Clare: IT WAS REPORTED ON IRAQI TV BY EDDIE, THAT IRAQ WILL BE FULL MEMBERS OF THE WTO JULY 18TH IMO
FROM WTO WEBSITE:
During the visit to Baghdad, the Chair was informed that Iraq’s initial market access offers on goods and services would be circulated soon, in preparation for holding the 3rd meeting of the Working Party in the middle of 2024.
The team in the Ministry of Trade will “take real steps that will shorten the path to Iraq’s accession to the World Trade Organization and ultimately benefit from the advantages offered by this accession,” indicated Minister Al Ghurairi.
THU 18 JUL 10:00
Working Party on the Accession of Iraq
Clare: Central Bank urges reporting of corruption cases
July 03, 2024
The Central Bank of Iraq encourages witnesses, experts and whistleblowers to report corruption cases, in accordance with Article (9/Second) of the Law on the Protection of Witnesses, Experts, Informants and Victims No. (58) of 2017 regarding rewarding informants on corruption cases.
This bank indicates that the informant is rewarded for reporting corruption cases if it leads to their disclosure, within the basis of the reward and its amount in a system issued by the Council of Ministers.
Central Bank of Iraq
Media Office
3 – July – 2024
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Clare: World Bank: Iraq maintains its status within the upper middle-income category
7/3/2024
The World Bank Group announced on Wednesday that Iraq has maintained its status within the upper middle-income category.
According to the bank’s report for July of the current year 2024, which Shafak News Agency reviewed, “Iraq has maintained its level within this category since 2012.”
The bank added that it classifies the world’s economies into four income groups: low-income countries, lower-middle-income countries, upper-middle-income countries, and high-income countries, based on per capita gross national income. The measures of gross national income are expressed in US dollars.
She pointed out that “all the Gulf countries are within the upper high-income category. The bank stated that “this year, three countries – Bulgaria and Belarus – moved from the upper middle-income category to the high-income category.”
Algeria, Iran, Mongolia and Ukraine moved from lower-middle-income to upper-middle-income countries this year. LINK
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Clare: Securities Commission: The government has successfully completed the sale of financial bonds
7/3/2024
Baghdad
The Securities Commission confirmed on Wednesday that the government had successfully completed the sale of financial bonds, while indicating that many foreign investors had purchased those bonds.
The head of the authority, Faisal Al-Haimus, said: “The government has successfully completed the sale of financial bonds,” indicating that “all financial bonds that were sold were subscribed to, and this reflects the strength and stability of the State of Iraq.”
He pointed out that “there are many foreign investors who bought financial bonds, and this reflects the stability of the Iraqi state.”
Government bonds are a type of debt-based investment where you lend money to a government in exchange for an agreed-upon interest rate. Governments use them to raise money that can be spent on infrastructure or new projects, and investors can use them to earn set returns that are paid at regular intervals. LINK
Clare: Despite the rise in the dollar, Saleh: The parallel market today is not important
7/3/2024
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed the stability of the dollar exchange rate against the dinar, despite its significant rise today, reaching 1,500 dinars.
Saleh told Al Furat News Agency, “The fixed exchange rate system in Iraq is based on the highest international reserves in the history of Iraq and its monetary policy, as foreign currency covers more than 100% of the total currency currently issued.” He added,
“In light of the strength of the official central exchange market, the exchange rate of the dollar to the dinar in the parallel market today in our country does not constitute any relative importance in influencing the stability of the general price level, which has become stable in its components and trends due to the influence of the official exchange rate factor currently dominating the financing of foreign trade (imports), amounting to 1320 dinars per dollar.”
He pointed out that “it is a stable trend for the exchange rate and the stable external value of the dinar revolves around it, which is embodied by the state of stability in the relative prices of goods and services to a large extent, as annual inflation in our country does not exceed 3%.”
Saleh continued, “Based on the above, and in light of the strength of the foreign reserves supporting the Iraqi dinar, the value of which as liquid foreign assets exceeds $100 billion, the official exchange market, as a general trend, will remain dominant in containing any colored noise or ambiguous information that affects the parallel exchange market in short periods due to urgent international or regional political events here and there or in adapting some instructions regulating the monetary market.
Stressing that after the decline of the dollarization phenomenon in internal transactions, especially in contracts, obligations and payments within the country since last year and its legal prohibition.”
He stressed that “the parallel exchange market has become such that its general effects today only form a narrow economic scope of prohibited transactions practiced by informal markets and at a rate of 10% of the total supply and demand transactions for the currency.”
He stressed that “the stability of the exchange rate of the dinar to the dollar that the country is witnessing even in the secondary markets above is a real and solid stability, and is derived from the strength of the impact of the price and quantity factors of the monetary and financial policies and their integration in imposing overall price stability in the country and containing inflationary expectations that were caused by the parallel exchange market forces during the past years.”
He noted that “the irregular secondary market, due to the freedom of external transfer, is affected by the official exchange market rate, whose operations are constantly expanding in favor of dealing with the fixed official exchange rate.”
