and managing mobile phone networks with fifth generation technology (5G), who have expressed interest and desire to work in Iraq, and to choose the best in terms of the global brand and the breadth of work experience in the Middle Eastern countries, and other selection quality criteria.  link

"CHANGES TO THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF IRAQ!!!" BY FRANK26, 23 OCT

KTFA

FRANK26: "CHANGES TO THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF IRAQ!!!".......F26

Salaries will be delayed”.. Fundamental changes coming to the Iraqi monetary and financial system

 

10/18/2024

 

Economic researcher, Ziad Al-Hashemi, explained that the 2025 budget will be the first Iraqi general budget to rely on the dinar of correspondent bank transfers in light of (low oil prices) and (high local spending). This is a major qualitative shift that will not be without challenges and risks.

Al-Hashemi said in a post on the “X” platform, which was followed by “Jarida”, that “with the window and finally the platform stopping at the beginning of 2025 and the shift towards a direct bank transfer system, the Iraqi government, the Central Bank and the Iraqi economy as a whole will be facing a completely new experience that the Iraqi authorities do not seem to have prepared for adequately.”

He explained, "The Iraqi government continues its high spending without discipline and has not amended the 2025 budget schedules to control spending in a way that is consistent with the variables of the decline in oil prices and indicators of the decline in demand for oil globally during 2025."

He continued, "As for the Central Bank, it was not able to rehabilitate and develop Iraqi banks and prepare them for the platform's shutdown phase, and it will be forced to rely on only 4-5 banks that have the ability to pass direct transfers through their correspondent banks, which will create a large (financial bottleneck)."

He explained that, "In light of this, it is expected that Iraq will achieve low oil revenues (less than $6 billion per month) in 2025, which can only be passed through correspondent banks with limited numbers and capacity, to meet the bloated government operating finances that may exceed $8 billion per month."

He added, "This means that the Iraqi official and economic system will be exposed to a real state of (suffocation or financial difficulty) due to the large deficit between spending requirements and the volume of revenues received. In other words, the 2025 budget expenditures (such as salaries, retirement, etc.) will face serious stumbling and delay in payment with this new system."

He stressed that “the equation in Iraq will be very complicated during 2025 with the deterioration of oil prices and revenues, met by a large and uncontrolled increase in spending, without taking into account the slowdown in the global economy, and between this and that (the bottleneck of correspondent banks), which will generate a real deficit that may exceed 80 trillion in the best case.”

He pointed out that “these fundamental changes coming to the Iraqi monetary and financial system, and the challenges and risks they entail, have not yet motivated either the government or the Central Bank to move and adopt a special and urgent action plan related to dealing with the variables and data of this critical transitional period, which the Iraqi economy has never experienced before! When will the Central Bank pay attention and when will the government move?”

LINK

Dinar Revaluation Update: Payments Confirmed! BY JENTEL@DINARREVALUATION

You may ask why I do this summary? BY MNT GOAT, 23 OCT

 You may ask why I do this summary?

I do this summary not because of my health or that I need it. I do it to help all of you to truly understand the progress in Iraq in these reforms. 

This is not intel guru bullshit talk but FACTUAL progress leading us to the RV we all want. We all ask at some point why it has been taking so long. Now you can see for yourselves why. Don’t you get sick and tired of these every day /any day RV bullshitters? 

Yes, when it doesn’t happen, they always have an “excuse” that something new held it up. Held it up? I don’t think so. When it is time, it will be on FOREX and with the kind of rate we all anticipate. Today the IQD rate in the Quantum Financial System (QFS) is $3.96. 

When they decide to allow the IQD back on the exchanges, the rate will be mapped over to the exchanges from the QFS. There is also a series of other currencies that are also expected to be mapped over to. 

Don’t ask me what they are as I am not going to play that game. Currencies revalue and devalue ever day. That is the nature of the currency exchanges. Get it?

Remember QFS has been in beta mode testing since 2012, when it was slotted by the IMF to be first mapped over in early January 2013 but was held up due the Obama administration, that redefined the reform plans and requirements for Iraq first, 

thus halting the process that was underway by Dr Shabibi for the reinstatement at that time. It never even occurs to these intel guru idiots that maybe, yes quite possibly, there may be something else holding up the RV besides these ridiculous excuses they give. Oh…. gee whiz …..maybe it’s the needed reforms! ☹

We must remember that the RV is not an event by itself that will just happen someday but it is a byproduct of the reforms.

 It can not happen without the reforms and one of the reforms (besides all the banking, insurance and stock market reforms) is the currency reform. 

The Project to Delete the Zeros will begin the final stage. 

The reason why they do not list this currency reform on the diagram in the White Paper, as one of the reforms in the Pillar of Financial Reforms, is that it is a byproduct of the other reforms. Get it?

 In other words, if these strategies are completed the likelihood of seeing the IQD on FOREX again is extremely high. I believe it is inevitable. 

There is one article of many I have selected from my upcoming next Thursday Newsletter 10/24 that I wanted to bring today. It is a very nice summary of why we are still waiting so long for the RV. 

It summarizes the strategies of the CBI and why the hold up. It is their words not mine. I only bring the FACTS and TRUTH. I hope you can take a few minutes read through it and learn exactly what is going on in Iraq. Then go through my summary list of items for October progress. Can you see it now? All I can say is WOW! WOW! WOW! 😊

https://mntgoatnewsusa.com/latest-mnt-goat-newsletter/

STATUS OF THE RV BY MNT GOAT , 23 OCT

STATUS OF THE RV

If you remember a couple months ago, at just about this timeframe, the Iraqi economist Yasser Al-Mutawali asked the question to the Finance Ministry and to the general public – “Is It Time To Remove The Zeros” ?

So, another month has passed and we still didn’t see this project executed. But should we? We have been since told by my CBI contact on the committee that we should expect to see the ramped-up Project to Delete the Zeros sometime soon after the U.S. election period is over sometime in November. This period of time through December will begin the process for the swap out with the newer lower denominations. To me this also means about a 1:1 at par rate of the IQD with the US dollar. But remember this is IN-COUNTRY only. Also remember these actions ALWAYS have dependencies. Nothing is a guarantee! I want to make this VERY CLEAR to you today.

So what did we learn October about the Project to Delete the Zeros? We learned that the media is constantly broadcasting commercials about how the swap out will work. I even should you a couple of these videos. Remember?

Then the news media from Iraq tells us about the “cash center” that recently opened in Karkh. It is used solely for the intake of the three zero dinar notes or dollars. Folks they are already sucking in the three zero notes. What more do you want? It’s mid-October already just 14 days to the US elections. With the electronic banking and the reorganization of the banks, the citizens seem to have regained confidence in their banking system.

The reason why they had to open this new cash only center, according to my CBI contact, is that there was a huge response to ditch these three zero notes before they may become obsoleted and the lower notes replace them. Citizens remember what happened in 2004, when they had to turn in their Saddam Hussien notes by a deadline. Many people got stuck with these notes, as they forgot or did not trust the banks. They lost millions when the deadline came and they were obsoleted/voided. The CBI has not yet announced a deadline but still the citizens remember what happened back 20 years ago. So in reality, unofficially, the process of deleting the zeros has already begun. Yes, it is underway according to my CBI contact.

Just so you know, this is all not just some stupid, silly guru intel talk.   

Once again, the Project to Delete the Zeros raises its head up in many new articles in October too. But why is this? Is it close at hand?  But also remember the past. I know from experience from many of my conversations with my CBI contact that they pivot on goals, set them and then move in that direction. Often, they underestimate the timeframes needed to get there. They have to get there first and hope for the best.

So today is the third week of the month and as usual I want to give a short summary of the progress of Iraq has made this period.  I also like to call them benchmarks, accomplishments or maybe even a recap. What are these major accomplishments we should have paid attention to? Did you read the articles and listen to my Newsletters this month so far?  If you missed any you can still read them here in the archive LINK. It’s not too late.

So, let me now list them and summarize them for you below. But first I have presented a very current article below from the CBI information on the strategies they have developed and have been using for these reforms. Do not take this article lightly. It is jam packed with information. Yes, there are strategic plans to get them where they want to go.

TO BE CONTINUED 

https://mntgoatnewsusa.com/latest-mnt-goat-newsletter/