Thread: Archive Latest News - Dinar Think Tank - 27/08/08 - 15/01/09

Goal of diversifying income to avoid the next phase of the investment deficit in the Platform

The process of maintaining and operating the doors of public expenditure in the budgets of the great importance it relates to the income of people living and requirements and adapt to new circumstances.

And increasingly also in accordance with the rates of inflation and price movements which saw great leaps in the sectors of housing, transport, fuel, food and environmental requirements to the task in addition to the requirements of health and education

And because it is important in this transition is not yet complete fundamentals associated with production sectors and their important role in stabilizing prices and competition from imported, many economists tried coming to the attention of officials of the importance of maintaining the curriculum investment allocations by the least importance on the curriculum, which has operational through the State's many officials Not shocked by the decline in the general budget because of lower oil revenues, which constitute the main supplier.

Signals as possible to maintain the level of investment required for a country like Iraq, suffers from deterioration in the infrastructure and service that came through the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation and some concerned in economic affairs in the provinces included calls for diversification of sources of financial resources first and a fiscal policy and contribute to the recruitment of cash money towards activating the wheel of production By supporting the national strategic projects in the industrial and agricultural sectors. And find new outlets for financial returns, both foreign loans, or the effective operation of export and the reduction of unnecessary imports.

The investment loans and some economists should go to achieve benefits and advance the Iraqi economy during the planning for agricultural or industrial production.

The loan is a loan on the Japanese loan facilitator and Italian and some loans from Iran and the International Covenant subsidies and fund the reconstruction of Iraq.

If the best use out of jurisprudence and financial corruption, it will certainly contribute to bridging the needs and the doors of a large investment in the curriculum.

Another important aspect is to move the development funds and raise lending rates and facilitate increased T_khasisatha regions for purposes of investment projects related to any sustainable development and production to meet the needs to be imported at the present time. This requires the development of new plans for banks and specialized governmental and non-lending and a policy aimed at supporting the investment in particular.

They should be the reconstruction of large strategic projects that need money are not large and rebuild structures that are slouch and a decline in production due to the production lines and its inability to compete with the product abroad.

Increase tax revenues and Customs policy and the diversification of its revenue budget, taking into account the lack of impact on price levels and damage to citizens.

The private sector and move the unemployed must be overcome for reasons no longer absent one, this sector can represent the forefront of the new trends of market mechanisms.

As well as the trend towards owners of capital migrating from the Iraqis, owners of factories and this will certainly turning point in the economic situation and reduce unemployment and contribute effectively to the next production and meet the needs of the market.
Other measures could be pursued within a specific time ceiling, while easing the global financial situation and may Many countries have taken steps could be economic benefit from the diversification of revenue sources and different environments and the factors and circumstances.

These points are not hidden and there are many studies and research heavily opinions and ideas that need to be efficient administrative agenda and the potential for application and use, and in particular Iraq's natural resources and great human is capable of any recruitment and when he wants and however he wants, but remain linked to the process of implementation capabilities as we pointed out the National Guard, which I am sure, will create breakthroughs in economic quality and distinctive.

Google Translate#

Companies waiting for a clear investment environment. With renewed calls for adoption of oil & gas law

Oil minister said d. Hussain al-Shahristani to be the need to establish oil and gas law in parliament, stressing that this will help to develop oil infrastructure and increase production and create jobs for the unemployed

In addition to the lifting of the financial proceeds of Iraq, and thus access to government budget to meet the needs of service projects in the country.

On a related matter spokesman Asim Jihad said the media on behalf of the Ministry of Oil law will be approved in the House of Representatives at the development of the infrastructure of oil refineries and oil wells, export pipelines and production. Jihad said that the law would also raise the financial proceeds of Iraq and therefore access to the government budget to meet the needs of service projects in the country. Jihad promised that the law would open the door wider for joint cooperation with international companies sober able to increase production. D it said. Alaak the secretary general of the cabinet after two meetings with al-Mashhadani separate conducted by the Chairman of the Commission on oil and gas in the Council had been emphasis on adopting the version that has been delivered to them in order to speed up the adoption of the law. Alaak said that an agreement was reached to adopt a law during the first reading in the House of Representatives, taking into account the amendments made to hold the State Consultative Council on the law at the same time denying that there are other copies of the draft law, Alaak said that it had been agreed to adopt a draft copy Oil and gas law, which was read in parliament, taking into account the amendments made by the State Consultative Council. Wael Abdul Latif member of the legal committee in the Iraqi parliament said that the new law is widely accepted in the House of Representatives, which sets a common formula to control the oil and gas production in Iraq. He added that the proposed law creates the National Oil Company to regulate the relationship between the central government and local authorities in the oil-producing provinces to avoid the conclusion of contracts illegally, and pointed out that if this legislation into law and investment firms expected the oil to the high level of oil production in the country of two million barrels A day to ten million barrels per day. He called for the need to expedite the passage of oil and gas law, saying that any delay in this greatly affects the economy of the country, especially with the continued decline in oil prices in global markets. On a related matter between the Deputy Minister of Commerce, John Sullivan said his country hopes the adoption of a law of oil and gas investment to expand its participation in Iraq, adding that there are steps to be taken by the United States to achieve economic progress in Iraq under a law of investment. Sullivan said that the United States hopes to approve the oil law to provide legal frameworks and economic success in Iraq as well as to provide security and stability necessary to stimulate jobs and investment added that American companies want to come to Iraq and that only a very small presence at the present time because it needs to develop a climate Investment by their presence and that is a key step to invest in Iraq. As he said. Abdel Hadi al-Hassani, Vice-Chairman of the oil and gas in parliament, said parliament could authorize a federal law for oil long-awaited end of this year, but other laws required for the production of power in Iraq on track would have to wait until 2009 and was al-Hassani, speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Energy in Houston, said that the law must unite Iraq with all groups including the Kurdistan region, which hampered the conflict with the enactment of the law since February 2007. The al-Hassani, we want to build one people want to build one country, we want to unite us this law. The oil law is passed we can during the year 2008 and said that leave oil hampered by law linked to the issue of laws on the establishment of the National Oil Company and the distribution of proceeds. He insisted they leave together, while the law should do so legally by law.

On a related Trevi Italian company said it had won contracts worth more than 140 million dollars in Iraq and Venezuela to supply services and equipment for oil and gas exploration. Surged after the end of that deal Trevi contributed 5.95 percent to 10.003 dollars.

Trevi indicated that its Drimlik won a contract worth 104.2 million dollars in Iraq for the supply of six facilities.

The company revealed that its region of Kurdistan in Iraq, which started operation last month with a capacity of 75 million cubic feet per day will increase production to 150 million cubic feet a day in 2009 and then to 300 million cubic feet later in the same year.

The official said a senior ****utive of Royal Dutch Shell said the company is considering the use of floating docks for the shipment of liquefied natural gas in Iraq.

Said John Mills, ****utive Vice President for Shell Gas and Power in North Africa and the Middle East and South Asia, said the port will be able to export two million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas.

Google Translate#

URGENT / parliament host Zebari to discuss the withdrawal of forces agreement

media source said in the House of Representatives that the council at its hosted, on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to discuss the Convention on U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The source (Sawat Iraq) that "the meeting chaired by speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has hosted Zebari to discuss the security agreement."

The Iraqi cabinet approved on Sunday by 27 votes to one, the Convention on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and transmitted to the House of Representatives in order to vote.

The Convention sets out the legal nature of the security the U.S. military presence on Iraqi territory after the end of the year will end with the international mandate given to the U.S. military in Iraq under United Nations Security Council resolution.

The meeting also the second reading of the bills ratified the agreement between Iraq and the United States on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and organization of its operations during the interim, the ratification of the Convention on the strategic framework for the relationship of friendship and cooperation between Iraq and the United States, the Republic of Iraq and the accession to the Convention on the square meter, according to the agenda Of the council.

The statement added that the meeting would witness "the second reading of the proponents of a legal relationship between the legislature and the Ativh, the Ministry of Displacement and Migration

On his part, MP Khaled al-Asadi of the United Iraqi Alliance bloc l (Voices of Iraq) said that today's meeting will also "the presence of Finance Minister Bayan Jabr to discuss the fate of Iraqi money outside Iraq and how to protect and recover."

And maintains the United Iraqi Alliance bloc, the largest bloc in parliament with 83 seats out of 275 and is headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

Translated version of http://ar.aswataliraq.info/?p=110529

Iraqi oil exports receding by 100,000 barrels a day every month, former minister says

Iraq’s oil exports are decreasing by nearly 100,000 barrels a day every month, said former Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahar al-Uloom.

Uloom said the drastic decline started last May and has slashed exports to 1.65 million barrels a day from about 2 million.

“Iraqi (oil) exports have nosedived 25 per cent since the beginning of 2008,” Uloom said in an interview.

“This represents a big challenge to the government,” he said.

He said he could not see how the government would be able to meet budgetary expenses for 2009.

“2009 budget has been based on the assumption of exporting two million barrels a day and an estimated price of not less than $80 for a barrel,” he said.

Oil prices have lost nearly two thirds of their value on international markets in the past few months and are now hovering at $55 a barrel.

Iraq needs to dig new wells, restructure its National Oil Company, supply it with advanced machinery and equipment and revamp its pipeline network and terminals in order increase output, he said.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index...11-18\kurd.htm

Lower demand for dollar in CBI auction

Demand for the dollar dropped at the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auction on Wednesday, registering $148.215 million compared to $179.290 million during the previous session.

The demand reached $27.215 million in cash, covered by the bank at a stable exchange rate of 1,181 Iraqi dinars, and $121 million in foreign transfers outside the country covered by the bank at a stable exchange rate of 1,178 Iraqi dinars per dollar, according to a CBI news bulletin.

None of the 14 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

The Central Bank of Iraq runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Lower demand for dollar in CBI auction : Aswat Al Iraq

Iraqi Premier Defends Security Accord

For the first time since his government approved a three-year security agreement with the United States, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki publicly defended the pact in a televised address on Tuesday night, reassuring Iraqis that representatives from all sects had been involved in the negotiating process and that the agreement was the best option available for Iraq.

The 12-minute speech came six days before Parliament is scheduled to vote on the agreement, which governs the presence of American troops in Iraq for the next three years.

In a separate action on Tuesday, the Iraqi cabinet announced that it had set a firm date, Jan. 31, for elections in all provinces except the three that make up Kurdistan and the province of Tamim, which includes the ethnically charged city of Kirkuk.

In his address, Mr. Maliki acknowledged that the negotiations were difficult, but said there were few alternatives to the current pact. “I’d like to say candidly we have our own assessments, but at the same time this is a strong beginning to get back the full sovereignty of Iraq in three years,” he said.

He described the contents of the agreement in broad terms and said, “no detainees anymore, no detention centers anymore, or American prisons for Iraqis, no searches or raids of buildings or houses, until there is an Iraqi judicial warrant and it is fully coordinated with the Iraqi government.”

Mr. Maliki also attacked opponents of the pact for suggesting over the past few days that the bargaining had gone on in secret, apparently a response to politicians who said they were surprised by the contents of the agreement.

“I feel sad that the opponents or even those who agreed with the pact released statements that are far away from reality,” he said.

In a culture deeply imbued with conspiracy, Mr. Maliki repeatedly vowed that there were no secret side agreements to the pact, the text of which was published in local newspapers on Tuesday.

Supporters of the agreement, including most Shiite and Kurdish legislators, are in a delicate position. While they say that they have the majority needed to succeed in Parliament, a simple mathematical victory is not enough; all acknowledge the need for widespread support.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, who has advocated national unity consistently since the 2003 invasion, reiterated his insistence that the agreement draw support across sectarian lines.

“Any agreement that doesn’t win national consensus,” the statement read, “will not be acceptable and will be a reason for more suffering for Iraqis.” Shiite lawmakers said that the ayatollah told them on Saturday that he found the final draft of the pact satisfactory, if not ideal, but that his condition of national consent must be met.

Addressing these concerns, Mr. Maliki argued that “the consensus vote in the cabinet on the withdrawal of the forces represents a unified voice.”

The main opposition is coming from followers of the anti-American Shiite cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, who has rejected any agreement with the Americans in principle, and many Sunni politicians, who, while they are open to supporting the deal, are wary of the Shiite-led Iraqi government.

Though Sunni lawmakers are aware that Parliament has no ability to make changes to the agreement, they are seeking certain guarantees before giving their approval. These guarantees, they said, could appear in an appendix to the pact or as supplementary legislation.

Sunni lawmakers spent the day drawing up a list of demands that they intended to hand over to the Americans and the Iraqi government. Some of the demands are specific, like amnesty for the majority of the 16,000 Sunni detainees in the custody of the Americans. Others are more general, like the concern that Sunni groups will be unfairly singled out as targets by the Iraqi and American security forces.

Sunni lawmakers said they had been meeting with Americans, including the ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, to air their concerns, but added that the Americans had only listened and not responded in any specific way. The Sunnis said that they did want some sort of framework in place after Dec. 31, the expiration date for the United Nations resolution currently governing coalition forces. But they said there could be alternatives to this pact, including an extension of the resolution.

However, a senior American official in Baghdad said that the Iraqi government had “formally and categorically rejected” an extension of the resolution.

“We want to reach a solution,” Alaa Maki, a senior leader in a Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said in an interview at his office on Tuesday. “We don’t want to just put obstacles in front of Iraqi progress. But we want things to be put in the right way, so that we build on the right foundation.

“We regard this as the most important issue from 2003 until now,” he added, “because it will put the Iraqi future on paper.”

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=7677&Itemid=1

Iranian FM: we will announce our point of view of security after ratification of Convention final

Spokesman said the Iranian Foreign Ministry Akecquaoui Hassan, Wednesday, said Tehran will announce their views on the Iraqi-US security agreement after the final ratification in Iraq.

IRNA quoted as saying on Wednesday Akecquaoui "Tehran will announce their views on the Iraqi-US security agreement after the final ratification in Iraq."

The Iraqi cabinet approved on Sunday by 27 votes to one, the Convention on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and transmitted to the House of Representatives in order to vote.

The Convention sets out the legal nature of the security the U.S. military presence on Iraqi territory after the end of the year will end with the international mandate given to the U.S. military in Iraq under United Nations Security Council resolution.

Akecquaoui said that "Ayatollah Sistani issued a statement in this regard and across many parties and personalities in the Iraqi arena for different views on this Agreement."

The cleric Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr announced his refusal of the security agreement, which he described as a consecration of the U.S. occupation.

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...d5AF6DYJc7nMNA

Core inflation rising for Iraq to 13.6 percent

The central bank said on Tuesday that the core inflation rate in Iraq rose to 13.6 percent in October in October from 12.9 percent in September. The Bank defines core inflation that excludes spending on fuel, but includes the cost of food. The bank said the increase in inflation is mainly attributable The high prices of food and beverages, cigarettes and textiles. The central bank governor Sinan al-Shabibi told Reuters in an interview last month he was concerned about the slow growth in Iraq due to the drop in oil prices over concerns of inflation.

Translated version of http://www.hewarat.dk/hewarat_data.php?sid=13678

Britain expects to sign a security agreement with Iraq soon

Spokesperson Foreign Office John Wilkes in Amman Tuesday that his country needs a security agreement with Iraq expected to ask Iraq for the presence of British limited purposes of training. Wilkes said in a press conference: "We expect the Iraqis to a request from a British military presence is very limited for the training and rehabilitation of the Iraqi army forces Armed, "he said." So we need an agreement on bilateral security and military security cooperation after the end of this year and validity of UN resolutions with regard to foreign military presence in Iraq. "

Wilkes said, "We will build on any agreement between the U.S. and Iraq to achieve agreement between Britain and Iraq."

With regard to the future of British forces in Iraq, he said, Wilkes said, "The Minister of Foreign Affairs (David Miliband) has said in October that we expect a radical change to the British presence in Iraq during the first half of next year."

He noted that "if the situation has improved in southern Iraq (...) we expect to reduce the opportunity to reduce the number of British troops in Iraq."

Wilkes has denied that the aim of these conventions a permanent military presence or build permanent bases in Iraq and said "That is not true objective of these conventions is entering a new stage in relations between Iraq and the United States, Britain and other countries in the coalition on the basis of the regular bilateral and far from Chapter VII resolutions The United Nations. "

The national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told AFP Friday that all four of the British forces would withdraw troops from Iraq from now until the end of next year.

But the British Defense Ministry announced that "no timetable" for withdrawing troops from Iraq, denying a claim by spring.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Oct. 19 last for his country's negotiations on the future of British troops before the UN mandate expires later this year.

Britain, which sent 46 thousand troops to Iraq to participate in the invasion of the country in 2003 to keep the current 4100-strong battalion is deployed at the airport in Basra.

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...2jXxgbCYI0Fhmw

Adjournment of the meeting of parliament until tomorrow, after an altercation between Zebari and a number of members

media source told the House of Representatives speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the parliament decided to adjournment of the meeting held, Wednesday, the day after tomorrow verbal altercations between Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the number of deputies in the wake of the Convention on the discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

He explained that the source (Voices of Iraq) that "al-Mashhadani, decided to adjourn the meeting for an hour but the number of deputies left the mini-Parliament turned the adjournment until tomorrow, Thursday,."

Hosted by the House of Representatives today, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to discuss the Convention on U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The Iraqi cabinet approved on Sunday by 27 votes to one, the Convention on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and transmitted to the House of Representatives in order to vote.

The Convention sets out the legal nature of the security the U.S. military presence on Iraqi territory after the end of the year will end with the international mandate given to the U.S. military in Iraq under United Nations Security Council resolution.

Translated version of http://ar.aswataliraq.info/?p=110552