Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Originally Posted by English

The Halifax Bank is the place to go in the UK to get your dinars. I walked in and said i would like to order some holiday money, she asked me where am i going, i said Iraq, she looked at me strange as she checked on the computer,she then said how much do you want and i could collect it next working day.The next day i collected it with a big smile on my face the best part was she said if i don't spend it all just bring it back and they will exchange it free of charge. Fantasic i'll be back in September.

Strange. When I asked about Dinar at my local Halifax, they looked at me as though I was from another planet.

(Voice of Iraq) - 31-08-2006 | This issue was sent to a friend

The killing of one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in Ramadi

2006.08.31

PUKmedia :


According to press sources quoting eyewitnesses in the city of Ramadi, one of the leaders of the terrorist group al-Qaeda in the city was killed the morning today, Thursday, August 31.

Sources said that the armed men stopped the car he was riding in one of seven in the Street today, Thursday, July 17 officers in the district center of Ramadi, After that forced him to leave the vehicle showered a barrage of bullets and killed immediately, then fled.

One witness said that the people of the area knew the victim's body, It belonged to a terrorist Hazem Samra one of the leaders of the so-called Mujahideen Shura Council, affiliated to (rule) in Ramadi.

(Voice of Iraq) - 31-08-2006 | This issue was sent to a friend

The third stage of the security plan Baghdad begins on the 10th of September


Baghdad-Sabah
Knowledgeable sources told "morning" to the third page of the plan of maintaining the security of Baghdad will begin after the 10th of next month with the Iraqi military forces and multi-nationality in particular. Sources : The third page of the plan of maintaining the security of Baghdad will be implemented through Iraqi military forces and multi-nationality

Participating for the first time, He pointed out that the first batch of the Task Mounted American specially trained on hunting and the prosecution of terrorist groups, which will soon arrive in Baghdad. The sources added that the Prime Minister and Commander of Armed Forces Nuri Al-Maliki will supervise the implementation of this page aphid stressing that there is a modern military equipment will be used for the first time to detect explosives and Almfajkhat. The intelligence information in the Ministries of Defense and Interior have identified totals of the planted explosives and the areas where it is present, in addition to the firing of rockets and mortars and prepared a plan to court arrest, the goal of ridding the areas of the armed rallies, through the continued cooperation of the citizens.

Sotaliraq.com

29 August 2006 (Al-Hayat)

In the middle of last July, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) hiked its accredited interest rates from 10 to 12%. The CBI statement said this hike aimed at cutting down the current high inflation rate. Inflation hit 53% between 2005 and 2006. This step was meant to lower the liquidity ratio and encourage savings. Afterwards, the CBI directed commercial banks to raise deposit interest rates. With slight inter-bank differences, commercial banks offer 15% interest on short-term, 17% on medium-term, and 19% on long-term loans in Iraqi dinar.

If the current inflation rate in Iraq was the result of the high demand and high levels of consumer satisfaction, then the CBI's step would have been useful. But the inflation is caused by the rising costs with a considerably low level of consumption and per capita income.

In this case, raising interest rates would add insult to injury. It would increase the cost of investment and production. It would also reduce the marginal efficiency of the invested capital represented in the investment domestic rate of return.

Among the major dilemmas the Iraqi economy is facing, are the weak product price competitiveness, high production prices, declining investment and domestic production, the resulting high unemployment rate, and the worsening climate for investment. So, we do not know what sort of cash flow is meant by the CBI and for whom.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) conducted a respective study in cooperation with the Ministry of Planning and the Central Statistical Organization in Baghdad. 'More than half the Iraqi people, or 15.7 million, are living on one dollar a day', the study showed. Within this segment, over four million are living on less than half a dollar a day. They live in extreme poverty despite the food supplies they receive using their ration card. Also included in this segment are 5.2 million who cannot buy eggs or milk, let alone meat. Some of them cannot even afford to eat this stuff once a week. About 60% of primary schoolchildren and four fifths of pregnant women in south Iraq suffer from anemia. So, what sort of cash flow does the bank statement mean and in whose hands does it lie? How could these poor save money? They cannot give what they themselves lack.
If we take into account indicators of welfare and the other social and economic disparities, including the vegetation areas enjoyed by only a few members of the poor and marginalized groups, and the number of garbage trucks these people have and the number of doctors, hospital beds, personal computers, students and so on, things will appear much worse.

What budget surplus then were the Bank and its governor speaking of on al-Forat TV on July 13?

Economic issues and the interests of society should not be dealt with as though we are in a laboratory where we can produce a substance through the reaction of two other substances with a catalyst, by increasing or decreasing its dose.

A chemical process is within a limited scope: the interaction, which is not like the economy. Nobel Laureate in Economics, Ronald Coase, says: "Any real economic situation is a complicated situation. Any single economic problem is not isolated from the others, thus the handling is vulnerable to confusion, because dealing with a certain economic situation results in dealing with several problems and solve them at once".

Based on reliable sources, the Central Bank's decision, which is still under discussion, was a directive from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, said of the IMF that it "prescribes the same pill for all patients". The monetary rates provided here do not represent the reality.

It is better to give further attention to the economic policy in Iraq, along with the supply, the high cost, the factors behind it, including the rampant administrative corruption in the State departments, alliances between government officials and businessmen and the callous, deep-seated bureaucracy that delays supply and stifles chances for progress.

Throughout 2004 and 2005, for instance, the Iraqis had to pay their mobile phone bills twofold the cost paid by citizens of neighboring countries, thanks to the monopolistic situation provided by the competent ministry to Iraqna Company.

The world price per kilogram of Brazilian chicken is $1, while the wholesale price is $2.5 on the Iraqi market. Administrative corruption plays a role in this. As for the real estate sector, the taxes on property transfer and document rectification and other taxes and charges in this sector are a source of wonder and bewilderment in a country where people cannot afford housing costs for lack of money.

If inflation abates, it will not be the result of what the Central Bank has done: the questionable increase in interest rates, but because of prospective economic and political factors that have nothing to do with it.

Consequences of Hiking Interest Rates in Iraq | Iraq Updates

Keep up the great info guys and gals this is all sounding fantastic. When I read your post cigarman I nearly had a heart attack. They actually have two sets of books? I don't think we should underestimate our Iraqi friends. I don't post very often but I'm on here every day as it's my drug feed if you would call it that lol. I am starting to get very tired of working my long 50-55hrs. of work each week so I for one am hoping and praying for a September (hopefully first week of sept.) revalue!! Are you all with me?

One thing I wanted to ask though.........WHERE THE HECK IS ADSTER?!?!? I haven't seen a post by you in awhile mate...hope everything is okay? Even though I love reading posts by Cigarman, PH, Mike (OSW) and everyone else who contributes to this forum....I must say that it's Adster's posts that really calm me. Besides, it was his original 'Last time you'll see this' post that made me buy my first batch of dinars. So with that being said, please give us your thoughts Adster on all the latest news. What do you think about Cigarman's post about Iraq having TWO sets of books and when you think things will finally comes to fruition????

CHEERS ALL,

Rob

Originally Posted by English

The Halifax Bank is the place to go in the UK to get your dinars. I walked in and said i would like to order some holiday money, she asked me where am i going, i said Iraq, she looked at me strange as she checked on the computer,she then said how much do you want and i could collect it next working day.The next day i collected it with a big smile on my face the best part was she said if i don't spend it all just bring it back and they will exchange it free of charge. Fantasic i'll be back in September.

Funny,

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us, and this is exactly how easy it will be for all of us soon. Bank of America is also exchanging now, and they were supplying most, if not all NA banks for over a year. So now we have Chase and BoA, I suspect HSBC will be next.

Good luck to all, Mike

I found this interesting. I found this in the Toronto Canado Gazette.

Civil war or not, Iraq's economy faces vast challenge
Alister Bull, Reuters
Published: Wednesday, August 30, 2006
BAGHDAD -- If the violence in Iraq ceased tomorrow, its economy would still be in deep trouble.
Corruption is endemic, its state-owned industries inefficient and while there is plenty of money around, it has done little to help ordinary Iraqis.
Inflation has soared since the 2003 invasion, sapping the living standards of Iraqis as they cope with bombs and sectarian killings which kill 100 every day.
"The prices of everything has gone up but the salaries have stayed the same," said Nada, a 33-year old laboratory assistant who works for a branch of the health ministry on a monthly salary of 200,000 dinar (71 pounds).
Nada, who declined to give her last name, now stays indoors as much as possible and with the latest hike in black market petrol prices, has even stopped going to work.
Dire security conditions are a root cause of the problem, according to the country's central bank chief.
"Inflation is a function of the real sector, not the monetary sector ... wages, insurance cover, the smooth delivery of goods. Security is the important factor," Sinan al-Shabibi told Reuters in a recent interview.
U.S. officers say rising sectarian bloodshed has pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war and efforts to overhaul the Iraqi economy will be in vain if stability isn't restored.
But success in restoring security demands economic policies that can help create jobs, lift living standards and ease the poverty swelling the ranks of the insurgency.
"If these other (security) actions are able to gain some traction, the attention could shift to the economy and if we had not been laying the groundwork, then very quickly it could become the focus of blame for why things were not going well," said Jeremiah Pam, U.S. Treasury Attaché to Iraq.
For evidence of progress, Pam points to the debt forgiveness from Western creditors that Iraq won last year to ease its re-entry to the world financial community.
It also has the backing of the International Monetary Fund, which agreed a $685 million (361 million pounds) standby credit in December 2005 and said earlier this month that Iraq remained on the right track.
But the IMF also had some stern words about prices, spiraling by over 50 percent year-on-year, and warned that conditions risked getting worse.
"Inflation remains ... a serious source of concern. The ongoing violence and supply disruptions in the non-oil economy will undoubtedly continue to put pressure on prices," it said.
Corruption is another major problem. An audit sponsored by the United Nations last week found hundreds of millions of dollars of Iraq's oil revenue had been wrongly tallied last year or had gone missing altogether.
Business is being done, but it isn't often very productive in nature.
"There is a lot of activity in terms of trade and finance but there is not much activity in terms of production and that is not very healthy," said the central bank's Shabibi.
Despite the world's third largest oil reserves, a well- educated work force, an abundance of water and other valuable resources, Iraq's economy was in a mess even before the first bomb was dropped in the 2003 war.
A decade of sanctions after the first Gulf War compounded the shortcomings of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party economic model of heavily centralised state control.
At border crossings, officials from half a dozen ministries are involved and if an Iraqi Army unit wants fuel from the oil ministry, rather than rely on the Americans, it requires 14 signatures.
The new Shi'ite led government of Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki wants to shake things up but faces big obstacles. It must navigate any new laws through a parliament hostile to change, which took the whole of August off as a holiday, despite the security crisis and a mountainous backlog of work.
As a result, a cabinet proposal to ease chronic fuel shortages by opening the energy sector to private imports has gone nowhere and black market petrol prices have surged.
This stokes resentment and many businesses have already closed up shop. Some carry on, but only just.
One of the businessmen to remain in Baghdad is Munem al- Khafaji, managing director of the Al-Ameen Insurance Co., who continues to insure homes and vehicles from fire and theft.
Client visits are confined to the immediate neighbourhood or relegated to the internet and telephone. But premiums have not gone up by all that much, he said.
Insuring a small family car will cost about four percent of its value a year, while shipments of goods to Baghdad from Amman can be covered for 2 dinar per 1,000 dinar, up to a cap of $50,000. On the other hand, there are a lot of risks he won't touch, including anything to do with the current violence.
"We are very conservative in our underwriting policies and don't insure against war and terrorism. To cover these things would be a very high rate. No one could afford it," he said.

I sure would like a little more explaining about the "2 sets of books" and the "defacto rate".

How can they have two sets of books and have they kept this defacto rate secret from everyone or is it common knowledge and we just misread?

It is very exciting indeed, but I betcha I will get even more excited once I understand it better.

Any takers?

Monica

Originally Posted by DinarDarling

Has anybody here gone to an Astrologist to see when all is in alignment for yourself and a time for "big accomplishments", "look toward the future now",
"time to make plans", etc?
I did.

So...what did she/ he say?!? September?
/K

Originally Posted by robmccallum01

Keep up the great info guys and gals this is all sounding fantastic. When I read your post cigarman I nearly had a heart attack. They actually have two sets of books? I don't think we should underestimate our Iraqi friends. I don't post very often but I'm on here every day as it's my drug feed if you would call it that lol. I am starting to get very tired of working my long 50-55hrs. of work each week so I for one am hoping and praying for a September (hopefully first week of sept.) revalue!! Are you all with me?

One thing I wanted to ask though.........WHERE THE HECK IS ADSTER?!?!? I haven't seen a post by you in awhile mate...hope everything is okay? Even though I love reading posts by Cigarman, PH, Mike (OSW) and everyone else who contributes to this forum....I must say that it's Adster's posts that really calm me. Besides, it was his original 'Last time you'll see this' post that made me buy my first batch of dinars. So with that being said, please give us your thoughts Adster on all the latest news. What do you think about Cigarman's post about Iraq having TWO sets of books and when you think things will finally comes to fruition????

CHEERS ALL,

Rob

Yes please Adam, what is your current take on things? Oh guru? mandala of the dinar?