Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 08/09/09 - 09/01/10

Central Bank of Iraq excludes the restraining of dealings in foreign currency

Iraq's central bank denied the allegation that the rumors about his intention to restrict foreign exchange transactions and foreign currency.

The agency said the national news agency said an official source at the bank said that the aim of the airing of these rumors to achieve selfish gains for some speculators and damage the stability of the national economy.

The source added that the freedom of foreign exchange is a pillar of the economic rights of citizens guaranteed by law and consistent with the objectives of monetary policy to impose stability and promote development and economic well-being, provided it does not intersect with the law on combating money laundering and criminal proceeds and terrorism financing.

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Samurai visit Washington next month to discuss five important files

Scheduled to visit the House of Representatives Speaker Ayad al-Samarrai Washington early next month to discuss the five critical files as announced by press secretary to President Omar al-Mashhadani, the House of Representatives.

He said al-Mashhadani said in a statement that the Samurai will meet during his visit to the United States, a number of senior officials there, led by President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in addition to the leader of the parliamentary majority and the leaders of Democratic and Republican parties.

Mashhadani said that the Chairman of the House of Representatives in Washington, will discuss five important files with U.S. officials, notably the Framework Agreement and the strategic cooperation and ways of application and the developments of the political situation in Iraq, in addition to the implementation dates of the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

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Iraqi Bank (Al-Warka) Moving to Base
13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)
Story by Sgt. Ryan Twist
Date: 09.05.2009

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq –Individuals throughout Joint Base Balad, Iraq, will have access to the first Iraqi bank on base, opening in roughly two to three months.

The Al Warka Bank on JBB will serve Iraqis, Department of Defense contractors and third-country nationals who have access to get on base, said Maj. David M. Foster, officer in charge of the Iraqi Based Industrial Zone, with the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).

"The bank provides a great opportunity here for us to help develop the infrastructure and help build the economy in Iraq," said Foster.

Foster, a native of Newport Beach, Calif., said they are in the final phase of opening the bank, aimed at providing services previously not available to Iraqis.

He said the hope is that bank employees will take the experience learned from their jobs and spread it throughout the local community.

Foster said there are 110 branches throughout Iraq. He said the Iraqis who work at the bank, if the bank and workers are successful, would eventually transfer to a new bank and help open it to the local economy.

He said the banks are fee based banks and the services they provide are foreign currency exchange, wiring money, letter of credit, electronic funds transfer, savings and checking accounts, and fund transfers.

Foster said this bank will also provide services to Iraqis who work on JBB who may not have access to those services in their local communities and give them the opportunity to learn how to use the banking services Al Warka offers.

Khalid Almoola, the bank manager, speaking through an interpreter, said the bank is here to support the locals.

"The bank is the vein of the economy, the economy is the vein of the country," he said.

Almoola also expressed his gratitude for U.S. assistance.

"We appreciate the Americans because they help us a lot," said Almoola. "They help the Iraqi people because they support the Iraqi people with medical issues plus they help find jobs for the people."

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Baghdad Provincial Council allocates a number of halls for the issuance of smart cards
The use of electronic payment machines in shopping malls and banking companies

Baghdad Provincial Council instructed all municipal councils should be allocated Qguatahm sports halls in the municipality to use in order to issue smart cards to retirees and covered by a network of social protection, An official with the company in the world that the next three months will see the use of electronic payment machine in the malls and shops, banking and other commercial centers ..

Adding that the company is finalizing a credit system which will allow pre-borrow pensions covered by the guarantee in timely fashion deducted at the time scheduled for it.

An official of information technology in the company's global smart card Engineer Soran Mohammed Faraj Speaking for (morning): The holding of the provincial council is aimed to absorb the momentum generated on the branches of the Rafidain and Rashid, was authorized to issue smart cards to the covered, adding that this measure would reduce the suffering of retirees and covered by the social protection system and provide them with more time in the process of issuing smart card, as well as it would give freedom of action of the banks which issue these cards will reduce the momentum of the process of winning its branches in Baghdad .. indicating that the company distributed so far over 600 thousand between the card covered by it.

In the meantime, Faraj said the next three months will see the use of electronic payment machine to be used by Iraq for the first time in its history, pointing out that the highest priority in the distribution of machines, electronic payment will be significant commercial markets, shops and banking companies and other commercial centers, noting that the use of electronic payment machine will contribute to reducing the use of cash trading extensively as well as preventing the circulation of counterfeit currency, he said the machine that could carry out many of the most prominent of the various financial activities transferring cash between Chierfat in various regions of Iraq in addition to transfer funds out of Iraq, as well as the possibility of trading foreign currencies by the rest of this machine, including the U.S. dollar, euro and other currencies in the other ..

Indicating that the second step will use these devices in various shops, restaurants, travel agencies and other commercial facilities, other .. Stressing that the machines that can read the rest of the electronic cards after the deal to be agreed with the exporters from similar companies.

Soran Engineer also pointed out that the company is in advanced stages of completion of the project (advance payment guarantee), which will provide a great service to the beneficiaries of the new online social protection and retirees, where by this system will be able to receive their monthly salaries by the time .. saying that the company's moves in time to the current phone companies m.obile in order to reach agreements with them to allow the use of electronic cards in the payment of telephone bills and the purchase of assets and other events.

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The ration card .. Two, or four

Ration card is a safety valve to maintain the food security of family and Iraqi society at the present time .. Since succeeded in providing the minimum needs of the citizens ..

And the hit from the failures was due to many reasons can not be mentioned here is talk from time to time following the developments and new economic realities that have occurred in Iraq on the feasibility of this card or not .. Comes of these propositions is not on the government level by level, but on the social institutions and civil society organizations and among different people .. While considering the poor to the card as a safe haven and Hsnhm more important to face constant increases in prices. According to economic reality: that the elasticity of demand for food can not be changed quickly, but due to circumstances regarding the changing population numbers and tastes and price changes, acute and consumer behavior .. To become so-called this flexibility it is virtually little or low on many of the variables .. The explanation is that because the demand for food to be constant in the short term at least, since the food intake of people it can not be changed in response to price change, for example .. This certainly gives them a unique specificity makes them different from what it is like from the other types of goods .. through the above we can say that know what they need any people become easy if we analyze the trends in demand for food can then determine the size of consumption to a large extent. .

the application of the ration card and a clear gap remained for periods of time between what is needed for consumption and what it is equipped to citizens in terms of both quantity and quality due to several factors including the scarcity of financial resources compared with need and flow of real resources that the purchase price under the actual global .. What made things worse is an outbreak of major corruption cases in the institutions of the Ministry of Commerce and the sales agents that had stalled in the clear flow of the ration card items and the latest treatments, despite the Ministry of Commerce of cases of corruption, but it seems that things are more difficult to be avoided through the decisions taken by the ministry to handle errors in this program .. The question of providing food for the Iraqi people, President of the sensitive and important government is keen to secure within the framework of the ration .. In order to ease the burden of the people ..

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Rafidain Bank cut the interest rate on loans to traders in dollars

Bank of Two Rivers has decided to reduce the interest rate on loans to traders dollar to 6%.

The chairman Baghdad Chamber of Commerce, Amjad Jubouri the bank had started a new plan to facilitate the work of Iraqi traders through a decision of the Board of Directors At its last meeting, containing the interest rate cut to 6 percent on dollar loans to traders Iraqis.

The Jubouri in a press statement that the Director General of BADEA know the room by procuring the approval of the Minister of Finance Baqir Jabr Al-Zubaidi on the subject and overcome the obstacles that impede the work of Iraqi businessmen in order to activate the trade traffic in the country.

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5 economic laws await parliament's approval

Five crucial economic laws are awaiting approval by the Iraqi Parliament during its new legislative term, which begins tomorrow, a member of the parliamentary economic committee, said on Monday.

"Three laws will be given priority. These laws are the Supplementary Budget Law, an amendment to the Investment Law, and the Infrastructure Law," Aamera al-Baldawi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

On July 19, 2000, the Iraqi cabinet approved a supplementary budget of 5.3 trillion Iraqi dinars (ID) for provinces suffering from lack of allocations.

The Iraqi Parliament is scheduled to resume its session this Tuesday (Sept. 8) following a recess that last over a month.

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Cabinet OKs Iraq’s accession to ITFC

The Iraqi cabinet has approved a draft law on Iraq’s accession to the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“The ITFC is an effective tool for financing trade operations by member countries,” Ali al-Dabbagh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The spokesperson noted that the accession to the corporation will enable Iraq to benefit from the services provided by the Islamic Development Bank.

The economic committee in the Iraqi cabinet has approved the accession through subscription of $10 million U.S. dollars in cash, Dabbagh noted.

During its session dated November 20, 2007, the Council of Ministers authorized the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) to sign an agreement on Iraq’s accession to the corporation, Dabbagh added.

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Soon: Japanese firms to develop Nassiriya field

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil will soon sign a contract with a consortium of Japanese companies to develop the Nassiriya oilfield, an oil official said on Tuesday.

“Negotiations have reached an advanced stage. Technical issues will soon be solved…,” the director of the legal affairs in the oil contracts and licenses department, Sabah al-Saadi, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Three companies had submitted bids to develop the oilfield. Negotiations are currently ongoing with the Japanese consortium comprising Nippon Oil and Inpex to develop the field, he added.

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Surge in CBI’s dollar sales on Tuesday

The Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) dollar sales dramatically increased in its daily auction on Tuesday to reach $198.295 million compared to $94.730 million during the previous session.

“The demand hit $3 million in cash, covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,183 Iraqi dinars, and $195.295 million in foreign transfers outside the country, covered at an exchange rate of 1,173 Iraqi dinars per dollar,” according to a CBI news bulletin received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

None of the 17 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

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