Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. before Febuary 2nd 2006

Originally Posted by Lunar

The revitalization of the Iraqi trade with the countries of the world,

Source : The Iraqi Media Network southern region.
23 / 01 / 2007

The Ministry of Commerce has prepared a program to stimulate economic and trade relations with the countries of the world, and to benefit from its potential. An official source in the ministry in a press statement : 'The Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the Ministry prepared a program would improve Iraq's economic relations and trade with the countries of the world on the basis of mutual benefit, in addition to its relations with the countries that halted its relations with Iraq after 1990'. He added : 'The steps are part of the ministry's policy for the current year to coordinate the efforts of Iraqi ministries and bodies concerned with international organizations and international companies to standardize work in the service of the development of bilateral trade and the national economy
'. On the other hand, the ministry assigned some international companies competent to examine the goods to examine the foodstuffs in the loading ports in the country of origin in conjunction with the Iraqi technical ones to ensure the supply of high quality materials. The Almusdrali : 'that the import in the ministry would refrain from the purchase of goods equipped prove bad'. He added : "the follow-up commercial control agents and carriers to ensure that the replacement of material processed '.

How can Iraq have trade programs with other countries if they can't afford it. For instance, if Iraq wants to import lumbar from Canada, and a 2x4 costs $2 /canadian...then it would cost approx. 2300 dinar. Unless Iraq decides to use all of its Oil sales which are in US dollars or euros, they really can't afford to do business. I think that is why the budget is tied into the HCL and we will have to wait for both to be done before we hear of them. And if the kURDS have taken exception to any of the proposed law, well you know they wil hold it up till they like it...we maybe waitng awhile.

Originally Posted by jedi17

How can Iraq have trade programs with other countries if they can't afford it. For instance, if Iraq wants to import lumbar from Canada, and a 2x4 costs $2 /canadian...then it would cost approx. 2300 dinar. Unless Iraq decides to use all of its Oil sales which are in US dollars or euros, they really can't afford to do business. I think that is why the budget is tied into the HCL and we will have to wait for both to be done before we hear of them. And if the kURDS have taken exception to any of the proposed law, well you know they wil hold it up till they like it...we maybe waitng awhile.

I believe Iraq is further ahead then they are revealing...politically and financially.
I don't necessarily agree that we'll be waiting a while as any objections from the Kurds should be resolved quickly....they hold the biggest ace.

todays cbi rate 1295....no change

nnouncement No.(849)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 849 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Wednesday 2007/ 1/24 so the results were as follows :
Details Notes
Number of banks 11 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1295 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ ----- -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 65.810.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) -----
Total offers for buying (US $) 65.810.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) ----- -----

الربيعيBaghdad Haider spring
.The whole poles economic decision that the 2007 budget, which was the largest in the history of Iraq is able to promote our service and physical required if directed allocations, according to a planned carefully and follow-up mechanisms for implementation and supervision of a high official.



فيما ..With the number of specialists in the economic field for the need to speed up the adoption of the current year budget, and work on what came from allocations for the advancement of the country by residential and service in various fields.
ما .They warned of the failures that may be due to administrative corruption stressing the importance that the government is working on the follow-up mechanisms to implement what was stated in that budget plans and urban health, education and service will be strictly to the upgrading of the Iraqi reality in a comprehensive manner.
في ا.In the meantime, the extensive discussions have taken place between members of the House and a number of specialists approval and stand on the key strengths and address the contents of the negative aspects, and had recommended a number of attendees to speed up the adoption of the budget because it contained a large investment funds benefit of Iraq to set up many vital projects which is dire need them.
المصادقةCall to speed up the ratification
فقد .He called on the Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation on Papan the House of Representatives to speed up the ratification of the budget for the current year.
.He said during a discussion of the financial budget for the current year in the House of Representatives : that the ratification of the budget will reflect positively on the completion of many projects. The delay in ratification would delay the completion of those projects. Stressing that the government could, in this circumstance is difficult to develop a budget not by any previous government, which is encouraging the completion of the budget plans of all ministries during the current year if implemented carefully. Noting that the Ministry of Planning is now in the light of the slogan calling for the establishment of more investment projects and state benefits, and the priority in these projects. The Papan that some rates of achievement in the past year in some ministries were low because of the security situation facing Iraq.
عام لتنفيذ المشاريع الاستثماريةFor the implementation of investment projects
من ..For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih during discussions on the need to see Iraq through this year, the implementation of the largest possible number of projects that serve the citizens and the Iraqi economy. He pointed out that the last phase of the budget took up most of the financing aspect of security, because it represents the first priority in the lives of citizens, in addition to the financing items ration card, he said, pointing out that last year, not at the level desired by the government or the House of Representatives in terms of the implementation of projects.
وبين..And the benefit that the current budget is the largest in the history of Iraq, therefore, it must be this year overview of the implementation of investment projects that will be a factor in lifting the economy and the elimination of unemployment.
..Saleh also pointed to the need to feel the improvement in the security situation citizen and service and working to find ways to Pavhamh that the government was working towards raising the standard of living for him.
وعن ..Regarding the implementation of the programs and plans of the lag in the implementation of projects not in the lack of appropriate funds, but the imbalance in the administrative corruption and mechanisms wrong is the most important reasons for wasting public money and not put in its proper place.
ميزانية استثماريةBudget investment
محافظ.Central Bank Governor Sinan Shabibi said, in turn : that the new budget is an investment budget and the size of a large investment in economic terms. He added during the budget debate this year in the House of Representatives said that the Central Bank's role is to address the imbalance resulting from the development process that will produce changes in the economic structure are basic.
.Shabibi explained that the Central Bank is working on the development of a stable monetary, in addition to the bank concerned by all means and contexts that achieve economic stability and dealing with inflation.
وتابع..He continued Shabibi that our budget for the preservation of resources, and this will be done by the fight against inflation, and we have a number of measures including raising the exchange rate of the dinar. He pointed out that the impact of this measure in the budget through influence in the purchasing power of the government.
وأفاد ..He said that this policy will increase confidence in the dinar will pull some of the money to the banking sector and the rationalization of government expenditure which will limit inflation.
.And that this will lead to the reduction of import prices, such as imports, the private sector and the import of the government's development comes through the transformation of the Iraqi dinar to the dollar.
..While many supporters as stated in the details of the budget and the figures put forward, and call for early ratification, but it was met with objections also on some of the points that some considered vague and needed to be amended, the Virtue Party, in the words of President bloc in the parliament hinted that it is very likely that no vote his party on the current year budget of the ambiguity and lack of clarity in some of what was reported in the paragraphs.
اقي.And Hassan al-Shamri added in a press statement : There are several observations on the budget include the titles are unclear and ambiguous title of which (social benefits) contained in the budget (the presidency of the republic and the prime minister and the Ministry of Finance), as the allocations for this confusing title (in the words of al-Shamri) 5 trillion and 125 billion and 50 million Iraqi dinars.
.He pointed out that this ambiguity and lack of clarity provide an opportunity for embezzlement, theft, in addition to the title (the activity of the State), which has been allocated is also significant.
.The Shamari said that the budget pointed to the allocation of grants to the Kurdistan region and the failure to allocate a similar spending for the rest of the governorates and there between the figures for the numbers of sovereign sites earmarked for spending points which are prejudicing the lives of the people and their rights.
.He stressed that it is necessary for members of the House of Representatives claim the reasoning behind the views of expenditure by ministries to the Ministry of Finance found in terms of the accuracy of the figures, and the priority points expenditure.
.There are several observations on the budget include the titles are unclear and ambiguous title of which (social benefits) contained in the budget (the presidency of the republic and the prime minister and the Ministry of Finance), as the allocations for this confusing title (in the words of al-Shamri) 5 trillion and 125 billion and 50 million Iraqi dinars.
.He pointed out that this ambiguity and lack of clarity provide an opportunity for embezzlement, theft, in addition to the title (the activity of the State), which has been allocated is also significant.
.The Shamari said that the budget pointed to the allocation of grants to the Kurdistan region and the failure to allocate a similar spending for the rest of the governorates and there between the figures for the numbers of sovereign sites earmarked for spending points which are prejudicing the lives of the people and their rights.
.He stressed that it is necessary for members of the House of Representatives claim the reasoning behind the views of expenditure by ministries to the Ministry of Finance found in terms of the accuracy of the figures, and the priority points expenditure.
Translated version of http://www.alsabaah.com/

still no word on the voting of the budget, strange

Baghdad-justice decreased demand for the dollar purchase auction in the Central Bank of Iraq yesterday, Tuesday, recording 60 million and 605 thousand dollars against 104 million and 240 thousand dollars yesterday. He said in a statement received by the Central News Agency

Voices of Iraq) independent copy of the purchase orders were distributed by 13 million and 105 thousand dollars in cash and 47 million 500 thousand dollars in the form of bank transfers covered in full at 1295 dinars against 1298 dinars yesterday, down 3 dinars. Scope and that the 14 banks participating in the auction, did not submit offers to sell the dollar. The expert, economic and industrial Sadiq Abdul Razzaq as far as that, despite the drop in demand for the dollar, but it is still within the limits of high circulation. He attributed the rise in demand as far in recent days to reduce the margin decrease daily calorie and the high number of participating banks in addition to the entry of the Ministry of Finance as at auction
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الظاهرةThe researcher economic bodies responsible for the movement of funds in Iraq to the need to hold a number of informative seminars on money laundering in banks and the means of combating it. He said Mustafa Saad, a researcher at the Center for Economic Research in Baghdad, said : "It is important definition at the present time the risks incurred by banks may result in the use of money laundering, and ways to overcome them and inform citizens and cadres career in the banks, in particular through symposia on the means of money laundering and how to deal with it." He pointed out : "The importance of these seminars in circumstances unambiguous result of repeated robberies of banks and the complexities of the current phase due to the security situation deteriorating on the other hand." He stressed : "The need to be dealt with the Iraqi banks professional principle of transparency through disclosure of its operations in the domestic stock markets with the necessity of imposing restrictions on supermarket banking and remittance companies in order to organize the transfer of funds in the country with tightened control over the funds and the coming of it." Prearranged : "the coming days because of the specificity of economic ready for the House to approve the final budget." The researcher : "Iraq is one of the few countries that have not experienced such as banking movement of this type of crime because of the Penal Code, which requires working on the follow-up to this phenomen

جريدة المواطن العراقية

Now that is a curious statement

The Ministry of Commerce has prepared a program to stimulate economic and trade relations with the countries of the world, and to benefit from its potential. An official source in the ministry in a press statement : "The Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the Ministry prepared a

Would upgrading Iraq's economic relations and trade with the countries of the world on the basis of mutual benefit, in addition to its relations with the countries that halted its relations with Iraq after 1990. " He added : "There are steps within the ministry's policy for the current year to coordinate the efforts of Iraqi ministries and bodies concerned with international organizations and international companies to standardize work in the service of the development of bilateral trade and the national economy
. " On the other hand, the ministry assigned some international companies competent to examine the goods to examine the foodstuffs in the loading ports in the country of origin in conjunction with the Iraqi technical ones to ensure the supply of high quality materials. The Almusdrali : "that the import in the ministry would refrain from the purchase of goods equipped prove mediocrity." He added : "the follow-up commercial control agents and carriers to ensure that the replacement of material processed."

Compromise requires balancing sharply divided interests, ethnic groups

Updated: 1:05 a.m. CT Jan 24, 2007

Four months ago, about 80 oil company executives and consultants packed an office on St. James's Square in London for a briefing on exploration prospects in Iraq's Kurdish region and a Kurdish draft of an Iraqi national petroleum law.

Despite the immense risks of working in Iraq -- pipeline explosions, kidnappings, insurgency, political infighting -- the oil company executives were lured by the potential rewards, which are immense, too. Outside Saudi Arabia, no country has proven oil reserves as big as Iraq's. And the oil there is high quality, easy and cheap to produce, and bottled up in reservoirs that many major oil companies were familiar with three decades ago before wars and sanctions drove them out.

"Exxon Mobil has more seismic data on Iraq than on Houston real estate," says Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. who used to work for Mobil. "If Exxon had security on the ground, the following day it would have crews there," Gheit said. "And money would be no object."
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Gheit estimated that Iraq could easily produce 6 million barrels a day, more than three times its current output and enough to help keep a lid on world prices.

Four months after the London meeting, however, security remains elusive and so does the national petroleum law. Barham Saleh, Iraq's deputy prime minister, said in a recent telephone interview that a compromise was "very, very close."

The proposed law has taken on significance beyond oil. While Iraq and foreign oil companies are eager to tap new revenue, the Bush administration and many Iraqis also hope that the law can be a model for resolving disputes and can bind Iraq's warring factions together.

Agreement has been reached on sharing oil revenue on a per-capita basis, a benefit for Sunnis who live mostly in areas with less production. A deal also has been struck that recognizes the power of regional authorities, such as the Kurdish Regional Government, to award oil contracts, but establishes a national petroleum commission with the power to review contracts within 60 days. A "revamped" national oil company would continue to manage existing production while new regional affiliates would participate in new exploration and production.

"We need to close the deal on one or two small issues," Saleh said. "A number of the major issues have been resolved."

But an adviser to the Kurdish authorities said those "small issues" included some significant details. On Friday, the Kurdistan Regional Government posted an item on its Web site denying news reports that a deal was complete. The "important annexes to the law are still pending," it said.

Outstanding issues include how much oil revenue will go to the central government; a charter for the new national oil company; the role of the oil ministry; and the principles upon which the new commission could reject regionally negotiated contracts. Also unsettled is whether the commission will require a simple majority vote or a two-thirds vote to reject a contract's terms. Those provisions must all be part of one package with the petroleum law, Kurdish leaders said.

If the Shia-dominated Iraqi central government spends heavily on its own projects, it could deny the Kurds and other regional authorities significant shares of oil revenue.

Even if negotiators agree on a draft, it must win approval from Iraq's cabinet and fractious parliament, which hasn't met in weeks.

The United States has been pressing Iraq to complete the law. "As awful as the Saddam Hussein government was, it did have a record of dealing with foreign investors that wasn't that bad," said James A. Placke, an expert at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "That's gone and hasn't been replaced."

Now, forging a petroleum law requires a balancing of sharply divided interest and ethnic groups, not just the word of a dictator.

"This is not a regular piece of Iraqi legislation being signed off on," said Jonathan Morrow, an adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government. If successful, he said, "it . . . might show the way forward in Iraq."
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Saleh suggested that a deal might discourage attacks on oil installations and reduce corruption. "Since we all agree on revenue sharing, all elements of Iraqi society will have an interest in maximizing revenues and best business practices," he said.

For now, however, the oil sector is a mess. Since the first attack on a pipeline on June 1, 2003, it has been a struggle to keep oil flowing. Basic production equipment has been looted or destroyed. Many wells still are not working properly. And last year, the U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction complained that Iraq's oil ministry was not reporting on its budget and had spent "only a fraction" of money set aside for capital costs.

While the Bush administration once thought that Iraqi oil revenue would cover occupation and reconstruction costs, the Iraq government still relies heavily on U.S. technical and financial aid. Placke estimated that Iraq produced 1.85 million barrels a day last year, less than the year before, less than the prewar output and well below the U.S. target of 3 million barrels a day.

Placke, who was part of the Iraq Study Group, estimated that 200,000 barrels a day is siphoned from the main export line through southern Iraq, put on barges, and loaded onto tankers waiting in the Persian Gulf. What's left after discounts and bribes goes to militias or insurgent groups, he said.

In the south, some local Shia militia, clan or clerical groups are trying to claim the rights to some Iraqi fields and a voice in negotiating access for foreign companies. A stake in a billion-barrel field could be more important than a stake in the parliament or cabinet. Some experts worry that, as in Sudan, oil could contribute more to tearing the country apart than to uniting it.

A senior Iraqi government official involved in the petroleum-law talks said that if militias and clans were to cut separate deals with foreign companies, it would be a "recipe for disaster and civil war." He warned foreign companies against signing such deals. "We are very interested in credible investment in the oil sector," he said. "We cannot afford to have these cowboys running around trying to manipulate the situation in Iraq."

The national petroleum law remains a touchy subject in part because of widespread suspicion that the U.S. invasion in 2003 was motivated by designs on Iraq's oil riches.

The Iraq Study Group report contained three pages of recommendations for the sector, including suggestions that international oil companies invest in the country and the government fight corruption on contracts.

"Before embarking on controversial measures such as this law favoring foreign oil firms, the Iraqi parliament and government must prove that they are capable of protecting the country's sovereignty," Kamil Mahdi, a senior lecturer in Middle East economics at the University of Exeter in England, wrote in the Guardian newspaper. "A government that is failing to protect the lives of its citizens must not embark on controversial legislation that ties the hands of future Iraqi leaders, and which threatens to squander the Iraqis' precious, exhaustible resource in an orgy of waste, corruption and theft."

In a telephone interview, Mahdi said, "My main worry is that if I were an official in the ministry of oil negotiating a contract and living under the kind of threats that people in Iraq are daily experiencing, I would probably be in a very weak negotiating position."

While the debate continues, the Kurdistan Regional Government is pushing ahead. In 2002, at the suggestion of Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish leader who is now Iraq's president, the Turkish conglomerate Cukurova Group set up an oil unit called Genel Enerji to look for oil in Kurdistan. Genel signed a production-sharing agreement in July 2002 and took over the Taq Taq oil field in February 2003 on the eve of the U.S-led invasion. It signed another exploration contract in July 2005. A Norwegian firm, DNO, and a Canadian firm, Heritage Oil, also struck exploration and production deals in the Kurdish region.

Tariq Shafiq, a former executive of Iraq National Oil and director of the consulting firm Petrolog & Associates, has drawn up three contracts -- service, buyback and production-sharing -- that the government will use in its new petroleum law. He said the Kurdish production-sharing contracts give away too much to the foreign companies; he said that after paying for capital and operations costs, as much as 55 percent of the oil goes to the foreign firms. "These, in the eye of many, are illegal and would have to undergo review to bring them in line with this law," he said.

But Kurdish authorities said they have no intention of submitting existing contracts for review. Duran said Genel's contract was renegotiated last November and falls within the 20 percent share production that would be the ceiling under the new law. "The commercial terms of the PSA are in conformity with internationally acceptable PSA terms," Duran said in an e-mail response to questions. "Therefore, our PSA is not generous at all."

Major U.S. oil companies haven't signed any contracts in Kurdistan yet. Some of them have tried to build goodwill with the central government. Chevron, for example, helped clear mines from the coastline. Others have collected seismic data or trained Iraqi oil company technicians in Dubai.

Some major companies from other nations -- Russia's Lukoil, a Chinese state company, France's Total -- are hoping to get their big Hussein-era concessions back. Their prospects remain uncertain.
© 2007 The Washington Post Company

WP: Iraq struggles to finish oil law - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

The whole poles economic decision that the 2007 budget, which was the largest in the history of Iraq is able to promote our service and physical required if directed allocations, according to a planned carefully and follow-up mechanisms for implementation and supervision of a high official.

With the number of specialists in the economic field for the need to speed up the adoption of the current year budget, and work on what came from allocations for the advancement of the country by residential and service in various fields.
They warned of the failures that may be due to administrative corruption stressing the importance that the government is working on the follow-up mechanisms to implement what was stated in that budget plans and urban health, education and service will be strictly to the upgrading of the Iraqi reality in a comprehensive manner.
In the meantime, the extensive discussions have taken place between members of the House and a number of specialists approval and stand on the key strengths and address the contents of the negative aspects, and had recommended a number of attendees to speed up the adoption of the budget because it contained a large investment funds benefit of Iraq to set up many vital projects which is dire need them.
Call to speed up the ratification
He called on the Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation on Papan the House of Representatives to speed up the ratification of the budget for the current year.
He said during a discussion of the financial budget for the current year in the House of Representatives : that the ratification of the budget will reflect positively on the completion of many projects. The delay in ratification would delay the completion of those projects. Stressing that the government could, in this circumstance is difficult to develop a budget not by any previous government, which is encouraging the completion of the budget plans of all ministries during the current year if implemented carefully. Noting that the Ministry of Planning is now in the light of the slogan calling for the establishment of more investment projects and state benefits, and the priority in these projects. The Papan that some rates of achievement in the past year in some ministries were low because of the security situation facing Iraq.
For the implementation of investment projects
For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih during discussions on the need to see Iraq through this year, the implementation of the largest possible number of projects that serve the citizens and the Iraqi economy. He pointed out that the last phase of the budget took up most of the financing aspect of security, because it represents the first priority in the lives of citizens, in addition to the financing items ration card, he said, pointing out that last year, not at the level desired by the government or the House of Representatives in terms of the implementation of projects.
And the benefit that the current budget is the largest in the history of Iraq, therefore, it must be this year overview of the implementation of investment projects that will be a factor in lifting the economy and the elimination of unemployment.