Baghdad Today – Baghdad    Today, Monday (September 30, 2024), economic expert Nasser Al-Kanani revealed the reason for the fragility of the Iraqi local market and its inability to confront any external problems.

Al-Kanani said in an interview with Baghdad Today, “The Iraqi local market is fragile and cannot face any external problems, as it depends only on foreign imports, and does not depend on local national production, and therefore the market is greatly affected by any external problems, and cannot face any of those problems, and therefore the Iraqi government must work seriously to restore local production so that the local market is strong and not affected by any regional or international problems and crises.”

He added, “The Iraqi local market is considered one of the most important markets for many countries in the region and the world, to sell their materials in it, and it is not unlikely that there are countries working to keep the Iraqi market fragile and dependent on imports, instead of national production, and for this reason, throughout the past years, we have not seen any control of local products over the market.”

Last March, the Central Bank of Iraq announced that “there is no return to the previous price of the dollar, and the price will not be reduced under any circumstances,” stressing that there is no intention to raise the price above 145,000 for every 100 dollars, which is the official Iraqi exchange rate.

The prices of basic foodstuffs doubled after the government devalued the dinar, and prices increased again, before rising again due to the rise in the price of the dollar .

The prices of some food items in Iraq have increased by between 25 and 75 percent, as the price of one kilogram of sugar rose from 1,000 dinars to 1,300 dinars in retail markets, a bottle of cooking oil from 1,500 to 3,000, and grains from 500-750 to 1,000-1,500 dinars.

Warning To Iraqis: New Ways To Steal Your Money And Smuggle It Abroad

 Economic  via the Internet and mobile phone applications, new digital banks in Iraq are starting to steal money and smuggle it out of the country, especially with the absence of government oversight over the work of these banks that do not have branches on the ground.

A new loophole for stealing money and a shortcut for smuggling currency requires government oversight.

 Digital banks in Iraq are another way to smuggle currency after it is exploited by banks that have been subject to sanctions and require government oversight and serious action towards them.

 Through unregulated electronic applications, financial transfers are carried out within these applications, without the need for paperwork or financial auditing, which facilitates the transfer process and the possibility of smuggling money in huge quantities.

Al-Sudani’s Advisor Explains: Did Electronic Payment Procedures Contribute To Preserving The Dinar’s Solidity?

Baghdad  [rtl]Advisor to the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Committee to Support the Iraqi Dinar, Qasim Al-Dhalimi, announced today, Tuesday, the committee’s success in restoring citizens’ confidence in the dinar, while pointing out that it has provided mechanisms to preserve the solidity of the dinar and the financial bloc.

Al-Dhalimi said, “The Supreme Committee for Supporting the Iraqi Dinar worked on how to restore the citizen’s confidence in the dinar, and to make it the main link between him and the source of his money and how the citizen can connect the dinar to the solid Iraqi banks, and how to deal with it electronically,” indicating that “the committee worked on many important joints.”

He added that “the citizen wanted to know the extent of the interest of the government or private bank in dealing with depositing his money, and how to find real mechanisms to support the dinar by balancing it with other foreign currencies,”

noting that “there are mechanisms proposed by the committee for how electronic payment can be one of the features that preserve the solidity of the dinar, and preserve the financial mass present within the banks, and for the citizen to be the first and last beneficiary and the electronic organization process, so the committee sought to achieve financial security and stability in the government program.”

Expert Proposes A Single Proposal To Confront The Decline In Oil Prices And Issues A Warning To Producing Countries

Baghdad Today – Baghdad   Oil expert Haider Al-Batat warned oil-producing countries today, Monday (September 30, 2024), noting that shale oil production is more economically feasible.

Al-Batat said in an interview with Baghdad Today that “the rise in oil prices leads to a slowdown in industrial growth and a decrease in demand for oil, with an increase in the trend towards the use of alternative energy. This represents a threat to oil-exporting countries, and the main beneficiary of this situation is the United States of America.”

He added, “US shale oil production is only economically viable when the price per barrel exceeds $65. If the price of oil falls below $65, US oil production becomes economically unviable.”

He explained that “this will force America to reduce its production of shale oil, which will make the market need 10 million barrels of oil, and this will lead to an increase in demand for oil produced by OPEC member states to compensate for the gap resulting from the decline in American production.”

The oil expert concluded by saying, “This scenario is the only solution to confront the decline in oil consumption and the shift to alternative energy.

It will also increase industrial growth, thus pushing oil-producing countries to increase oil production to keep pace with the increasing global demand. Thus, they compensate for the decline in price by increasing quantities.

This in turn increases the costs of using alternative energy, which is ultimately much higher than the price of fossil energy, leading consumers to turn away from it and continue to rely on fossil energy while developing and upgrading it to be environmentally friendly.”

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the United States has the largest recoverable resource of shale oil in the world, amounting to 78.2 billion barrels so far, followed by Russia with 74.6 billion barrels.

Although China is a relative newcomer to the scene, it holds a significant position with reserves of 32.2 billion barrels, contributing 7.7% of the global share.

Argentina, Libya and the United Arab Emirates also made the top ranks, indicating the diverse distribution of shale oil resources around the world.

Internal And External Debts “Exhaust” The Iraqi Budget, And Experts Diagnose The Reasons

The Iraqi government took a series of measures to reduce the external public debt from the financial surpluses achieved as a result of the rise in oil prices, and succeeded in reducing it. However, in return, the internal debt rose to exceed 70 trillion dinars to bridge the gap in financial liquidity and operating expenses.

Iraq continued to borrow externally after 2003, especially during the oil price collapse that coincided with security operations against ISIS in 2014, in addition to internal borrowing to cover the country’s general budget deficit.

The International Monetary Fund said that Iraq’s internal imbalances were exacerbated by the large financial expansion and the decline in oil prices, noting that Iraq needs to gradually correct the public finances to achieve debt stability in the medium term and rebuild financial reserves.

“Dead” Debts

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Kojer, said in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, “The external debt found in the reports available to us is a dead debt related to the Gulf War. These debts date back more than 30 years and countries do not demand them, so they are not real debts. If the Iraqi state demands their cancellation, they will be cancelled.”

He points out that “the internal debt, which exceeds 70 trillion Iraqi dinars, is gradually increasing because the state’s revenues are less than expenditures, and despite that, it is not a frightening debt.”

According to official data, Iraq’s internal debts amount to $50 billion, which are collected within the official and governmental financial apparatus, in addition to the existence of outstanding debts to eight countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Emirates and Kuwait, amounting to $40 billion. These debts are questionable from Iraq’s point of view and have not been written off, despite being subject to the Paris Club.

Low External Debt

In turn, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, that “Iraq is considered one of the countries with very little external debt, as the total debts due do not exceed 10 billion dollars, and these have annual allocations in the federal general budget to extinguish them, and they must be extinguished by 2028.”

“The external debt is the remnants of the pre-1990 settlements,” he added, noting that “Iraq is considered to have high creditworthiness according to the classification of international companies such as S&P Global Ratings and Fitch, and therefore the external debt does not exceed 5% of the gross domestic product compared to the international standard that accepts debts up to 60% of the gross domestic product.”

Saleh points out that “there are internal debts amounting to 76 trillion dinars caused by two financial crises, the first of which was between 2014 and 2017, which was the war against ISIS terrorism and the decline in oil prices, and the second crisis was the Corona pandemic, which led to the closure of global markets and a significant decline in oil prices, and thus large borrowings occurred.”

He stresses that “domestic debt generally does not exceed 30% of the gross domestic product and is a debt within the government and not between the government and individuals or the market, and there are mechanisms to extinguish it within the government’s financial and banking system, and therefore there are no risks.”

Debt Is Not The Perfect Solution.

However, the economic expert, Dhurgham Muhammad Ali, sees the opposite of what the financial advisor said, and says in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, “The internal debts also pose a danger because they must be paid and must not exceed 50% of the country’s annual gross domestic product.”

He added, “Expanding domestic borrowing is not the ideal solution to cover the budget deficit, but rather it is an easy way to cover the deficit using primitive but effective methods, as long as they do not exceed the required limit, especially in light of the decline in financial inclusion and the low rates of bank deposits for the Iraqi citizen compared to neighboring countries.”

He explains that “combating corruption and following up on Iraq’s money that has been swallowed by corruption over the past years is slow and ineffective and faces obstacles and challenges, and recovering this money could pay off many internal debts.”

Hard Currency

For his part, economic expert Hilal Al-Taan confirmed, in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, that “the internal debts do not have a significant impact on the Iraqi economy, and most of them are in favor of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, and other ministries.”

He believes that “the major impact on the economy is on foreign debts because they are settled in hard currency, unlike domestic debts, which are settled in national currency. The state must first reduce foreign debts.”

The largest part of the domestic debt is owed to the Central Bank of Iraq, the Rafidain and Rashid banks, and the Trade Bank of Iraq, which lent the government large sums of money to cover the federal budget deficit.