Thursday Evening Iraq Economic News Highlights 1-5-23
A New Parliamentary Talk Regarding The Exchange Rate Of The Dollar
Political | 10:35 – 05/01/2023 Baghdad – Mawazine News, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Cougar, said, on Thursday, that the issue of the rise in dollar exchange rates “is due to political and economic speculation,” indicating that the government is not seeking to raise exchange rates. In an interview with the official newspaper, “Al-Sabah”, which was followed by Mawazine News, Cougar added, “Things are still under the control of the government and the central bank, which has high currency reserves.”
He continued, “The government will restore the exchange rate to its previous price of 148,000 dinars,” considering that “any talk about returning prices to 120,000 dinars has become past and impossible.” Ended 29/N33 https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=215921
Al-Sudani: We Are Working To Control The Border Crossings And Uproot The Phenomenon Of Currency Smuggling
Policy- 05-01-2023 11:18 AM – Number of readings: 5421 Today, Thursday, Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani described the “corruption pandemic” as the most serious challenge in Iraq, while stressing that his government is working to control border crossings to “uproot out” the phenomenon of currency smuggling.
Al-Sudani said, “Our government is working to build a solid foundation for Iraqi sovereignty,” noting that “an independent Iraq distances itself from regional and international conflicts and plays its important role in seeking to resolve them.”
Al-Sudanese added, “We will continue our path of economic reform and fight the corruption pandemic,” considering that “the corruption pandemic represents the most serious current challenge.”
And he added, “We are working without hesitation to control the border crossings and uproot the phenomenon of currency smuggling.”
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State Of Law: Al-Halbousi Is Behind The Disruption Of The Emergency Dollar Session
Policy, 01/05/2023 09:17 , Number of readings: 171 Baghdad – Iraq today: The Deputy of the State of Law Coalition, Muhammad Hassan al-Qadri, held Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi responsible for not convening the special session on the crisis of the rise of the dollar, while stressing that the general situation needs to hold a session in order to discuss the repercussions of the depreciation of the Iraqi dinar.
Al-Qadri said in a press interview, “Al-Halbousi has not yet set a date for holding the special session in order to discuss the repercussions of the crisis of the dollar’s rise and the depreciation of the dinar in front of him.”
And he continued, “Members of parliament collected more than fifty parliamentary signatures in order to take decisions to preserve the value of the Iraqi dinar, but the parliamentary presidency did not work to hold the session despite the urgent circumstances and the urgent need for it. ”
He pointed out that “some deputies called for official books from Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi, but the latter has not set a date for the session yet.” LINK
Parliamentary Finance: Returning The Exchange Rate Of The Dollar To 120,000 Dinars Is Impossible
2023-01-05 04:21 Shafaq News/ Jamal Cougar, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, attributed, on Thursday, the reasons for the rise in the exchange rates of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar to political and economic factors and speculation, stressing that exchange rates will return to normal.
Cougar told Shafaq News agency, that the government does not seek or aim to raise dollar prices, but the price imbalance is a result of economic and political speculation, in addition to the creation of the electronic platform that was created under pressure from the US Federal Reserve, as well as the illegal withdrawal of hard currency from Iraq by neighboring countries.
He added, that matters are still under the control of the central bank and the government because of the cash reserves the country possesses, but it needs time until the Central Bank of Iraq, and through it the banks participating in the currency auction, commit to the new electronic platform on the one hand, and combating dollar smuggling to neighboring countries as well as controlling the process Money laundering and reduction on the other hand,
Cougar confirmed, “The government will restore the exchange rate to its previous price of 148,000 dinars,” stressing that “returning prices to 120,000 dinars is impossible and may not return.”
Earlier, the Iraqi Finance Minister, Taif Sami, revealed that the draft federal budget law for the year 2023 included a fixed exchange rate for the dollar at 1450,000 dinars. LINK
Integrity Clarifies The Details Of Recovering Inflation With The Money Of A Former Official, At A Value Of 4 Billion Dinars
Integrity clarifies the details of recovering inflation with the money of a former official, at a va 8101
Money and business Economy News – Baghdad On Wednesday, the head of the Integrity Commission, Judge Haidar Hanoun, explained the details of recovering inflation with the money of a former official, whose value amounted to 4 billion dinars.
And the authority said in a statement, “The head of the Supreme Commission for Combating Corruption, head of the Federal Integrity Commission, Judge Haider Hanoun, revealed during a press conference held by the commission to disclose the refund of sums of money to the state treasury that the commission was able to return illegally obtained funds to the state treasury.”
Hanoun added, “The Commission was able to return part of the inflation value in the funds of one of the former officials, after the Prevention Department concluded that the total increase in his money, real estate, and other properties was not commensurate with his financial interests that he disclosed in the disclosure form.” .
He pointed out that “the amounts that have been refunded are about four billion dinars, and that this amount represents part of the value of inflation in the accused’s money, which amounted to a total of more than (17,413,000,000) billion dinars,”
noting that “the accused will represent Before the judiciary for trial after the Supreme Commission for Combating Corruption was able to implement the arrest warrant issued against him, as a result of charges related to the inflation of his funds and his enrichment at the expense of public money,” stressing that “the Commission will provide public opinion with judicial decisions as soon as they are issued, and state the rationale and details of the decision in its entirety.”
Hanoun stated, according to the statement, that “the commission has opened two accounts in the Rafidain Bank – the branch of the Ministry of Defense in Iraqi dinars and US dollars; in order to deposit the refunds obtained from corruption in agreement with the Ministry of Finance,”
noting that “the amounts recovered in this case and the amounts of tax deposits withdrawn and funds The resulting inflation and the recovery of smuggled assets will be deposited in these two accounts, in addition to that this will be followed by transferring the sums accumulated at the end of each month to the two accounts opened with the Central Bank of Iraq.
And the statement continued, “The press conference included other issues being investigated by the commission, and issues related to the work of the Iraq Money Recovery Fund, which is concerned with recovering the financial rights of the Republic of Iraq that others obtained illegally, as a result of misuse of the oil-for-food program, blockade, smuggling, or sabotage.”
Economic or exploiting the sanctions imposed on Iraq at the time to achieve financial gains at the expense of the Iraqi people, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fund, Haider Hanoun, revealed the imminent arrival of tens of millions of dollars in refunds from the funds of the former regime.
Hanoun noted, according to the statement, that “the commission will continue its work and efforts in combating corruption and extending the rule of law in cooperation with other national institutions,” praising the “remarkable cooperation with the government and the judiciary, represented by their two presidents, who support the efforts of the commission, as these three institutions have become the anti-corruption triangle that supports each other.”
The other sides are in order to serve the citizen, achieve justice, ensure that state institutions are run in accordance with the laws in force, and not commit anything that contravenes the duties of the public office and encroach on state funds.
According to the statement, Hanoun stopped short of “preventing an official in the state, the team of the Integrity Commission, from obtaining documents that incriminate the accused,” describing this as “an act outside the law that bears its consequences, including the escape of the accused and those banned from traveling or hiding documents and the loss of people’s money,”
pointing to That “the official exercises his work and duties in accordance with the law, and that using his authority to obstruct the provisions of the law and the procedures of the Integrity Commission is an act that violates the law and enters the framework of encouraging the corrupt to their corruption and hinders the fight against corruption and prevents the people from reaping the fruits of combating this scourge,” threatening “everyone who abstains and obstructs The work of the commission’s teams or refuses to hand over the documents, firsts, and submissions it requests by resorting to the judiciary, because what they did is considered a crime for which the law is held accountable.
And the statement continued, “Article (15) of the Commission’s law obligates all public departments and institutions of the state to provide the Commission with the documents, priorities and information it requests related to the case that is to be investigated or investigated, and to cooperate with it to enable it to perform its investigative tasks stipulated in its law in force, while ensuring The commission, while carrying out its investigative duty, is not to interfere in the work of ministries and official institutions, and to respect the powers and competences of its legal leaders and employees, and for its investigators to carry out investigative procedures in a separate manner that does not negatively affect the work, specializations, and powers of technicians and those concerned.
Views 379 Added 01/04/2023 – 7:24 PM Updated 01/05/2023 – 11:09 AM
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The US Federal Reserve Exposes 60 Banks And A New Way To Smuggle Dollars By Forging Airline Tickets
Posted On2023-01-05 By Sotaliraq Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan The exchange rate of the dollar has risen again after a limited decline, while the fate of those involved in what is known as the “theft of the century” is still unknown.
The US intervention in preventing currency smuggling was exposed by dozens of banks in Iraq that were described as “shops” for currency smuggling.
On the other hand, operations to circumvent the new conditions to maintain the stability of the dollar price are still going on, the latest of which is the forgery of “travel tickets”!
In conjunction with these events, the issue of theft of tax secretaries interacts after the government announced the recovery of another small batch of money equal to 1% of the remaining amount.
According to information, the theft case may end with only one accused being held accountable, and it is likely that his trial will take place after a few days, in return for covering up for the rest of the parties.
In addition, the security forces cut off yesterday evening, Al-Rashid Street in central Baghdad, due to demonstrations against the Central Bank, in protest against the continued high price of the dollar.
The exchange rate of the dollar had fallen last week to the threshold of 1,500 dinars after the government announced a number of measures to control the foreign currency, but with the beginning of this week it returned to nearly 1,600.
And about that crisis, an informed political source says in an interview with (Al-Mada) that “the rise of the dollar continues because private banks have not yet adapted to the American conditions.”
Al-Mada had revealed, earlier, direct American intervention in the process of controlling currency smuggling, which was then supported by the statements of Finance Minister Taif Sami.
And the source, who asked not to be named, said, “The American conditions have exposed more than 60 private banks so far because they do not have a real banking system.”
The source described those banks as “shops that forge import bills and smuggle foreign currency.”
Only about 20 private banks out of more than 80 banks entered the new system established by the US Federal Bank within the Central Bank.
The source revealed that “some of the banks that entered the new platform continued the process of forging invoices and were exposed.”
On the other hand, the source confirmed the existence of a new circumvention of these procedures, represented by the fact that “some banks provide fake travel tickets in cooperation with travel companies for the purpose of obtaining the dollar, which is given at the original price from the Central Bank, which is 1475 dinars for one dollar.”
Al-Mada viewed a document issued by the Tourism Authority addressed to travel agencies asking them to “commit not to issue incorrect or cancelable travel tickets after the non-traveling citizen receives the amount allocated to the traveler for the purpose of trading hard currency (dollars).”[/size]
The tourism book warned companies that do not comply with these conditions of exposure to “immediate legal accountability.”
According to previous information received by Al-Mada, the volume of hard currency smuggled every week ranges from 100 to 250 million dollars, at least half of which goes to Tehran and the rest goes to 3 neighboring countries.
In the meantime, the former member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, Rahim al-Darraji, revealed that the currency had escaped just days after it entered Iraq.
Al-Darraji said in an interview with (Al-Mada) that “when the money from selling oil is converted into dollars, the currency has serial numbers, and the US Federal Bank discovers after two or three days that the currency has moved to another country.”
Al-Darraji, who is the head of the Kafa movement, said that “banking companies manipulate the exchange rate despite the existence of a rate from the Central Bank,” noting that “there is a special section in the National Security Agency, which is (economic security) concerned with monitoring these companies, and it must move to close the violating offices.”
The Central Bank had decided to expand the number of bank outlets for selling foreign currency to 20 banks.[/size]
And a statement by the bank stated last Monday, “It was decided to expand the number of bank outlets for selling foreign currency from 10 banks to 20 banks.”
He added, “The Central Bank also decided to increase the amounts allocated to these banks weekly to meet the largest possible number of those covered by the purchase of foreign currency, in accordance with the instructions and controls issued by the bank.”
In addition, the controversy has returned again over the issue of stealing the century, after the integrity announced the recovery of 4 billion dinars.
The head of the commission, Haider Hanoun, refused in a press conference held the day before yesterday to mention the name of the person who returned the money, but the leaks indicated that he was an advisor to former Prime Minister Haitham al-Jubouri.
According to information received by (Al-Mada), “The wife of Haitham Al-Jubouri, who has been imprisoned for a month, returned the money after selling a house in the Al-Qadisiyah area, west of Baghdad.”
According to the information, “Al-Jabouri will be tried next week in place of all those accused of theft because the incident is linked to parties and factions.”
In this regard, the deputy close to the coordination framework, Mustafa Sanad, said in a post on Telegram that “the accused Haitham al-Jubouri asked to be released on bail and pledged to recover the inflated amounts, following the example of the model Nour Zuhair.”
Al-Jubouri, the former head of the Parliament’s Finance Committee, was arrested at the end of last year, on the grounds of “theft of the century” and his wealth ballooning to 16 billion dinars.
More than two weeks ago, the government announced the recovery of the second batch of Nour Zuhair, the most prominent of those involved in the theft, bringing the total amount recovered to 300 billion dinars out of about 4 trillion dinars.
In the last conference held by the Chairman of the Integrity Committee, he said, “The funds recovered today amounted to 4 billion Iraqi dinars, which is part of a total of more than 17 billion.”[/size]
The head of the Integrity Commission stated that “13 billion dinars and some millions are still owed by the accused, stressing that work is being done to recover them,” adding, “The trial of the accused will take place on January 12,” but he refused to reveal his name.
Hanoun noted that “Iraq will recover, during the next two days, 80 million dollars from the United States of America, smuggled since the time of the former regime.” LINK
