The activities of the Electronic Payment Conference towards Financial Stability in Iraq began today, Saturday.

The correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA) stated that “under the slogan (Enhancing Financial Stability in Iraq), the electronic payment conference was held under the supervision of the Central Bank and in cooperation with the Association of Banks,”

Noting that “the conference was attended by representatives of the relevant Iraqi ministries, governors of foreign central banks, diplomatic missions, international institutions operating in Iraq, information technology companies, electronic payment companies, banks and international financial institutions, in addition to Iraqi and foreign private banks operating in Iraq.”

He added that “the banking technologies conference represents an important platform for achieving cooperation between financial and banking institutions in Iraq and international financial information technology companies.”

Tishwash:  Government Advisor: Iraq Recently Paid 2 Trillion Dinars of Its External Debt

The Iraqi Prime Minister’s Advisor for Economic Affairs, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, stated that the government’s internal debt has decreased by two trillion Iraqi dinars.

Mazhar Mohammed Salih said, “Iraq is not among the countries with external debt at the present time,” indicating that “the external public debt is less than 10 billion dollars, and this will be paid between now and 2028.”

He explained that “there are allocations in the general budget to pay off debts, and this is what has made Iraq always in the credit rating and creditworthiness at level B, and it is stable like many countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan and others.”

Mazhar Mohammed Salih noted that “this debt has decreased, because Iraq has not borrowed and its external loans are few compared to its many repayments, especially during the past ten years on a regular basis.”

“At the same time, the dual financial crisis in 2014-2017 and the dual financial health crisis in 2019-2020 led Iraq to resort to internal borrowing, not from the Iraqi financial market but from government banks, as if the state borrowed from itself through its policies,” according to the advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister.

He added: “Today, the external debt constitutes less than 5% of the GDP, while the global standard is 60% of the permissible GDP, so Iraq is not considered a final debtor in external debt, but rather very simple things.”

He believed that “the largest debt at the present time is the internal debt, which was 78 trillion Iraqi dinars when the state needed to borrow in the dual financial and security crises in 2014-2017 and the financial and health crises in 2019-2021, as the government resorted to internal borrowing and then this debt accumulated.”

Mazhar Muhammad Salih revealed that “the internal debt decreased from 78 trillion to 76 trillion Iraqi dinars, meaning that there is an improvement in repayments,” considering Iraq’s situation “good in terms of external debt and solid and there is no problem at all.”

The advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister pointed out that “there are those who exaggerate this issue, and I believe that this exaggeration is incorrect,” stressing that “the debt policy is a solid and well-known policy and has its contexts in repayment and settlements, whether currently or in the future.”

The Iraqi government had previously announced last April, through its spokesman, Bassem Al-Awadi, that the government had taken a series of executive measures and adopted a package of financial decisions, which resulted in reducing the external public debt by more than 50%, so that the debt decreased from $19.729 billion at the end of 2022 to $15.976 billion in 2023, reaching approximately $8.9 billion this year.

*************

Tishwash:  Arab Monetary Fund: We are working with Iraq to build national financial strategies

Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, Fahd bin Mohammed Ali Al-Turki, stressed today, Saturday, the need to work with Iraq to build national financial strategies through well-known and technical programs. 

Al-Turki said in a speech during the Electronic Payments Conference towards Financial Stability in Iraq, which was attended by the correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The various regulatory capabilities played a fundamental role in creating a digital regulatory environment to motivate banks and financial institutions to employ modern technologies to transform towards digital transformation and banking services, enhance their efficiency and reduce risks, including cybercrimes.”

He added: “In this area, the regulating legislation, electronic financial transfers, digital financial consumer protection and anti-money laundering requirements must achieve a balance between stimulating digital transformation on the one hand and managing and reducing risks on the other hand.”
He continued: “The good design of payment systems and ensuring environmental control between them and their interconnection with other systems such as credit systems would enhance the efficiency of digital transformation and opportunities for economic growth,” indicating that “digital transformation is a fundamental factor in reshaping the banking sector in the Arab region.”

He pointed out that “governments and central banks can play a role in supporting digital transformation, by establishing digital regulation, and this is evident from investing in digital infrastructure and addressing cybersecurity challenges, which helps create an environment that enhances innovation and growth in the banking sector.”

“What is heartening is what we heard from the Central Bank Governor regarding working on many of these aspects, which is that having a tight regulatory framework is crucial to enhancing digital innovation, as governments should focus on equal opportunities and ensuring that regulations are consistent to reduce risks,” he said.

He explained that “investing in digital infrastructure would stimulate digital banking services that help enhance access to banking services and products for the population using the financial system and non-using the financial system, adding: “The Arab region has renewed modern financial technology companies in its countries for increased investments, reaching 1,500 companies by the end of the first half of 2024 compared to less than 300 companies four years ago in financial activities worldwide and the region.”

He added that “important global modern financial technology statistics provide huge opportunities for investment in this sector, as total investments in modern financial technologies in 2023 amounted to about 115 billion US dollars, and investment in this sector is expected to continue to grow steadily until it reaches 325,000,000,000 by 2026. According to the International Finance Report, the Arab region has faced varying attacks over the past four years, in addition to the digital gap can vary.”

He added: “There is still a digital gap between developing and developed countries, which limits the spread of digital payments in some regions, in addition to relying on technology without creating systems Alternative, which makes digital payments vulnerable to disruption in the event of any technical problems.”
He pointed out that “with the increase in the number of financial transactions and their expansion, the use of artificial intelligence emerges in this context, as it can contribute in the field of digital expansion to revealing huge amounts of data in a short time and searching and detecting abnormal patterns that may indicate fraud operations.” He explained that “this is done using machine learning techniques that learn from previous data and accurately and quickly identify suspicious natural and abnormal patterns.

It also helps monitor and analyze the behavior of users of financial services to ensure normal payment patterns. If any unusual activity is detected, the system can send immediate alerts to verify the validity of transactions. In addition, artificial intelligence techniques are used to strengthen digital identity applications such as voice recognition to verify the user’s identity before completing financial transactions, which increases the level of security. Understanding the full objects of the number and financial technologies requires continued attention to many aspects.”

He pointed out that “the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq mentioned many things, most notably investment in infrastructure represented by the extensive use of mobile phones, especially in remote areas, and the development of agency networks that meet the need of individuals to carry out withdrawal and deposit operations at the local and regional levels, and the distribution of the scope of digital identity, including electronic fingerprint systems and the expansion of open application program interfaces, which are available to the public so that developers can access software that represents property rights so that new applications can communicate and interact with each other.”

He continued: “Developing legal and regulatory frameworks that allow users of financial services to organize their use and ensure a competitive environment, taking into account the importance of whether non-banking institutions should be allowed to access the infrastructure of national banks and issue electronic money and how to do so, and paying attention to developing regulatory and supervisory capabilities to reduce risks and enhance financial and digital awareness and education.”

He stated that “modern financial technologies play a major role in achieving the goals of financial inclusion, and in recent years, cooperation between institutions and parties in the financial sector has led to sponsorship and encouragement from Arab central banks to achieve real progress in the levels of financial inclusion in the Arab region, as it received the benefits of central banks, financial service providers and government agencies from financial technologies to expand access to financial services for those not dealing with the banking sector according to the database of the global Tex Index and the World Bank.”

He stressed that “there is a significant increase in the adoption of digital financial services in the Arab region, especially after the Corona pandemic, as the percentage of adults compared to what it was in 2017, which was 30%, was reinforced by the spread of mobile phone services, as the task of distributing access to digital services in rural areas was represented,” adding that “the praise and cooperation between the Arab Monetary Fund and the Central Bank, whether through the active participation of the bank’s cadres in the work of the committees according to the work emanating from the Council of Governors of Arab Central Banks or through the famous and technical programs with the Central Bank of Iraq, which include contributing to building national strategies for financial contribution.”

Mot: Ya Know.. She just Might have a Point = Huh!!!! 

Mot: ……. YES!!! == a Believer I Am!!!