TNT:

Tishwash: Iraq rises to third place in the Arab world in gold reserves after Lebanon leaves the list

The World Gold Council announced on Monday that Iraq has risen to third place in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia and Algeria, and 28th globally on the list of the 100 largest countries in terms of gold reserves, after Lebanon was removed from the classification.

According to the latest report published by the Council in December 2024, which Shafak News Agency reviewed, Iraq's gold holdings rose to 152.7 tons, up from 152.5 tons last month.

These holdings constitute 11.5% of its total other reserves, ranking it third in the Arab world.

The Council pointed out that "the United States of America continues to top the list of the largest gold holdings in the world, with 8,133.5 tons, followed by Germany with 3,351.5 tons, then Italy with 2,814 tons. Bosnia and Herzegovina came at the bottom of the list with 1.5 tons."

The Council did not mention the reason for Lebanon’s exit from the list, after it had been ranked third in the Arab world, as its reserves in the previous month amounted to 286.8 tons.

The World Gold Council is based in the United Kingdom and has extensive experience in understanding the factors affecting the gold market. The Council includes the largest gold mining companies in the world. link

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Tishwash: Parliamentary Finance: Amending the budget will end the dispute over the oil file

Finance Committee: Budget amendment will end dispute over oil file

The Parliamentary Finance Committee, headed by Representative Atwan Al Atwani, hosted the head of the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau, Mr. Ammar Subhi Khalaf, and the senior staff, to discuss the draft of the first amendment to the Federal General Budget Law.

Al-Atwani stressed, according to a statement by the Parliament’s media, a copy of which was received by {Euphrates News}, “the committee’s keenness to approve the amendment in a realistic and implementable manner, in a way that ends the existing dispute between the federal government and the regional government regarding the oil file.”

He also pointed out that the completion of the committee's work on this amendment is dependent on the presence of the Ministry of Finance to clarify the legal basis for disbursing financial dues to foreign oil companies operating in the region.

For his part, the Chairman of the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau reviewed the schedule of financial dues between the federal government and the region, stressing the documentation of these dues in the Bureau’s reports, with the addition of notes regarding the delivery of the region’s oil and non-oil revenues to the federal government.

The Chairman of the Financial Supervision Bureau stressed the need for the amendment to include clear mechanisms for liquidating financial advances before the end of the year to avoid their accumulation. He stressed that the agreement based on this amendment is good and implementable, with the need to address the observations referred to.

The senior staff of the Financial Supervision Bureau also provided a briefing on the progress of the procedures for localizing the salaries of the region’s employees, indicating that the localization rate exceeded 80% in the banks accredited by the Central Bank of Iraq, with the end of the year set as the final date for completing the biometric cards to ensure that the problem of duplicate salaries is addressed. link

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Tishwash: The Center for Banking Studies announces its training plan for the year 2025

In the presence of His Excellency the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mr. Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq, the Center for Banking Studies at the Central Bank of Iraq announced its training plan to be implemented during 2025.

The Director General of the Center for Banking Studies, Dr. Mustafa Munir, said that the center will provide specialized accredited courses and tests in the fields of the financial and banking sector, providing workers in this vital sector with accredited international certificates and practices, in addition to providing solid scientific consultations and studies in the financial and banking fields of the Iraqi banking system.

The attendees expressed their interventions regarding the plan and enhancing its details, in light of the observations and suggestions made by each of them at the level of the accredited specialized certificates axis and the workshops and training courses axis, which reflect the actual training needs of banking institutions and non-banking financial institutions, to raise the level of efficiency of the performance of workers in the banking system, towards achieving the goals of sustainable development in implementation of the government program with the required qualitative achievement.

The deliberative meeting concluded with expressing observations and suggestions that would positively reflect on the effectiveness of the training plan to be launched in 2025, and preparing it in its final form, taking into account the flexibility of the plan and its ability to accommodate developments and keep pace with developments.

Central Bank of Iraq
Media Office link

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