Iraqi News Highlights and Points to Ponder Monday 5-6-2024
Savings And Financial Inclusion
Economical 05/06/2024 There is a close relationship between saving and financial inclusion, as economies with good levels of saving are usually more comprehensive, stable, and consistent in financial trades and exchanges, growth rates, and the ability to withstand shocks.
It seems that this relationship was an impetus for adopting the slogan “Towards encouraging saving to enhance… Financial Inclusion” on the occasion of the Arab Financial Inclusion Day, which falls on April 27th every year.
Financial inclusion means providing financial services to all societal groups and encouraging them to open bank accounts, by opening more bank branches in places far from city centers, and introducing more payment systems and technologies that contribute to reducing episodes of slackness in performance and restoring confidence between the public and the banking sector.
This establishes the withdrawal of the cash mass stored in homes and other places of hoarding, and thus recycling it in credit operations and economic projects in order to support the business environment and address the problem of unemployment in the labor market and thus achieve sustainable development.
The banking sector in our country participates in financial inclusion activities that promote and open up to the public in public places, universities, and commercial centers, with the aim of encouraging the public to deal with the banking sector and increasing the proportion of transactions and transactions in the banking arena, thus achieving the highest levels of savings.
Such productive activities may have a degree of impact depending on the regions in which they are held, and complement what the relevant authorities are working for in the context of adopting electronic payment systems and protecting the public. However, there are obstacles that need to be contemplated and reconsidered if we want to achieve positive results in the file.
Encouraging savings and achieving the complementary relationship between financial inclusion and withdrawing the public’s accumulated cash mass, which the relevant authorities estimate at approximately 70 percent of the issued cash.
The first of these problems that need study and contemplation is the problem of the difference in the currency exchange rate, which prompts the public to buy foreign currencies as a safe haven.
From exchange rate fluctuations, solving this problem contributes significantly to creating trust between the public and banks, in addition to the possibility of raising the interest rate in light of the increase in government spending on service projects, which may result in an increase in inflation rates, and we believe that providing banking privileges to savers is the way.
It is appropriate to encourage saving, such as guaranteeing access to housing units for savers, especially children and young women, at half the price after ten or fifteen years of saving at certain rates, or providing a free marriage grant if these age groups continue saving for about a number of years. https://alsabaah.iq/96119-.html
Warnings Of Challenges Delaying Budget Approval, Most Notably The Deficit[/Size]
The Iraqi state is facing major challenges in light of the delay in approving the federal state budget for this year 2024, amounting to about 228 trillion dinars (the dollar = 1.320 thousand dinars) despite the passage of five months of this year, and this delay was reflected in the disruption of service and infrastructure projects. Infrastructure, amounting to about 1,300 projects, has been added to the budget schedules and items.
The state entered the fifth month of the year without a budget, despite Law No. 16 of 2009 stipulating that the budget is prepared three months before the end of the fiscal year.
Iraqi officials confirmed that all service sectors, including health and education, suffer from lack of spending and delays in many financial allocations related to service and investment projects.
While political sources revealed that voting on the budget items will take place in the Council of Ministers soon, to be sent to Parliament in order to study it and present it to a final legislative vote.
On June 12, 2023, the Iraqi Parliament voted on the federal budget law for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025, in an initiative that is the first of its kind in the country’s history in terms of the size of the budget and the number of fiscal years, with a value of 197 trillion and 828 billion dinars annually, with a financial deficit of 63 trillion dinars, but the decision gave the government the right to amend and review the budget each year according to what the country’s financial landscape requires, including oil prices.
A government source said in a phone call with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the general budget of the Iraqi state for this year 2024 is under government review, and will be approved during the upcoming Council of Ministers sessions, because it needs to amend its schedules and reduce the percentage of the financial deficit.
The source, who requested to remain anonymous, explained that the Iraqi Ministry of Finance sent the budget schedules more than a month ago to the Council of Ministers, and work was done to resolve differences related to the value of projects and the volume of investment spending. He pointed out that the tripartite budget tables require periodic review in each fiscal year in order to adjust project costs, the size of salaries, appointments, retirement, and the inclusion of new projects.
He added that the government amendments also include the allocations of ministries and governorate budgets not linked to the region, without prejudice to the legal texts and provisions, the price of a barrel of oil, and exchange rates, as they have been in effect since the beginning of the current year.
Parliamentary criticism
: The Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament held the Iraqi government responsible for the delay in sending the budget to the House of Representatives for the purpose of studying it and knowing the chapters on financial disbursement, its schedules, and the laws that were added to it before submitting it to a final vote.
Committee member Moeen Al-Kazemi said that the budget figures expected to reach Parliament have risen from 197 trillion dinars last year to more than 228 trillion, and that this increase will be based on numbers, not items.
In statements to reporters on Saturday, Al-Kadhimi criticized the Ministry of Finance’s reluctance to disburse the provinces’ financial dues despite entering the fifth month of the year, and this is what caused the modification of many service projects in the municipal, educational and health departments.
Budget delay
For his part, Representative Mahma Khalil explained that the first year of the tripartite budget must be adhered to, while the following two years, 2024 and 2025, are subject to change, but the country has now entered the fifth month and the government has not sent the budget to the House of Representatives despite its demands for it. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=247417
The Delay Surrounds Five Iraqi Ministries.. What Is The Relationship With The Budget?
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad The Strategic Planning and Federal Service Committee in the House of Representatives revealed that there are 5 ministries that have not achieved advanced completion rates in their projects within the government program.
The Vice Chairman of the Committee, Mohamed Al-Baldawi, said in an interview followed by Al-Iqtisad News, that “those ministries have delayed in accomplishing the tasks assigned to them,” without referring to the names or descriptions of the work of those ministries.
Al-Baldawi attributed this reluctance to “the possibility of financial problems due to the delay in the budget law,” explaining that “those ministries were not allocated sufficient budgets for these projects, and there are projects in the first place that were not planned properly and thus they delayed.”
He stated that “there are also problems that accompanied the planning process within the ministry and the institution and at the leadership level and directing projects and human resources in the right direction.”- https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=43150
Including Iraq… Five Countries Possess More Than 1,000 Tons Of Gold
Economical 05/05/2024 The World Gold Council announced yesterday, Saturday, that Iraq and four Arab countries possess more than a thousand tons of global gold reserves.
The Council said in its latest schedule for the month of May that “the first five countries (Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Libya and Iraq) possess 1,72,6 thousand tons.”
He added, “Iraq maintained its ranking of 30th globally out of the 100 countries listed in the table with the largest gold reserves, as it has not purchased gold since May last year, bringing its gold possessions to 142.6 tons, which represents 9.3% of the rest of its other reserves.”
The Council also pointed out that “the United States of America sits on the throne of the rest of the countries with the largest possession of gold in the world at 8,133.5 thousand tons, followed by Germany with 3,352.6 thousand tons, then Italy came with 2,451.8 thousand tons, while Suriname came at the bottom with 1.2 thousand tons.” “.
It is noteworthy that the World Gold Council is based in the United Kingdom, has extensive experience and deep knowledge of the factors causing market change, and its members consist of the largest and most advanced gold mining companies in the world.
Most Arab countries maintained the size of their gold reserves by the end of the first quarter of 2024, at the same levels recorded at the end of last year, with the exception of Oman and Qatar, which recorded net purchases of 4.5 tons and 1.5 tons, respectively.
Successive increases in gold prices led the value of most countries’ reserves to record new levels, before the recent declines during the second half of April led to the value of those reserves returning to what they were. https://alsabaah.iq/96029-.html
Provoking Thoughts and Points to Ponder on Wealth
It is wealth to be content. – Lao-Tzu
Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion. – Benjamin Franklin
If you’re happy, you’re wealthy! Happiness doesn’t need a bank account. – Sr. Mary Christelle Macaluso
Wealth … is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much but wants more. – Charles Caleb Colton
Sometimes when you have everything, you can’t really tell what matters. – Christina Onassis
The only question with wealth is what you do with it. – John D. Rockefeller
The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much. – Saint John Chrysostom
