“Tidbits From TNT” Thursday Morning 12-26-2024

TNT:

Tishwash:  Expert diagnoses two reasons behind the rise of the dollar against the dinar in Iraq

The economic and financial expert, Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, attributed, on Wednesday, the reasons for the rise of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar to the rumor of the holidays and New Year's Day.

Al-Mashhadani said in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, "The promotion of stopping the platform is a major reason for the rise in the price of the dollar," indicating that "this rumor that spread showed that foreign transfers will stop."

He explained that "this rumor is false, as 97% of the transfers made through the window were transferred to banks that have correspondent banks in a way that enhances the balances. Also, the Christmas holiday is another reason for the demand for the dollar, as there is a lot of travel during these days."

Al-Mashhadani expected that "the situation will stabilize and the dollar will return to its normal status after the holiday."

The price of the dollar rose gradually in local markets, where it recorded 152,300 dinars for every 100 dollars in the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, and 152,200 dinars for every 100 dollars in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.  link

************

Tishwash:  Government Advisor: Iraq Seeks to Establish Sovereign Wealth Fund

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed that Iraq is seeking to establish a sovereign wealth fund.

Saleh told Al Furat News Agency: "Iraq seeks to establish a sovereign wealth fund, especially after the conflicts and wars that have been going on for less than half a century, and the previous regime's major role in wasting the country's resources and wealth, have transformed the surplus in the current account of the balance of payments into a net deficit due to the deterioration of the national economy's export sectors, most notably the oil sector."

Saleh pointed out that "the increase in foreign debts in the past decades was an alternative to establishing a sovereign fund for foreign wealth that relies on surplus oil revenues that can be invested in a diversified investment portfolio whose returns support the state's general budget in general and the investment budget, according to the absorption capacity in particular, similar to countries such as Norway, China, the Gulf countries, and other countries of the world."

Iraq has previous experience in establishing a sovereign wealth fund, through the establishment of the Iraqi Fund for External Development, which was established under Law No. 77 of 1974. However, after that, the work of this fund was limited to managing Iraq’s financial contributions to regional and international organizations and bodies. There was also an attempt to establish two sovereign funds for Iraq in 2018, but they remained without practical implementation.

Countries' economies are divided into three categories based on their source of income: economies with diverse sources of income, economies with a single source of income (“single-basket economies”), and the third category is between them. 

Iraq falls within the second group, as Iraq is considered a rentier state, due to its almost complete dependence on revenues from the sale of crude oil, as oil revenues constitute more than “90 percent” of the total revenues of the general budget, and contribute about “45-60 percent” of the formation of the gross domestic product.  link

************

Tishwash:  Parliamentary Finance Committee comments on the fluctuation of the dollar price and threatens to host the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Jamal Kocher, described on Wednesday the fluctuation of the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market as "temporary", while he indicated that if the rise continues, we will head to host the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq.

Kocher told Shafak News Agency, "The Parliamentary Finance Committee is closely following up with the Central Bank the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market, and that the rise and fall of the exchange rate is temporary and not fixed."

He added that "if the rise continues during the coming period, there will be another opinion from the House of Representatives," adding that "the Finance Committee, if the rise continues, will head to host the Governor of the Central Bank in the House of Representatives."

The Iraqi market witnessed a significant increase in the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, as it exceeded 150 thousand dinars for every hundred dollars, despite the government measures taken to control its price in the parallel market.

It is noteworthy that since the beginning of 2023, Washington has intervened to limit the smuggling of dollars from Iraq, which led to its price rising in the local market to a record level of 170,000 dinars per 100 dollars, due to the decline in the Central Bank of Iraq’s sales of dollars, before it declined again and the Central Bank returned to selling dollars at auction.

It is worth noting that currency smuggling is ongoing, despite controls on banks, and is carried out via bags transported overland to Turkey and Iran, after withdrawing dollars from the local market and not through the official dollar selling window. Specialists have called it “black transfers,” and it has become a phenomenon that has not been controlled at the moment.

In addition to the "black transfers", Iraq witnessed other operations to withdraw the dollar at its official price and sell it at the parallel market price, by exploiting the dollar granted to travelers, returning to Iraq and selling it to achieve large profits. The name "sailors" was given to those who do this work, especially some travel and tourism companies.  link

Mot:  ... Dang!! -- Tough Night Hes Having fur Sure!!!

Mot: ......... How Can Ya Tell the age -----duct tape on tree box