FRANK26: "DEBT FREE ALLOWS A NEW EXCHANGE"......F26
Iraq's share in the IMF
11/6/2024
When Iraq announced that it had paid off all its debts to the International Monetary Fund last May,
Reuters quoted the Fund as saying that Iraq was facing internal imbalances exacerbated by the large financial expansion and the decline in oil prices, and that it needed to gradually correct the public finances to achieve debt stability in the medium term and rebuild reserves.
Mohammed Sharif Abu Maysam At the same time, despite the expansion in public finance management with the aim of achieving significant increases in growth rates, the Ministry of Planning announced a decline in inflation rates from 7.5 percent to 4 percent, which is a positive precedent that has never happened before and is credited to those in charge of monetary and financial policies. It was leaked from the Central Bank that the cash reserve exceeds 110 billion dollars and that the country’s gold reserves amounted to nearly 150 tons.
The full repayment of the country's debt to the International Monetary Fund, the decline in the inflation rate and the increase in the cash reserve rates were indicators of a major shift in economic policies, not because the amount of debt was large, exceeding about eight billion dollars, but because such debts are usually conditional in the context of the so-called economic reform program that aims to privatize state functions and link the country's fate to the policies of the creditor parties and those behind them. It is known globally that governments that can get rid of the burden of debt to the Fund and the World Bank are the most successful in managing the affairs of their countries and implementing their programs related to supporting macroeconomic stability and implementing the necessary financial reforms. Supporting the ration card program was not only a direct reason for reducing inflation rates, but other factors related to monetary and financial policies and limiting parallel markets, and the flow of foreign currency with supporting the local product contributed to achieving this. Thus, increasing the percentage of the country's gold reserves contributed as a tool to cover the local currency and a safe means of hedging against economic fluctuations and security tensions witnessed by the world and the region.
Accordingly, those in charge of economic policy files prove their success, and it is our duty to point out that these successes, just as it was our duty to always point out the points of weakness and stumbling with the aim of monitoring and correcting, have proven the inaccuracy of the vision presented by the International Monetary Fund regarding the situation of public finances, debts, and rebuilding reserves.
Today, Iraq intends to increase its share in the International Monetary Fund by the equivalent of 1.45 trillion dinars, which will support its voting power within the Fund, contribute to attracting investments, create a promising business environment, and achieve real development, thus addressing the problem of inflation in the labor market and implementing the components of the government program.
Article: "Al-Sudani: The Grand Faw Port is Iraq's largest project"
They're going to have 90 births...It's going to be the biggest port in the Middle East. It's going to take some time and they've been working on it for quite a long time, but now it's open....
[It's] very deep. They can fit the [massive] ships.
They're heavy, they sink when fully loaded so they need a deep port to navigate in. This is one of them.
Content of Iraqi government decisions regarding population census: “It will not be used as an alternative to Article 140”
11/5/2024
The Iraqi federal government approved today, Tuesday, the Kurdistan Region’s observations and demands related to the general population census, while the official in charge of relations with the presidency of the republic said that the census will not be used as an alternative to Article 140, and that Arab citizens residing in the Kurdistan Region will have a special registry opened for them and they will be registered in their original areas.
Last Thursday, a meeting was held at the Baghdad Presidential Palace, headed by the President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Rashid, with the participation of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and the attendance of the federal Ministers of Planning, Environment, and Justice, and the Kurdistan Regional Government team, where the Kurdistan Regional Government team presented the Kurdistan Region’s observations related to the general census of the population of Iraq. Arshad Al-Salihi also participated in the meeting, representing the Turkmen component.
In this regard, the head of the Presidency's relations, Hawri Tawfiq, told Rudaw Media Network that the meeting witnessed "a comprehensive and focused discussion regarding the general population census process."
Today, the Iraqi Prime Minister presented the results of Thursday’s meeting to the Council of Ministers, which adopted a seven-paragraph decision. Hawri Tawfiq said that the decision “is of utmost importance for conducting the general population census, and represents a response to the observations of the Kurdistan Regional Government team that were presented to the meeting held at the Presidency of the Republic.”
Below is the content of the decisions according to Hawry Tawfiq’s account:
First: During the population census, the government is committed to a previous decision issued by the Federal Court in 2010.
The Kurdish component in the federal government and the Iraqi parliament insisted at the time on conducting a population census, but the Sunni component feared conducting it, thinking that the results of the census would be used to determine the fate of Kirkuk. For this reason, a question was raised to the Federal Court about whether the census was related to Article 140 of the Constitution. The court responded that the question about the citizen’s nationality would not be raised during the census, firstly, and secondly, the question about sectarian affiliation should not be asked, and only the question about religion should be sufficient.
According to Hawri Tawfiq, the Iraqi Cabinet decision confirmed commitment to the Federal Court’s decision issued in 2010.
The aforementioned Federal Court decision includes another paragraph stating that the results of the population census should not be used as a substitute for Article 140 of the Constitution, and this was confirmed today.
Hawri Tawfiq pointed out that "the second paragraph of the decision is that a single enumerator is not allowed to conduct the census process in the areas covered by Article 140 of the Constitution, i.e. in Kirkuk and elsewhere. Rather, there must be three enumerators: an Arab, a Kurd, and a Turkmen, in order to preserve the reliability and integrity of the process. In areas inhabited by a majority of Christians, a Christian should replace the Turkmen enumerator."
The official in charge of relations with the Iraqi presidency pointed out that “there is another very important and fundamental point that was the focus of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s observations, which is that the Federal Statistical Office and the Kurdistan Region together, along with the Federal Ministry of Interior, should compare the 1957 population census records available at the Ministry of Interior. There is also a record at the Federal Ministry of Migration and Displacement that includes the names of displaced persons and people who left their homes for various reasons, and compare this record with the results of the census after it is completed.”
He continued: “For example, a citizen is registered in Kirkuk on the day of the census, and after the census, a comparison is made to see if he is present in the 1957 census records, and if he is not present in those records, his name is removed from the registration in Kirkuk. This is complete protection for Kirkuk and other Article 140 areas, and confirmation of preventing demographic change,” according to Hawri Tawfiq.
Another point that Hawri Tawfiq pointed out was that “the Iraqi Ministry of Planning must issue a record that includes the names of those who have been transferred or moved to another province for work, especially in the areas of Article 140 and other provinces, because the statistics of the Kurdistan Regional Government that were presented indicate that more than 700 thousand Arabs reside in the Kurdistan Region for work and residence.”
According to this decision: “The Federal Ministry of Planning will add a register with the names of all of these people. It is true that citizens will be registered in their place of residence on the day of the census, but after the census process and with the approval of the Ministry of Planning’s register, their names and records will be transferred to their original regions and they will not be registered in the governorates in which they are located when the census is conducted.”
Hawri Tawfiq also pointed out that, “according to the decision, it was agreed that a technical team from the Kurdistan Region’s Statistical Bureau would head to the data and information entry center, because when data and information are recorded, they are directly linked to the main center, in order to preserve integrity, avoid manipulation, and build more confidence in the process.”
Another point is that the Kurdistan Regional Government should train census workers in the Kurdistan Region’s governorates, because workers in other Iraqi governorates have completed training.
The official in charge of relations with the Iraqi presidency believes that the decision is positive and contributes to solving a large part of the census problems. He also says that the efforts of the president in this context will continue with all parties. LINK
Parliamentary determination to pass controversial laws and fear of general amnesty legislation
Political moves retain to skip debatable laws, particularly the general amnesty and personal reputation, as the Coordination Framework is heading in the direction of an agreement between its poles to extend the legislative time period of the house of Representatives, that’s what sincerely happened after the presidency of the council, led via Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, announced the extension of the legislative term for a month for you to settle the disputed laws and find a consensus method to mature these laws in preparation for providing them for a vote in the council.
no matter the felony differences in terms of wording, content material and info in widespread, the political pass by way of the framework comes with a view to determine on the regulation of the two laws for the duration of the length of extending the legislative term. however, there are fears of passing a wellknown amnesty and consisting of terrorists whose fingers are stained with the blood of Iraqis in this law, which is some thing rejected via a few additives which can be nevertheless annoying the rights in their children as a result of the massacres committed by using the terrorist ISIS in their regions.
the head of the Ajyal parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Al-Sayhoud, informed / dinaropinions.com /, “The presidency of the Council of Representatives went in the direction of extending the cutting-edge legislative consultation for a period of 1 month to enable the Council to legislate some of procedurally entire laws to catch up on the put off of preceding periods because of the preoccupation of the representatives of the Kurdish blocs with the elections for the regional parliament. it is possibly that subsequent week will witness the approval of the amnesty, private popularity, and retirement legal guidelines for the popular Mobilization Forces.”
then again, the consultant of the Coordination Framework, Mohammed Radhi, showed to / dinaropinions.com / that “the criminal Committee studied all of the proposals of the participants of the house of Representatives regarding the proposals to amend the private status and wellknown Amnesty laws and took into account what changed into supplied throughout the second analyzing, as the prison wording for both amendments changed into organized, taking into consideration that no terrorist whose fingers had been stained or who helped in dropping the blood of Iraqis would be covered within the preferred Amnesty regulation, because the residence of Representatives will resume its periods subsequent week and voting on the two legal guidelines will be at the pinnacle of the time table gadgets.”
notwithstanding the parliamentary trend to approve a wellknown amnesty and personal reputation, there are fears of liberating terrorists, as the Yazidi MP Sharif Suleiman defined to /dinaropinions.com/, “There are feedback at the overall performance of the federal government, specially with regard to keeping accountable those whose fingers have been stained with the blood of Iraqis and had been the cause for killing, kidnapping and displacing Yazidis at some point of the length of ISIS terrorist manage over Nineveh and its regions, as every person, mainly the Yazidi element, is waiting for the trial of ISIS terrorist elements and retribution from them, and the go back of the displaced and abducted and adjusting their situations after the suffering they went via because of ISIS crimes,” noting that “the Yazidis’ rejection of the overall amnesty regulation comes from worry of standing with ISIS and liberating them despite their dropping the blood of Iraqis and committing massacres all through the duration in their manipulate over some areas.”
On Monday, November four, the Coordination Framework held its everyday assembly within the workplace of the chief of the Victory Coalition, Haider al-Abadi, wherein it referred to as on the Council of Representatives to increase its legislative term and shorten its excursion in keeping with the tendencies within the location and vital legislative entitlements. based in this assembly and the invitation addressed to Parliament, the Council Presidency announced the day past, Thursday, the extension of the legislative time period for a duration of 30 days starting from November 9.
