Rafidain Bank directed its branches, today, Tuesday, to facilitate the completion of citizens' transactions and address their issues.
The media office of Rafidain Bank stated in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that "within the framework of implementing the government program related to following up on citizens' affairs, the Director General of Rafidain Bank, Ali Karim Hussein, conducted an inspection tour that included a number of the bank's branches.
The aim of this tour is to review the progress of banking work and ensure its smoothness in those branches." He added that "during the visit, the Director General of the bank met with a group of citizens, where he listened to their requests and suggestions to improve the level of services provided to them and work to overcome the obstacles they face in accordance with the legal instructions and procedures." He continued, "The Director General of Rafidain Bank directed to facilitate the completion of citizens' transactions," stressing "the importance of improving the workflow in the bank and enhancing direct communication with citizens in order to address their issues effectively."
EXCERPTS FROM MARKZ: THE IQD RATE ON THE QFS IS $3.96!! IS WHAT IM EXPECTING TO SEE
Member: M.Bara says he knows 2 Whales who have been paid.
Member: From Frank26: Sounds like the rates have been set for the dinar and dong.
MZ: I absolutely assume they know what they are going to be. But, that doesn’t do us any good until we can go to the bank
Member: Mark, did you see the IQD, the Ruppee, the Rubbel, and the VND get brief SPIKES in value yesterday, all at the same time, and then they went back to normal... Seems like someone is "testing"!
Member: From Mnt Goat: The IQD rate on the QFS is $3.96!!
MZ: That is well within the range that I am expecting to see.
Prime Minister’s Advisor for Investment Affairs, Mohammed Al-Najjar, confirmed on Wednesday that the Iraqi government has achieved great success in attracting investments worth up to $100 billion during the past two years, pointing out that there are more large projects in various sectors.
Al-Najjar, who also holds the position of director of the Iraq Fund for Development, explained that the contract, which was recently signed with Al-Suwaidi Electric Company, includes investments worth $5 billion and the establishment of three industrial cities in Iraq.
He added that the contract includes the opening of an international Iraqi joint fund specialized in the introduction of industry and advanced education for the country, within the projects of establishing an industrial and economic city aimed at attracting investors in addition to various other projects.
Al-Najjar pointed out that “the contract is a pioneer of its kind”, as it will enable the fund to represent the Iraqi government side, which will open up investment opportunities for local and Iraqi investors and Gulf funds to prepare another fund for the localization of the smart industry in Iraq.
He explained that there are three possible areas for the economic city site, taking into account the service of labor and the surrounding cities and governorates, as options are currently being studied in central and southern Iraq.
The Iraq Fund for Development had earlier announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Al-Suwaidi Electric International Company, which aims to establish an Iraqi investment fund under the name of “Empotization Fund” to attract local and international investments to develop strategic projects in several sectors, in addition to developing economic alternatives in the fields of agriculture, industry and services, in order to reduce dependence on oil.
EXCERPTS FROM MARKZ: MY SOURCES CONTINUE TO SAY RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTIONS
Member: Do u think maybe this year for the RV Mark still?
Member: I have prepared myself for at least after elections……if not a little later….
MZ: Many people think that….Mr. C thinks that….My sources continue to say right before the elections.
Member: Any news from historic bonds yet?
MZ: I’m not expecting any news until this evening.
They have some big meetings this evening.
I believe somewhere around 7 pm est this evening. I do expect one heck of a bond update to give us a solid idea of what to expect on timing sometime late tonight or in the wee hours of the morning.
The Association of Iraqi Private Banks and the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND) discussed the possibility of launching micro and microfinance programs in Iraq in the coming years in the presence of the representative of the Central Bank of Iraq, the senior advisor of the program, Badr al-Din Abdul Rahman, and private banks operating in the country.
This company aims to reach low-income classes and small projects in society, lend them to finance their projects or establish new projects, and enhance the concept of financial inclusion.
What is microfinance?
“Microfinance is the provision of financial and non-financial services to segments that have not been reached by such services, marginalized segments such as displaced people, disadvantaged, women, youth and the poor in general, and also includes insurance, micro-savings and remittances,” said Baddin Abdul Rahman, senior adviser to the Arab Gulf Program for Development, Badddin Abdul Rahman.
He adds that “large countries had experiences in this place, including Arab countries, and we in the Arab Gulf Development Program have been determined for many years to contribute to the microfinance sectors in Africa and the Arab world in the so-called innovation banks, in West and Central Africa, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan and others,” stressing that “the program is ambitious and we have harnessed many resources to build microfinance in these countries in terms of financing, training, policy development and correcting erroneous concepts about microfinance in the Arab world.”
Cooperation Agreement
Badr al-Din explains that his visit to Iraq came “in order to activate an agreement between the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND) and the Central Bank of Iraq, which includes the preparation of a strategy for micro and microfinance over the next five years, in relation to the Central Bank and the effective institutions in micro and microfinance to launch in this sector in the wider horizons and address many outstanding issues in the finance sector and understanding microfinance.”
He expressed his hope that “the agreement will include providing programs in financial education and preparing trainers in financial education, to correct the concepts of workers in this sector and microfinance customers, as well as establishing a large company in which the Arab Gulf Development Program, government and private banks, the Arab private sector and Iraqi contribute in this regard.”
How much is the company’s capital? What are the ways to finance it?
As for the company’s capital, Abdul Rahman states that “the Central Bank of Iraq has put an amount of $ 600 thousand to two million dollars, and we are talking about much larger capital than that and we discussed this, but we have not reached a result because the capital is a calculation that depends on partners, and in general we expect to be at least between five and ten million dollars. As a beginner and then they will start.”
As for the financing method, “it depends on social investment and works with the commercial return system in the country, and takes wholesale financing from banks, funds and foreign destinations as well. All profits are reinvested in the form of infrastructure and branches and are not taken and returned again to the program. It is also financed from investments that come from the local or foreign private sector or investments that come from banks.” According to the economic adviser.
A new experience
Badr al-Din Abdul Rahman hopes that “these sessions, discussions and strategies that we help the Central Bank to prepare, and these programs are in comprehensiveness and financial education, as well as the misleading agencies that provide services to microfinance, we aspire to establish a misleading agency in Iraq that pushes the microfinance sectors, which we see is still small and has some problems, but with comprehensive cooperation, we expect that in the coming years a small finance sector based on global bases and that financing will turn from a profitable subsidized and with a high repayment rate, especially in moving towards the countryside and projects that have not been covered so far.”
He pointed out that “this method is capable of transferring the initiative to Iraq, which depends on social investment, social guarantees and achieving sustainable development goals in the form of micro and microfinance programs such as kindergartens, education programs, programs in the small-scale agricultural sector, and everything that is under the scope of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”
Abdul Rahman concluded that he is “optimistic and happy to come to Iraq and to provide these services and transfer the experiences we have taken from Africa and the Arab world to Iraq and we wish success and create good opportunities for young people and women and deprived of financial services in the form of policies, financing, insurance, guarantees or others.”
