Sunday Morning Iraq Economy News Highlights 1-22-23
My Leadership In The Framework: The Americans Raised The Dollar So That We Would Not Hold Al-Kazemi Accountable
Economy / Politics Baghdad today-Baghdad The leader in the coordination framework, Representative Waad Qaddo, considered the dollar crisis that “no speculators stand behind it.” Rather, it is American pressure aimed at three conditions, represented by not smuggling the currency, not holding Al-Kazemi accountable, and other things related to the resistance factions, which we cannot implement.
Qaddo told (Baghdad Today) that “the Americans set several conditions, including not smuggling the currency to ensure that planes carrying the daily dollar are returned to Baghdad with the same previous number after the flights were reduced by half,” noting that “the conditions are that Al-Kazemi will not be held accountable for any additional issue.” To ensure that currency is not smuggled to some countries.
Qaddo considered this condition as a “pretext”, because “Iraq imports 99% of its needs from abroad, even if the most important of those needs are from Turkey and Iran. The annual purchase amount is estimated at 30 billion dollars annually, which is more than half of Iraq’s annual income in dollars from the sale of oil.”
Qaddo considered that, accordingly, “it is natural for the dollar to go to Tehran and Ankara by virtue of our purchase of goods, and this matter is not smuggling as the (American occupation) claims,”according to his description.
Qaddo stated, “The Americans are occupying Iraq, not by the presence of soldiers on the ground, but rather by controlling our economy. Iraq is still under a UN resolution that it described as unfair, which includes imposing a blockade on us since the nineties of the last century, and this matter caused an international decision that forces us to make the sums of selling oil in dollars not come directly to Iraq.” One of the countries that we sell oil to, but it goes to the US Federal Bank, and it is the one who transfers dollars to us.”
And he considered, “This measure captured us from the American side, and therefore we will not remain silent on this matter, as the Americans respond to some points from the government, provided that the dollar flows back from it with regard to the resistance factions , and this is something we do not accept.”
Regarding the campaigns carried out by the security forces in Baghdad regarding the arrest of some money-changers accused of manipulating dollar prices, Qaddo considered that “this matter is useless, because those responsible for the rise of the dollar are the Americans, and Parliament should host the governor of the Central Bank for the purpose of informing the people’s representatives of the real matter and solutions.” LINK
Partnerships In Alliances Are Troubled By The Value Of The Dinar, The American Presence, And The Political Investment Of The Gulf
January 22, 2023 Baghdad / Obelisk: Three problems have removed some of the ashes from the embers of differences within the Iraqi political community, which are the decline in the value of the Iraqi currency, the US military presence, and the political investment of the two Gulfs of Basra.
As political sources believe that the Sudanese government is responsible for the drop in the value of the dinar, due to more Iraqi facilities for Tehran that allow it to breach US sanctions. Iraq complied with the American restrictions, especially since Ahed al-Sudani started buying Iranian technical expertise worth at least $3 billion.
The dispute, which transcends the Sunni forces to the Kurdish and Sunni, is about the American military presence, and giving them justifications for staying, according to Al-Sudani’s statements to Western media.
There are also disagreements between the resistance factions themselves, as the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reports that a strong wing in the factions gave the prime minister of Iraq the green light to legitimize the American presence with the justifications of training, counseling, and maintenance of armor and aircraft, provided that it guarantees America’s assistance to the Sudanese to maintain a stable situation and not pressure the interests of factions.
On the Sunni side, former Iraqi parliament member Haider Al-Mulla says that “disagreements within the current alliances, whether sovereignty or the coordinating framework, or whatever party it is, under these circumstances, are usually due to interests, positions, privileges and promises that are fulfilled between the members and their president.” “.
Government officials hastened to invest politically in the victory of the Iraqi national team in the Gulf football championship. The Kurdish Federal Minister of Justice received the Kurdish players in a manner that was considered racist.
Writer Mustafa Nasser said that Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite politicians are adept at trading in popular achievements.
In Basra, sports sources reported that a local government official suggested that the team members contact the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr.
Previously, naming the Gulf as “Arab” sparked clear differences in position between the forces of the coordination framework. https://almasalah.com/archives/37650
The Dollar Pays Its Goals In The Window Of The Iraqi Dinar
January 22, 2023 Baghdad/Obelisk: Qassem Al-Gharawi The effects of the high exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar still raise concerns by the official and popular circles in Iraq, after the US Federal Bank set strict control conditions that require the currency sale window to display lists of dollars sold that include the names of persons and beneficiaries to indicate the Federal Bank’s position on the safety of the purchase process for the party The applicant, and his lack of affiliation with entities subject to international embargoes or sanctions by the US Federal Reserve.
This procedure prompted the central bank to wait for a period of seven days to solve the problem, at the very least, to complete the sale process, according to economists, and nearly a month passed, but to no avail. When the dollar is still hitting the Iraqi dinar window, while the political decision fails to stand with the people.
The reasons for the increase in the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar in the Al-Kazemi government are not the same as the reasons in the Sudanese government, and everyone remembers that the previous government put forward the concept of reform in the financial system and monetary policy, coupled with the reasons for the drop in the price of a barrel of oil during the days of the Corona pandemic and a noticeable decrease in the cash reserves of the Central Bank of Iraq, as the government faced Difficulty in providing salaries to employees, yet the citizen bears the burden of the price increase.
And the leaders of the political blocs cracked our heads with their statements and hypocrisy in an attempt to satisfy the people that they refuse to increase the exchange rate of the dollar and they will work to stand against this decision or address the causes, but the inevitable result and they know it is that there is no room for interference or influence in that because it is beyond their control until they finally succumbed to the reality of the situation and it must Negotiating with the US Federal Bank, which was the reason for the increase in its precautionary measures due to the smuggling of dollars and urban income to some private banks by an American decision.
Reducing the price of the dinar and not addressing the effects on the citizen is the cause of a difficult economic and living crisis. We have spoken of the necessity of treatment. Today, the government has this file, which must be dealt with in a way that does not harm the citizen and the national economy, through the development of a well-thought-out and integrated plan. https://almasalah.com/archives/38552
The Sudanese Government And The Obscurantism Of Its Infernal Monetary Policy
Sunday, January 22, 2023 – 08:28 Sameer Adel The value of the Iraqi local currency began to gradually decline against the exchange rate of the US dollar, and all this under the government of Muhammad Shia’a al-Sudani, and the aforementioned decline led to an increase in prices, especially food stuffs, as The exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar reached more than 165 thousand dinars until the writing of this article. .
We say that Al-Sudanese statements served to strengthen and confirm the illusions in society that the reason for the depreciation of the Iraqi local currency (the dinar) is smuggling it to Iran, and not due to the monetary policy of the Al-Sudanese government that we explain here, which is trying to disavow it and obscure it and obliterate the true essence that is hostile to the interests of the late majority. From the fans of Iraq.
Of course, it must be noted that the media hostile to Iranian influence also promoted this idea or illusion, whether in the form of articles, statements, or reports on currency smuggling operations, or as stated in the program (Nadim’s words), which is shown from Monday-Thursday at eleven o’clock at night.
On (Sky News Arabia), which went in the same direction, whether to strengthen the tendency hostile to Iranian influence in Iraq and the region or deliberately, to obscure the reality of the monetary policy of the Sudanese government that is identical to the financial policies of the International Monetary Fund.
Truth be told, the story of smuggling to Iran by Islamic militias and parties loyal to Iran is not confined to the limits of currency smuggling, but rather extends to organized smuggling of oil to Iran. A percentage of the money obtained from it goes to Iran.
Moreover, the border points are controlled by the same parties and militias. Also, part of the customs tariff money, which is estimated at four billion dollars annually imposed on goods, goes to Iran.
That is, those militias and their parties smuggle all the capabilities of Iraqi society to Iran during all those years. In return, the leaders of the Islamic parties and militias obtain political privileges, security and diplomatic immunity from the ruling Islamic regime in Iran.
American forces assassinated him two years ago from 200,000 barrels of Iraqi oil per day, and with all these thefts, looting and smuggling, they did not weaken the value of the Iraqi dinar, which was set by the Central Bank at 116,000 dinars for every 100 US dollars, in the Iraqi Central Bank’s currency auction.
It is true that currency smuggling affects one way or another on the currency trading market, but it is limited and slight, and it does not leave significant effects on the overall rise in commodity prices and influence the markets as we see today in the Iraqi markets , and this also does not mean that it does not affect the economy, but it does.
As a result. That is, currency smuggling is present in every country, but it varies in quantity according to the existence of the state or not, as is the case in Iraq.
Accordingly, the smuggling of dollars from Iraq to Iran is not new, since the handover of Iraq to the Islamic parties loyal to Iran and thanks to the American occupation, that is, since the formation of the first government, which is the government of Ibrahim al-Jaafari in 2005,
the dollar is smuggled in an organized manner to Iran, and after that smuggling was organized through the establishment of banks and banks affiliated with militias and Islamic parties, and with this, during a decade and a half, that is , between 2005-2020, the exchange rate of 100 dollars remained equal to 120 thousand dinars in the markets,
and it was scheduled that any exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar would reach during the era of Baqir Solagh,who held the position of minister Finance in the second Maliki government to 100 thousand dinars.
In other words, currency smuggling to Iran has been and is still taking place, in full swing for years, even in light of the drop in oil prices to less than $30 a barrel in global markets during the era of al-Abadi’s government, and ISIS took control of a third of Iraq’s area in 2014, and an empty treasure was handed over.
From funds from the Maliki government to its predecessor, the Abadi government, and the announcement of austerity policy by the latter, the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar did not change as we are witnessing it now, as 100 dollars were sold in the currency auction to the Central Bank at a value of 116 thousand in dinars, and it reaches the market at a price of 120 thousand.
While the Sudanese government received a budget worth 115 billion dollars, which is from the revenues of oil sales for the year 2022, and with all this, we find a deterioration in the purchasing power of the Iraqi individual due to the depreciation of the local currency .
The economic program of the Sudanese government is an extension of the program of the Al-Kazemi government, and it boils down to putting the global and local economic crisis on the shoulders of workers and employees.
The government is loyal to the General Federation of Trade Unions of Iraq, whose president is in prison and is from the Sadrist movement because of corruption and theft, and this indicates that the Sudanese government is proceeding through starvation, impoverishment and suppression of freedoms to pass its economic programme.
Thus, the positions of the legislative, executive and militia forces towards the devaluation of the dinar are in complete harmony. The Iraqi parliament speaker, Muhammad al-Halbousi, refused a request by fifty deputies to hold a meeting of parliament to discuss the depreciation of the local currency. Just as al-Sudanese held a meeting two weeks ago with officials of the central bank and did not address or be included in it.
The agenda of the meeting is any issue about the depreciation of the local currency. In parallel, Hadi Al-Amiri made watery, not fiery statements, that he and his group must resist colonialism in its response to the depreciation of the currency, to complete the scenes of the play, which is the least described as “sly comic” , between the prominent actors, the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister.
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The economic crisis of the global capitalist system afflicts all countries, and that Iraq did not jump from Mars in order to be far from that crisis, meaning that Iraq is part of the global capitalist system that is going through a suffocating crisis, and in addition to it, all political parties, especially the ruling Shiite political Islam, are terrified of the street Especially, it has a bitter experience with the October uprising, so it has no choice but to try to absorb the resentment of the workers, employees, toilers , and the unemployed and gaining the time factor, and especially finds itself besieged in Iraq after the popular anger invaded the Iranian cities, which are the forces of political Islam that see with their own eyes, that Anger settles on a quiet fire, Gradually turning into a revolution that uproots the mullahs’ regime from its roots and throws it into the dustbin of history, and that the ruling class in Iraq is aware of this fact, as it resorts by taking advantage of the devaluation of the local currency in Front of the dollar exchange rate that it receives from oil sales, in order to achieve some surface demands that we will come onmention it.
It must be noted that the devaluation of the dinar against the exchange rate of the dollar led to a decrease in the purchasing power of pensions and salaries by up to 25%, not to mention the rise in commodity prices due to the exchange rate of the dollar, which is added to that percentage, and the rate of inflation occurring in the global capitalist market, for the erosion of pensions, salaries and wages to reach 40-50%.
Through the process of devaluing the local currency, the Sudanese government is trying to kill two birds with one stone, on the one hand, to appease financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that are calling for the devaluation of the local currency so that Iraq becomes an attractive market for capital investment, and linking it to global capital markets, and on the other hand, the ashes are in the eyes, and it markets itself as being determined to solve the problem of unemployment by employing a few thousand unemployed, whose number is estimated at more than 12 million people, both females and males, and gives it crumbs from the sum of the currency difference that reduced its value against the dollar exchange rate, that is,it does not even give what is paid for He lived hunger and destitution, knowing that there is no increase in pensions and minimum wages.
The response to the attack of the Sudanese government and stopping it must be matched by raising three main demands and mobilizing the forces of workers, employees and the unemployed around them, namely, increasing wages, pensions and salaries in proportion to the purchasing power in the markets, raising the minimum wage in proportion to the rate of inflation and the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar, and thirdly, an unemployment guarantee for all unemployed males and females for those who have reached the age of 16 years or a suitable job opportunity.
https://akhbaar-org.translate.goog/home/2023/1/299049.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
Al-Maliki: Smuggling Is Behind The Dollar Crisis, And There Is No Solution Except Through Understanding With Washington
Baghdad today-Baghdad The leader of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, confirmed today, Saturday, that the dollar crisis is linked to violations, including smuggling and manipulation by some banks and merchants, while he considered that the only solution to the crisis is an understanding with the American side. Read More: LINK
The Dollar Is Getting “Worst” Within Weeks And Salaries Are At Stake… An International Reading Of The Iraqi Economy
Baghdad Today – translation The Iraqi economy is exposed during the current and coming period to great pressures, according to what was reported by the “Middle East Eye” network, which expected that the coming weeks would witness a further deterioration in the value of the Iraqi dinar within the current crisis it is going through due to the restrictions imposed by the US Federal Reserve. Read More: LINK
What Economic Logic Explains The Shabby Currency Behind Which There Are 6 Strengths?… Mahdi Al-Bannai
Dr. Mahdi Al-Bannai wrote: What economic logic can accept or explain the weakness, volatility, and legacy of a currency behind it:
The fifth largest proven oil reserves in the world, amounting to 140 billion barrels!
Foreign exchange reserves amounted to approximately 100 billion dollars!
– Gold stock amounted to 130 tons!
– His reserve covers his imports for a period of 22 months, while the global standard covers only three months!
His reserve covers five times his entire external indebtedness, while the criterion is that it is sufficient to cover the installments due for a period of 12 months only!
– His reserves cover 150% of the issued cash, while the criterion is that the reserves cover 5 – 20% of the issued cash, according to the exchange rate system in place!
With all these (supposed) strengths, we do not even see the Iraqi dinar included in the list of currency exchanges in exchange offices in neighboring countries!!
Something is wrong!…or things!! LINK
A Deputy Identifies The Reasons For The Rise In The Dollar And Talks About The Government’s Measure
He added, “The internal challenges are represented by the currency auction and forged bills to sell, in which most banks intervene,” adding: “The external challenges lie in the enormous pressure on the government by some countries, because of which the draft budget has not yet come to parliament.”
” stressing that “the government is serious about dealing with The dollar crisis should not make America use the pressure card it has through the dollar and the economy.” Read More: LINK
