IRAQ MOVES TOWARDS GLOBALIZATION.. IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BEGINS IN 2026
The former director of the Financial Supervision Bureau, Salah Nouri, revealed the steps taken by Iraq to move to fully implement international accounting standards by 2026.
Nouri said in a statement to {Euphrates News} that: “The unified accounting system, which was adopted in the mid-eighties, was appropriate for the economic situation at the time; but it led to Iraq’s delay in keeping pace with international standards.”
He added, “The Accounting and Auditing Standards Board adopted 14 accounting rules according to international standards until 2016; but that was not enough to keep pace with global developments. In 2017, the board made a bold decision to adopt all international accounting standards, with the aim of enhancing financial transparency and attracting foreign investments, especially in the oil and banking sectors.”
Nouri pointed out that “the committee tasked with preparing the new unified accounting system completed its work in 2019, and the implementation of international standards was announced in 2021, but the Corona pandemic postponed this implementation.”
He stressed that “the year 2026 will witness the final implementation of these standards, which will make the Iraqi accounting environment consistent with the requirements of global financial markets.” “This step will encourage foreign companies to invest in Iraq and will provide transparent financial data that will help in making sound investment decisions,” Nouri concluded.
International accounting standards are a common language for companies around the world, making it easier for investors to understand companies’ financial statements and make informed investment decisions.
This step comes as part of Iraq’s efforts to enhance financial transparency and attract foreign investment, especially in light of the economic challenges facing the country.
😊You might want to take a look at article titled “CENTRAL BANK ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF ITS MEETINGS WITH THE TREASURY AND THE FEDERAL RESERVE”. The Central Bank announced the end of the first quarterly meetings for the year 2025 with the US Treasury and the US Federal Reserve, which were held in Dubai / United Arab Emirates with the participation of international auditing and consulting firms (EY, K2 Integrity, Oliver Wyman).
The meetings culminated in praise for the steps taken by the Central Bank of Iraq and the Iraqi government in reforming the banking sector, the most important of which were…bla, bla, bla ( you heard it all before from the IMF, World Bank and the US). But the dinar is still at 1/6 of a penny?
So, we might believe that any unauthorized banking activities can be caught relatively quickly just as in any bank in any developed country does today. This is fantastic news. The article emphasizes encouragement for enterprises to join the formal banking sector and not rely on the black market.
But how do you give them incentives? Do you maybe change the value of the dinar so the “official” price is now much higher than the parallel market price? Would this draw them into the CBI supervision by the SBI of this shadow economy?
The idea of putting in place an optimal solution which creates a legal frameworks to regulate the work of informal financial institutions and place them under the supervision of the central bank to ensure a minimum level of oversight. I am surprised the CBI has not yet done this. Why is this a revolutionary idea?
My main point today is not so much what the CBI can recognize or not as the Black Market but rather can they can’t control it? It is obvious the Black Market is a know entity and an obstacle. Seems to me the only real
solution and a final solution is to simply to take the paper CASH dollar out of circulation in Iraq, which the US has just announced that are doing. Didn’t I bring this to your attention before? Iraq then needs to keep emphasizing the use of the dinar. Remember we already read over the last two year about the de-dollarization of the economy.
But there is a breaking point too. This point is triggering a revaluation in-country and it will begin down that path of seriousness to reinstatement back on the foreign exchange market. Would this simply help or would the Black Market simply turn around and raise their rates even higher.
However, I have to keep saying where are they going to get the dollars if plane loads of CASH is no longer being flown to Iraq and these payment are now all done electronically? How will they get this CASH?
To get any CASH in Iraq someone would have to go to a bank and fraudulently file receipts to pay imports into Iraq. Now this is when the audits can control and monitor the sales of imports and who is importing what and how much. But still, this CASH will be very limited and scarce.
The Obama/Biden plan is to grow the economy enough so that the reliance on imports is lessened ergo the need to pay for them in dollars or any currency is lessoned. But this still does not automatically revalue the dinar. Does it?
There has to be a breaking point when the CBI says lets just use the dinar then more and more to pay for imports. Other countries have to want to take it. It must be valuable enough to drive a desire to take it.
But it is hard to give incentives for importers to want it at 1/6 of a penny. Do you see where I am going with this? Yes, there is going to be a breaking point when they have to raise the rate of the dinar. The CBI will have no choice if the economy keep growing.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC APPROVES THE AMENDMENT TO THE BUDGET LAW
The President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Rashid, approved the first amendment to the Iraqi Federal Budget Law No. 13 of 2023, related to the export of Kurdistan Region oil through SOMO.
Secretary of the Kurdistan Regional Government Council of Ministers, Amanj Rahim, said, “The President of the Republic approved the first amendment to the Iraqi Federal Budget Law No. 13 of 2023.”
He added that “the law became official after the President of the Republic signed it, noting that the revenues from the sale of oil exported from the region will return to the federal treasury, according to the amendments related to the costs of production and transportation of oil.”
He added, “The law will not officially enter into force until it is published in the Official Gazette, Al-Waqa’i’ Al-Iraqiya, which is the last procedure required before its implementation begins.”
The new president Trump has a new policy towards Iraq and it is beginning to take form. This recent move of stopping the physical dollar CASH flow to Iraq is apparent.
As investors we now just have to hunker down and wait. This was a huge move and it will take time to shake out what paper CASH US dollars are already in the Iraqi economy. Again, I am telling you – THEY MUST BREAK THE PARALLEL MARKET AND DISSOLVE ILLEGAL VENDERS. I am presenting a very good recent article on this topic today and I am going to review it in detail.
☹ I was told many times already by my CBI contact that this crisis is at the heart of why the CBI can not set the in-country revaluation rate to what they need to conduct the Project to Delete the Zeros. The article it titled “FOUNDATION WARNS OF ‘PARALLEL BANKING SYSTEM’ AND ‘SHADOW ECONOMY’ IN IRAQ”