The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Economic Affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said that the Central Bank’s decision to reduce interest rates to 5.5% encourages lending.

Mazhar Muhammad Salih said in an interview followed by Al-Maalouma Agency, “The Central Bank’s process of reducing interest rates to 5.5% represents an expansionary policy, because it is assumed that when this rate is reduced, all banks will do the same, whether on loans or deposits.”

He pointed out that “in terms of deposits, this decision does not encourage people to put their money in the bank, but it encourages lending.” He pointed out that “banks have a lot of surpluses, and they are encouraged to grant more credit.”

What Are The Positives Of The Central Bank Reducing Interest Rates? Al-Sudani’s Advisor Explains

Money and business   Economy News – Baghdad  The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Economic Affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, said that the Central Bank’s decision to reduce interest rates to 5.5% encourages lending.

Saleh said, “The Central Bank’s reduction of interest rates to 5.5% represents an expansionary policy, because it is assumed that when this rate is reduced, all banks will do the same, whether on lending or on deposits.”

He pointed out that “in terms of deposits, this decision does not encourage people to put their money in the bank, but it encourages lending,” noting that “banks have a lot of surpluses, and they are encouraged to grant more credit.”

“Most banks have not reached 75% of credits”

Regarding cash credits, the Prime Minister’s advisor for economic affairs explained that they “should represent 75% of deposits,” adding that “most banks have not reached this percentage, especially private banks, so banks can reach this percentage through this process, where they lend and move their interest, and it is an attempt.”

Regarding the extent to which the interest rate in Iraqi banks is equal to that of banks in the region, Saleh said, “Banks are not obligated to adhere to this rate, and it is a reference to monetary policy.”

It is noteworthy that the Central Bank of Iraq decided on Thursday (October 24, 2024) to reduce the annual interest rate between it and the banks registered with it from 7.5% to 5.5%, and to reactivate the work of securities (Islamic certificate of deposit and money transfers) between it and the banks operating in Iraq, with an annual return of 4% for a period of 14 days, and an annual return of 5.5% for a period of 182 days.

Financial Liberation

The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Economic Affairs noted that “banks have the right to lend and borrow at the interest rate they deem appropriate, in accordance with the decisions of their boards of directors. This is called financial liberalization, which has been adopted since 2004.”

The Central Bank of Iraq had set the maximum investment ceiling not to exceed 50% of the total private sector deposits at the bank, and that the bank’s investment ceiling in a single auction should not exceed (500) billion Iraqi dinars.

“A Fraudulent Maze” Reveals “Thorny” Files That Swallow The Pockets Of Iraqis

 An informed government source revealed a financial corruption file related to the collection of energy consumption fees from hotels, malls, and other commercial and entertainment complexes in the capital, Baghdad, where billions of dinars are wasted monthly through “administrative loopholes,” stressing that the Ministry of Electricity discovered one of those files during the past month.

The source reviewed documents related to the latest file discovered by the Ministry of Electricity, confirming that it is “one example of other files in the same regard,” but he stipulated that the documents not be published for special reasons.

Whales And Big Heads”

In detail, he says, “Financial corruption in collecting electricity consumption fees is very large, and those involved are big heads and whales supported by political parties. However, it is through a chain that begins with small employees, but these are a front for those who are bigger than them, and if one of the files is revealed in some way, these people are the scapegoats, but with administrative penalties that are not commensurate with the size of the corruption,” he said.

He explains, “The recent corruption file in the collection of wages, after it was exposed by a member of the House of Representatives, caused the officials in the Ministry of Electricity to be embarrassed and it was necessary to take action to cover up the matter, so penalties were issued by dismissal from office and transfer from one department to another, while it is a file of embezzlement or at the very least a waste of public money that is supposed to be referred to the Integrity Commission for adjudication.”

The government source provides an introduction to how to calculate electricity consumption fees according to what was approved by the government of former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, explaining, “Consumption fees were divided into five categories: domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and governmental. Each category has its own fees, the lowest of which is the cost of domestic consumption, which is divided into four categories:

the first category is 10 dinars per unit (the unit is the amount of consumption measurement), the second category is 35 dinars (i.e. if the home consumes more than one consumption unit), the third category is 80 dinars (the home consumes three consumption units), and the fourth category is 120 dinars (the home consumes four consumption units).”

The source commented on this by saying, “Whoever thinks that electricity consumption fees in Iraq are low is mistaken. In fact, they are among the high fees, if not the highest, in the countries of the region.

A family that operates three or four cooling devices in the summer earns no less than 200 thousand dinars per month. However, at the peak of the heat, or when using multiple heating devices or an electric cooker, the fees double, but people do not know this, and therefore many families are surprised by high fees in areas and residential complexes that do not rely on electric generators.”

Infallible” From Consumption Fees

Returning to the recent corruption file, the source explains, “The events of the file are taking place in the General Company for Electricity Distribution in Baghdad/Rusafa Electricity Distribution Branch, as some hotels that fall within the commercial consumption section have not paid electricity fees for years, but the fees of one of them were settled fraudulently.”

He continued, “A famous hotel in the Karrada area in the center of the capital, Baghdad, paid its consumption fees in a proper manner, but what happened and was discovered later was that the fees paid by the hotel management were registered in the name of another hotel only one kilometer away from the paid hotel, whose management was surprised by a new consumption list that came to it and included previous debts that it had already paid, but they were registered in the name of the other hotel.”

He points out that “all hotels in Baghdad are owned by a mix of the government and investors, meaning that they are private hotels and the government has a limited share in them, and their electricity consumption costs billions,” as he described it.

The source indicates that the file and the documents that I have reviewed also include “one of the malls in central Baghdad that was registered as a disabled account, or as they call it functionally in the Ministry of Electricity (3 nines), which means that a technical error occurred by the data entry employee during the (punching and transferring) process, which is the process of recording data for the household, commercial, industrial, agricultural or governmental unit, other than what is in the basic database kept by the Baghdad Electricity Distribution Company, and thus there is a conflict in the data and the recording of consumption fees for this account is stopped.”

Repairing a malfunction is very easy, especially if the database is available and saved, but the problem is that this repair, which is supposed to take only minutes, hours or even days, takes months and years, and therefore the owner of the disabled account does not pay any fees during this period, and when it is discovered by an official or a supervisory body, the concerned body, represented by the Baghdad Rusafa or Karkh Company or the Ministry of Electricity, does what is called a (settlement) and forms a committee, or even the sales department manager assumes an estimated number for consumption fees, which are usually in the billions of dinars, but the settlement is made with a few million dinars and the matter ends, if it is discovered.”

After this maze of numbers, fraudulent methods and manipulation of the state’s capabilities and financial revenues, which the current government is trying to maximize and diversify to get rid of “oil slavery”, especially after it reached dangerous stages for nearly ten years due to the dangerous fluctuation in oil prices due to global crises, such that between one year and another or between one government and another, warnings appear that the Iraqi state will be unable to pay the salaries of employees, retirees and beneficiaries of social welfare. After the above, it is necessary to take a deep breath before diving into other details of this file.

Negative Debt

The source says, “There is something called negative debt, and this not only exempts its owners from paying consumption fees, but it also means that the state is the one paying on their behalf. 414 lists of negative debts were discovered,” and the agency is withholding mentioning to whom these lists belong.

The source explains, “The negative debt is that a citizen receives a consumption list for 50 thousand dinars, so he goes and pays it, but the data entry employee makes a mistake and writes 150 thousand dinars instead of 50 thousand dinars during the punching and transfer process, and when it reaches the main database in the company, it is indicated that there is 100 thousand dinars in excess of the account.”

He added, “Therefore, the state is required to pay this citizen this amount, so the settlement is made so that the citizen does not pay the wages until the amount of 100 thousand dinars is received, while the citizen did not pay this amount in the first place, nor did the employee who made the mistake receive an additional amount.”

The source explains, “The game is not about the ordinary citizen, the owner of a simple shop or household consumption, but rather it is related to the owners of commercial, industrial and agricultural accounts. Their consumption fees are in the billions of dinars. One of them may have a consumption fee of 10 million dinars, so he pays a million dinars in wages and a million dinars in bribes, and the employee makes a mistake and adds a zero to the ten million dinars by mistake, so this consumer has paid the ministry 100 million dinars, and thus the state owes him 90 million dinars.”

The Company That “Punctured” The State

The source discusses another aspect of the file that was recently discovered and is related to one of the “privatization” companies to which the state has become indebted for financial dues for four years without this company performing any service or work or even spending a single dinar other than the bribe amount for the concerned official.

He explains, “The sales department manager signed a joint receipt with the company to deliver the electricity network and subscribers in one of the residential areas before obtaining the necessary approvals or even informing the branch of the Rusafa Distribution Company of the contract, which means that the company has become responsible for collecting electricity consumption fees before obtaining official authorization to do so.”

He added, “The Rusafa Distribution Company branch did not sign the contract until four years after that, and at that time the National Company demanded from the Rusafa branch its share of the consumption fees for the past four years, even though it did not provide any services and did not even collect the consumption fees, since the collection of fees was done by the Rusafa branch, as is customary in this residential area.”

He points out that “the company not only did not provide any services, but the state is now indebted to the company for its shares stipulated according to the hypothetical contract, meaning that the state is obligated to pay profits to this company that did not spend a single dinar except for the bribe amount to the bribed director.”

It is worth noting that the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau issued a report on March 19, 2019, revealing that three companies are supervising the process of collecting electricity fees on the Rusafa side, and owe 49 billion dinars to the Ministry of Electricity.

The court said that “Al-Noor Al-Thaqib Company implemented the service and collection contract in 21 neighborhoods distributed over three areas: Zayouna, Palestine Street, and Al-Ghadeer.

Al-Rafidain Space Company implemented the service and collection contract in 42 neighborhoods distributed over the areas of Al-Rusafa Center, Al-Sulaikh, and Al-Krayat, while Ahl Al-Wasal Company implemented the service and collection contract in 15 neighborhoods, specifically in the areas of Al-A’dhamiyah and Cairo, as well as Nakheel Middle East Company in 51 neighborhoods distributed over the areas of Al-Karrada, New Baghdad, Diyala Bridge, and Al-Zafaraniya.”

The report indicated that “the investing companies did not commit to obtaining an investment license according to the letter of the National Investment Authority, and the contracts concluded with the Ministry of Electricity did not include a penalty clause in the event that the investment companies were late in issuing the investment license.”

He pointed out that “Al-Rafidain Space Company achieved financial revenues for the months of November and December 2017, amounting to 305.5 million dinars, noting that its contract with the Ministry of Electricity obligates it to achieve 8 billion dinars per month.”

According to the report, “citizens’ payment indicators ranged between 0-54%, which requires the Electricity Directorate to urge investing companies to increase payment indicators in order to achieve financial amounts that contribute to maximizing financial resources.”

The report confirmed that “the total energy sold to Ahl Al Wasl Company amounted to 16.4 billion dinars, while the debts owed by the company amounted to 6.7 billion dinars, and the debts owed by Nakheel Middle East Company amounted to 36.5 billion dinars, and Al Noor Al Thaqib Company amounted to 5.8 billion dinars.”