On Saturday, the Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee in the House of Representatives renewed its assertion that the drop in oil prices to $70 per barrel will not affect the budget.
Vice Chairman of the Committee, Nehru Mahmoud Qadir, told the Maaloma Agency, “There are concerns if the price of a barrel of oil reaches less than $70 in next year’s budget.”
He added, “The price of a barrel of oil was calculated at $70 in the budget for the year 2024, indicating that the slight fluctuation in oil prices will not affect it.”
He stressed that “employees’ salaries are fully insured even if oil prices drop to $70.” link
Tishwash: Central Bank Governor Participates in a Workshop Specialized in Electronic Payment
His Excellency the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mr. Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq, participated in a specialized workshop on accelerating the transition to electronic payment, sponsored by the Prime Minister, and organized by the Osool Foundation for Economic Development and Sustainable Development.
His Excellency the Governor said during his speech at the workshop: The Central Bank of Iraq works side by side with the government program and the Prime Minister’s direction to support electronic payment, and we are proud of what we have achieved so far. In 2023, the amounts processed through the national switchboard witnessed a significant increase, reflecting the development of the infrastructure and the expansion in the use of electronic payment channels and the impact of the campaign launched by the Prime Minister to activate electronic payment operations in general, and in the government sector in particular. His Excellency added that these upward trends continued to develop in 2024, as the amounts processed in the national switchboard systems amounted to more than (2) trillion Iraqi dinars in July alone, compared to (800) billion dinars in the same month of 2023, after which it became (1) trillion dinars in January of 2024, and government payments witnessed an additional increase, reaching (912) billion Iraqi dinars last July compared to (287) million dinars in the same month of 2023.
His Excellency pointed out that payment operations at fuel stations in Baghdad alone increased significantly, recording more than (44) billion dinars in July of this year, compared to (183) million dinars in July of 2023 and (4.5) billion dinars in December 2023, revealing a huge increase in the number of points of sale (POS) to reach more than (50) thousand points of sale this year compared to approximately (11) thousand POS points of sale at the beginning of 2023, and thousands of them are in government institutions after they were zero before the launch of the campaign in June 2023.
Expressing his hope that government institutions will adopt the establishment of units specialized in electronic payment technologies to work on following up and developing this important aspect.
Central Bank of Iraq
Media Office
August 10, 2024 link
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Tishwash: Document.. The Iraqi judiciary settles the controversy over whether the governor of the Central Bank should remain in his position or not
The Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq supported the State Council’s decision to refer the Central Bank Governor, Ali Al-Alaq, to retirement after reaching the legal age.
The Supreme Judicial Council said in an official document, a copy of which was received by Shafaq News Agency, that the same subject was studied by the Studies Committee in the Presidency of the Judicial Supervision Authority, and the same opinion of the State Council was reached in the two aforementioned decisions.
The House of Representatives had sent a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council inquiring about the judiciary’s opinion on the permissibility of the bank governor continuing in service after reaching the legal retirement age.
The State Council has decided the official position on whether or not the Central Bank Governor, Ali Al-Alaq, will continue in his position, confirming that he has exceeded the legal retirement age.
It was stated in correspondence between the State Council and Parliament, in response to the House of Representatives’ request to clarify the opinion of the State Council regarding the permissibility of the Governor of the Central Bank continuing in service after reaching the legal retirement age.
The State Council had explained, according to the documents, that Clause (First) of Article (103) of the Constitution stipulated that the Central Bank shall be a financially and administratively independent body whose work shall be regulated by law and which shall be accountable to the House of Representatives. Article (2) of the Central Bank Law issued pursuant to Order No. (56) of 2004 of the (dissolved) Provisional Coalition Authority stipulated that the Central Bank shall be a legal entity with full capacity and independence and subject to accountability.
He pointed out that the legislator has explicitly stipulated that retirement upon reaching the legal age is an inevitable retirement by law unless exempted by a special provision, and since there is no special provision exempting the Governor of the Central Bank from the provisions of inevitable retirement upon reaching the legal age.
The State Council confirmed that the legal principle states: “Heads of independent bodies are subject to the legal retirement age.” link
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Tishwash: Iraq loses $52 billion in foreign investment due to “corruption”
On Saturday, the head of the “Iraq Al-Mustaqbal” Foundation concerned with economic affairs, Manar Al-Obaidi, referred to the latest report of the United Nations Development Program, which revealed the exit of more than 5 billion US dollars in foreign direct investments from Iraq in 2023.
The report showed, according to Al-Obaidi, that Iraq lost foreign investments worth more than 52 billion US dollars from 2013 to 2023.
Al-Obaidi stressed, in a statement received by Shafak News Agency, the importance of foreign investments in stimulating economic growth, increasing job opportunities, and transferring knowledge, stressing that foreign investments are an important source of income for funds not linked to state revenues or local investments.
Al-Obaidi identified the main reasons for the exit of these investments from Iraq, which include the deteriorating business environment, lack of transparency, accumulated bureaucracy, and multiple and conflicting decision-making sources, explaining that the lack of clear laws to protect foreign investors’ funds also contributed to this deterioration.
Al-Obaidi described the private sector support programmes as “weak slogans”, pointing out that the totalitarian and socialist thinking is prevalent in government institutions, which has negatively affected the objectives of investment agencies that have focused mainly on local real estate investments rather than in the fields of energy, infrastructure and productive projects.
Al-Ubaidi stressed that the continuation of socialist and pastoral thinking in government agencies will lead to the continued draining of foreign investments from Iraq.
He stressed the need for a real will to improve the business environment through three basic elements: transparency, facilities, and protection, in order to attract foreign investors and strengthen the Iraqi economy. link
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