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

Council of Ministers issued a number of economic decisions

A spokesman for the official government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the cabinet issued at its seventh special session, Sunday, a number of economic decisions included the assignment of projects for implementation and approval of applications for some ministries, as well as the resolution to exempt farmers from payment of interest on agricultural loans and other decisions .

The statement said the cabinet agreed to "transfer the Rusafa water project to an Iraqi company and French at more than one billion dollars and cards (910) thousand cubic meters Day and the completion of a period (28) months."

The Board also agreed to "buy Sahptin Maliziti marine origin of a firms and approximately $ (19) million for Sahptin the exception of the controls."

Council also agreed, according to the statement, "the oil ministry's request to forward the purchase order pipeline Qatar (6) and along knots (600) meters, an Indian company and $ (69) million U.S. dollars."

The statement said the council decided to "agree to exempt farmers from payment of interest of 2% on agricultural loans that the Agricultural Bank Bastqtalla of the amount allocated for agricultural initiative."

The Council of Ministers granted the prime minister, "the power to ratify the allocation of contracts for projects of water and sewage, and obtaining the approval of the House of Representatives to allocate additional budget for them in case of need to implement projects in those sectors of the instructions and regulations in force."

The Board also agreed to "hand over (60) tons of stock and the Ministry of Commerce of barley in the province of Nineveh seed to farmers and price that the Ministry selling feed."

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Talabani: lack of results on Convention Iraq - U.S. presents Iraqi oil to confiscation

The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, "the unity of Iraq" and that "differences in Iraq should be resolved through the principle of consensus among the various components of the Iraqi people," and on the basis of "unity of Iraq," stressing that the differences Arabic - Kurdish been exaggerated And photographed as "the Kurdish conflict - the Arab territories and regions."

Talabani confirmed at a joint press conference held late today, Monday, with Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the President of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, the airport after arriving from Irbil United States, that "there is no problem for the Arab - Kurdish Iraq," saying that "misunderstandings In some cases, on common issues can lead to hostility Kurdish - English. "

The Iraqi president was commenting on the recent tensions that have occurred in areas in Diyala province, against the backdrop of entry of the forces of the Iraqi army to maintain, and demand forces to guard the territory of Kurdistan "peshmerga" to leave those areas, that "had been exaggerated differences between the two sides, and portray it as a conflict Territories or areas, "stressing" the unity of Iraq and the Iraqi both those areas annexed to Kurdistan region of Iraq, or to any other region. "

Talabani called for the "need to go back to the Iraqi constitution and the principle of consensus between the political blocs to solve the problems and differences," asserting that "Iraqi issues should not be a majority and the minority, but also through the principle of consensus including these issues," he said, referring to the problem of the disputed areas.

On the other hand, the Iraqi president that "Iraq is no longer isolated, but enjoys good relations with Arab and foreign countries," pointing to "the substantial improvement of Iraq's relations with all countries regionally and internationally."

Talabani said that "the lack of results on the Convention Iraq - America is not good for Iraq, which means the survival of the current situation of continuing violations of the sovereignty and independence of Iraq," noting that "the Iraqi oil had been confiscated because of the risk of lifting immunity," he said.

The former Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said in an interview with "Uzmatik" published today, Monday, that "the American threat to lift the immunity from Iraqi funds, reflects the bad faith of the American side, and an attempt to pressure the Iraqi government to sign a security agreement the terms of an American."

Draws U.S. forces in Iraq legitimacy of the presence of the United Nations mandate expires at the end of the current year, would make them subject to the problems in the absence of signing the agreement or extension of the security forces for an additional year.

There's more but this is the gist of it.

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Central Bank of Iraq: Iraqi dinar is more adopted in regional transactions for backing US dollar and other currencies

The economic consultant in the Central Bank of Iraq, Mudhir Muhammad Salih clarified that the bank decided within the future plan which will begin next year, the ****ution of removing three zeros from the Iraqi currency, which is now suffering from inflation that can not be remedied only through this project, which will give a lot of prosperity and stability in The availability of high and strong cash liquidity ,and to facilitate transactions in line with the stage of growth and optimistic economic prosperity that Iraq will witness in the coming months or years, but it is «a long-term relatively project, and will be implemented gradually to give a kind of comfort and harmony in the economic situation.

Salih stressed on the Bank determination in favor of implementing the project of deleting three zeros from the Iraqi dinar, to convert a thousand dinars to one dinar, which the first phase of the project will begin after a period of time over a year, because this requires careful planning before implementation, and if applied directly it will overburden citizens and may cause problems Even in the cash transactions between people. like what happened when the currency was changed , we found people running to exchange their funds in banks ,but now the first step would be to continue to deal in both existing and new currency until the exhaustion of the old currency from market normally and without the citizens feel so.

He added that the Iraqi economy based on its dealings in cash monetary system,which means direct cash transactions because of weak banking systems and mechanisms ,besides the citizens fears from dealing with banks. Thus we need time to stimulate people to this type of transactions after they used to the old transactions which issued a hike up cash for (20) trillion dinars created in a need for large catagory and this is why the demand for the dollar to the completion of internal trading (dollarization), despite the high value of the Iraqi dinar.

Modhir said that Iraq will convert from 20 trillion to 15 billion dinars and this would have positive effects on the daily economy and banking, and people will be feel comfortable, and I see it is very important and civilian matter, especially that most countries such as Turkey and Brazil dealt with the inflation for many years through such mechanisms And worked to replace the currency and delete zeros and raise the value through long-term plan to implement this project.

In anticipation of any disruption or fluctuations may occur in the secondary market or in cash transactions , we should adopt accurate measures and steps that would solve all the problems in the trading bloc committed a result of enormity of cash in the Iraqi market.

Modhir explained that Iraq has suffered from hyperinflation in the past two decades, which was reflected as hyperinflation ,and that monetary issuance raised to be approximately 25 billion dinars in the early nineties, as to be in 2003 six thousand billion, and if we add significant structural changes on the size of the budget that is the source of Expansion of the monetary mass, we can say that the country is not able to stand in its ciruculations such large amount of cash currency units, a legacy of a hyper-inflation. He noted that the reduction in the new currency will give a lot of prosperity and stability in the availability of high and strong money fluidity and facilitate transactions in line with the stage of growth and optimistic economic prosperity that Iraq will witness in the months or years to come.

Central Bank of Iraq: Iraqi dinar is more adopted in regional transactions for backing US dollar and other currencies

Parliament further marginalizes Iraqi minorities

A new decision by the Iraqi parliament leaves Iraqi minorities with no representation in the country’s provincial councils as well as the legislature.

By an overwhelming majority, the parliament early this week revoked paragraph 50 from the constitution under which Iraqi minorities were assigned a set of seats in legislative and municipal councils.

The revocation has sparked mass demonstrations in areas where these minorities live, particularly in the northern Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital.

Not only non-Muslim minorities are affected. The Shebeks, who are Muslim Shiites, have lost this privilege as well as the Yazidis who still pursue their secretive and traditional faith.

The decision has been a blow to the minorities who make up at least 10 per cent of the Iraqi population.

Neglected and persecuted under former leader Saddam Hussein, they hoped the new U.S.-occupied Iraq would bring good news.

On the contrary. They have borne the brunt of the upsurge in violence and insecurity that has become a characteristic of post-Saddam Iraq.

With paragraph 50 of the constitution revoked, these minorities will have no means left to air their voice and look forward for adequate representation in the country’s institutions.

Christians, Yazidis, and Sabeans have almost lost the religious freedom they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein in most parts of the country.

Today, these minorities make up a disproportionately high percentage of Iraqi refugees fleeing their country.

It is almost impossible for the Yazidis for example to live outside their traditional areas. And even there they are target of attacks and pressure by both Arabs and Kurds.

Certain cities like Mosul, which traditionally used to be centers of Christianity in the country, are being emptied of their Christian population.

And the Sabeans have all but fled their traditional areas in southern Iraq.

Azzaman in English

Iraq participates in trade fair in Greece

Iraq will participate in a trade-industrial fair to be hosted in Greece late this year, according to Iraq's exporters & importers union chief on Wednesday.

"A delegation will represent Iraq in Exporana Show Athens 2008, the largest diverse industries fair in Greece, where Iraqi industrialists and businessmen will meet with their Greek peers to discuss means to further industrial and trade relations between the two countries," Thabit al-Baladawi told Aswat al-Iraq.

"The event, to be held on December 6-9, should offer a good chance for the Iraqi participants to get acquainted with advanced industrial techniques and establishments to benefit from with the aim of modernizing their own production lines in the facilities they run in Iraq," he added.

Baladawi said the fair will also help Iraqi entrepreneurs to discuss their ideas with Greek investors in the agricultural, industrial and real estate domains.

Aswat Aliraq

Lawmaker expects appendix to Elections Law

A lawmaker from the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) on Wednesday said that he expects that Iraqi Parliament to introduce an appendix to the provincial elections law to ensure minorities' representation in provincial councils.

"The Iraqi Council of Representatives may enact an appendix to the provincial elections law to include Article 50 that was embraced by the preliminary draft, but then omitted from the version that was enacted by the Parliament days ago," Abbass al-Bayati told Aswat al-Iraq.

"The law will not be approved by the Presidency Council because neither politicians nor the public accept the veto, but an appendix will be enacted after Eid holiday to ensure minorities' rights without any discrimination," he said.

"Article 50 was omitted due to differences between minorities themselves regarding the number of seats allocated to each of them," he noted.

"The law in its current form does not prohibit minorities' representation, but does not state that they should be represented," he explained.

"Specifying a number of seats for each minority relies on statistics and database," he asserted.

Aswat Aliraq

Smart Card in Suleimaniyah

Banks in Suleimaniyah Province started to use the smart card in money transactions in order to facilitate the activity of people in their daily tasks.

Smart Card in Suleimaniyah | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Iraqis stand up

Iraq's new election law will not, by itself, stop sectarian violence. Nor will the law, which governs provincial elections early next year, deliver electricity, clean water and jobs to bomb-blasted urban areas and forlorn villages. But in adopting the law by a unanimous vote last week, members of the Iraqi Parliament made it clear that they recognize the benefits of waging their power struggles by political means.

Recent changes in the power balance among factions made the agreement on the election law possible. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been pretty well smashed by the Awakening Councils - 100,000 armed men paid by the U.S. military and deployed by Sunni Arabs. On the other side of the sectarian divide, the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki used the Iraqi Army to take on the militia of Moktada al-Sadr, reducing that cleric's sway over Basra in the south and large areas of Baghdad.

In this situation, members of Parliament could see advantages to making the compromises. With fear of a Sadrist takeover reduced, Maliki and his allies in the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq had a chance to enhance their representation in Parliament, thanks to their new aura as nationalist enforcers of security.

Sunni legislators watched a Shiite government go to war against a Shiite militia that had murdered untold numbers of Sunni Arabs. Consequently, Sunnis decided they could use the ballot box to pursue their fair share of power - and of the wealth awaiting extraction from Iraq's vast oil fields.

The lure of those oil riches is beginning to turn Iraqi politicians toward cooperation and a common national identity. This may be true even for the disputed city of Kirkuk, which Kurds want to bring under the Kurdish Autonomous Government in the north, against the wishes of Turkmen and Arabs.

Parliament opted for a committee of the major ethnic groups to determine the status of Kirkuk. The city's residents will not vote until that determination is made. But with improved security bringing the day closer when Iraqis may cash in on their enormous oil reserves, a resolution of the conflict over Kirkuk may become easier.

Since most of the unexploited oil fields are in the south of Iraq, the Kurds could fare better in the long run if they aim for a portion of the proceeds proportional to their share of Iraq's population.

A new Iraq is coming into being, and it will not need or want a foreign army of occupation on its soil.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqis stand up

Iraq taking control of anti-Al-Qaeda fighters
Iraq began taking control of 100,000 Sunni Arab anti-Al-Qaeda fighters from US forces on Wednesday, amid concerns that many in the militia credited with curbing the bloodshed in the country will be neglected.

The transfer of responsibility and payments for all "Sons of Iraq" begins with 54,000 men in the province of Baghdad.

The US military uses Sons of Iraq, or "SOIs", to refer to the militia, also known as Sahwa (Awakening) Councils, which it recruited from among Sunni tribesmen and former insurgents.

Iraqi National Security adviser Mowaffak Al-Rubaie told newswire AFP "the GoI [government of Iraq] will pay the first salary on the Oct. 31, 2008". The monthly bill of Baghdad's 54,000 Shawas is around $15 million.

Control of the remaining Sahwas in central, western and north-central Iraq will be transferred gradually.

The mostly former insurgents who fought US and Iraqi forces after Saddam Hussein fell in 2003, have helped curb the violence since late 2006 after they sided with the Americans to battle Al-Qaeda jihadists.

Baghdad has said 20 percent of them would be absorbed into the country's security forces and that most of the remainder would be considered for civilian jobs.

The Sahwas have expressed mixed feelings about the transfer.

"I am looking forward to working with the Iraqi government. I would like to join the police force," said Firaz Abdullah, 19, as he guarded a checkpoint in Baghdad's Sunni bastion of Adhamiyah, a one-time Al-Qaeda stronghold.

"It will be good to be paid by the Iraqis rather than the Americans," said the fighter, dressed in a uniform similar to that of the Iraqi army.

But Sahwa leaders such as Abu Safa'a are worried.

"We are happy but also afraid," he said. "I am concerned about those who do not join the security forces. They are going to be targets of Al-Qaeda."

Al-Rubaie said Baghdad will continue to employ these men to expand the security gains.

"All volunteers are being carefully screened to ensure their physical abilities and background permit integration into the security forces. All will be treated fairly," he said.

Baghdad has also taken responsibility for assuring the economic future of those Sahwa volunteers who do not join security forces, he added.

However, if the transfer does not take place smoothly, Iraq risks erasing security gains achieved since late last year, lawmakers and analysts say.

Kurdish MP Mahmud Othman said "the Shi'ite government looks at them as a political enemy. It sees them as Arab Sunni fighters who were former Al-Qaeda or insurgents fighting the government and they have to be punished".

US commanders have also said they will help to ensure a smooth transition but warned that those fighters who do not find employment could be tempted to return to insurgent activities.

"The Sons of Iraq have paid a heavy price fighting Al-Qaeda with us," the US commander for Baghdad, Major General Jeffery Hammond, said last week.

"The whole world is watching what the government does with SOI transition, above all in Baghdad where it starts," he said.

"Guys who are not successful, they could be back on streets, angry, Al-Qaeda will be recruiting them, and we take a step in the wrong direction."

Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group said the real problem was not the transfer, but the absorption of the militiamen.

"It is very likely that as a result of mutual distrust the integration of the SOI into the state apparatus, security forces and jobs will be less than optimal," Hiltermann said.

"In that case it is very likely that elements of the SOI will revert to insurgency as a way, probably unsuccessful, of achieving their objectives of rolling back Iranian influence and regaining power."

Iraq has seen a downward trend in violence since the middle of last year.

As it stands, the number of Iraqis killed in September was 440, little changed from August, officials announced on Wednesday.

Iraq taking control of anti-Al-Qaeda fighters - Politics & Economics - ArabianBusiness.com

Iraqi government is responsible for awakening councils from Wednesday

Said Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, the Iraqi government took over the file of the elements of awakening in the province of Baghdad from U.S. forces as of today, Wednesday, as a first stage to receive the file of all the elements of awakening in the other governorates.

Bolani said during a press conference held in Baghdad, the Iraqi government "received as of today (Wednesday) Day, the first of October (October) file elements Revival of American troops, initially to collect the rest of the file Asahoat in other Iraqi provinces." Praising the "Asahoat role in supporting the work of the government will not forget their efforts in stabilizing security in Iraq."

The spokesman said a plan to impose law early September of last September that elements of the awakening began filling forms integrate them with Iraqi forces in conjunction with the Iraqi government, spokesman Ali Dabbagh, the government will absorb elements Asahoat will not abandon them, because these elements helped Security, law enforcement and defeat the terrorist groups and cells of the al-Qaeda.

The Atta, the first of October will be the next deadline for the integration of Asahoat elements in the security services ", pointing out that" elements to awakening will receive all their entitlements either through into the security services or services.

Dabbagh, who had indicated earlier that the number of elements awakening will be subject to training courses and professional qualifications to engage in acts contribute to their reintegration into society and help them to participate in the reconstruction campaigns, but it was government needs to scrutinize the records of the elements of awakening to make sure there are no elements of the work Mendsp Suspicious or crimes.

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, then David Petraeus, the U.S. military pays salaries of about 99 A member of the awakening forces in Iraq.

The project started late Sahwa in 2006, when turned clans led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha in Anbar province, al Qaeda and expelled them from the province is the main stronghold, and then deployed in early 2007 experiment Andmaml the U.S. military to set up councils or backing awakening in Arab areas Year mainly to total approximately thirty percent and councils.

The U.S. military is a monthly payment of grants amounted to an average $ 300 per component elements of awakening in addition to coordination with them to protect their security and fight al-Qaeda militants.

The Iraqi officials said twenty percent of these fighters will join the ranks of the army and police, while others will take civilian jobs.

They said that the Iraqi government will pay the salaries of these elements as of October this October.

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