TNT: Tishwash: The Central Bank: The assets of the banking sector grew by 21% in two years
The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Ammar Hamad Khalaf, confirmed, on Saturday, that the assets of the banking and credit sector grew significantly during the period from 2019 to 2022.
Khalaf said in a speech during the Fifth Finance and Banking Services Exhibition in Iraq, which was attended by “Al-Iqtisad News”, that “the assets of the banking sector grew by 21%, as well as total credit by 25% during the period from 2019 to 2022.”
He added, “Accounts doubled to more than 7 million open bank accounts, as well as electronic payment cards, which rose from 10 million to more than 14 million cards, and ATMs increased to more than 1,500 machines and points of sale to more than 7,000.”
Khalaf pointed out that “increasing the level of financial inclusion requires the cooperation of all institutions,” calling for “developing the payments system in the government sector is one of the effective solutions in developing the banking sector.”
He pointed out that “there is strong cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to reform the banking sector,” noting that “the beginning of cooperation was the formation of a committee to monitor the industrial bank, and the committee achieved the organization of the bank.”
He cautioned that “the banking sector has witnessed remarkable developments since 2015 link
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Tishwash: The Parliamentary Finance Committee commends the Central Bank’s move to establish a platform for letters of guarantee
The Parliamentary Finance Committee praised the Central Bank’s move to establish a platform for letters of guarantee that eliminated fake projects in the government.
A member of the committee, Jamal Cougar, told “Economy News”, “The establishment of a platform for letters of guarantee is a very important step that leads to the reduction of fictitious projects.”
He added that “the Iraqi state was suffering from phantom projects due to rampant corruption, but the platform for letters of guarantee created by the Central Bank is very important to reduce that link
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Tishwash: Al-Kazemi’s advisor: A package of income-generating technology projects awaits financial savings at the end of 2022
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, revealed today, Friday, that there is a wide range of income-generating technology projects that will be launched if financial savings are achieved at the end of the current fiscal year 2022, and while he stressed that they will help diversify Iraq’s financial revenues, he put forward his expectations regarding investment spending in 2023 budget.
Saleh told the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that “if the financial savings are achieved at the end of the 2022 fiscal year, which after approving the expenditures of the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development, it is expected to be with a balance of perhaps no less than 15 billion dollars, the state’s economic policy is moving towards employing it.” An investment in a wide range of technology projects that generate income and operate technical work.
He added, “This new package comes within the previous preparation to identify a package of major industries with a strategic character and export tendencies for the product that will depend on national inputs.”
He pointed out that “the strong technology package policy will help diversify Iraq’s financial revenues from outside the oil wealth sector and ensure a growth rate in the gross domestic product, at least twice the population growth rate.”
He pointed out that “the exceptionally high financial accumulations will undoubtedly be matched by a policy of developing high-tech, efficient, profitable production projects and a high export power, and this is expected to be drawn when preparing investment spending estimates in the 2023 budget link
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Tishwash: Allawi identifies the elements of economic stability and confirms: The banking sector is an essential
Today, Saturday, Finance Minister Ali Abdul Amir Allawi identified the elements of stabilizing the economy of the higher policies of the state and the central bank, while stressing that companies outside the oil sector cost the state billions of dollars.
Allawi said, in a press statement followed by / the National News Center /, that “the banks have gone through difficult circumstances since the beginning of 2020 after the drop in oil prices to unprecedented levels and the impact on the economy,” stressing that “the banking and financial sector is the most important pillar in the economy, not just state resources. Diversifying the economy is an urgent necessity.”
And he indicated that “there are 3 basic elements for the stability of the economy, the supreme policies of the state and the central bank, and secondly, the international situation and direct and indirect external influences on the Iraqi economy, and the third is the institutional element.”
He explained that “the banking sector has grown in terms of deposits, loans and ratios between the public and private banking sectors. The same percentages are still 75% of deposits in government banks,” noting at the same time that reforming government banks is a vital issue and an essential part of transforming the economy from rentier to diversified.
The Minister of Finance added that “government banks have been isolated from the world for 40 years, but the Central Bank has started since mid-2020 in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance in reforming government banking institutions, and that there is cooperation to reform the internal system of Rafidain and Rashid banks.”