Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 15/04/08 - 26/08/08

Demand for dollar drops on Wednesday

Demand for the dollar was down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Wednesday, reaching $113.970 million compared to $165.140 million on Tuesday.

"The demand hit $13.160 million in cash and $100.810 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,196 Iraqi dinars per dollar," according to the central bank's daily bulletin, which was received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

None of the 14 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell dollars.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

Govt. to offer financial facilities for agricultural projects

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday revealed his government's willingness to provide financial facilities for agricultural and irrigation projects in the country.

"During an agricultural committee meeting presided over by al-Maliki and attended by the ministers of agriculture and water resources, the prime minister stressed his government's willingness to offer financial facilities to buy machinery and equipment for agricultural and irrigation projects… and to solve all problems facing the ministries of agriculture and water resources," read a presidential statement received by Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

Highlighting the government's categorical rejection of tied loans, the premier explained that Iraq will not accept any conditions that violate it sovereignty or allow any form of interference in its domestic affairs.
The prime minister called on the committee's officials to give particular attention to the areas to which order has been recently restored by the Iraqi armed forces. He also urged the private sector to play a more active role in the agricultural field.

Aswat Aliraq

Soon: Iraq to announce oil fields available for bidding

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil will soon announce the names of oil fields, which will be available for bidding by foreign companies, according to the country's oil minister.

"The Iraqi cabinet approved the establishment of an Iraqi oil company in the southern province of Missan, which will be assigned to develop oil fields and push up production levels in the province," Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani on Tuesday said in statements to the press from the Iraqi cabinet's headquarters.

"Negotiations are currently underway between the ministry and a number of companies," the minister noted, adding that the first call for biddings will be announced this Monday, June 30.

The minister explained that transparency and openness will be instrumental in the process, which he said will help Iraq benefit from the experience of oil multinationals and increase its production.

Iraq currently produces nearly two million barrels of oil a day, the highest production since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003. Most of the production comes from fields in the southern province of Basra and the northern tips of the country.

The minister further noted that the ministry has not signed any contracts with foreign companies thus far, adding that all contracts "will have to be submitted to the cabinet for prior approval."

"Other considerations will be taken into account while signing the contracts," the minister added, in reference to what he described as the development of the country's infrastructure and the recruitment and training of Iraqi workers.

During the press conference, al-Shahrestani said that the cabinet had agreed to set up a new Iraqi oil company with the name 'Missan Oil Company' with the aim of developing local oil fields in the province.
Missan, one of Iraq's oil-rich cities, suffers from lack of sophisticated oil field facilities.

Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi parliamentary Adoption Act excludes oil and gas soon

Iraqi Deputy excluded from the Kurdistan Alliance, Mahmoud Othman Adoption Legislation Law of oil and gas in the current legislative. He Osman expressed his hope to solve many outstanding issues between the Kurdish and central government during the talks he conducted Mosques Barzani is currently in Baghdad on topics of common interest.

In the introduction to these topics Act of oil, gas and oil contracts, as well as the financial allocations for the Guard troops Territory (PESHMARGA) of the federal budget. Rejected the central government in earlier times to recognize oil contracts signed by the Government of Kurdistan with foreign companies to explore investment and oil fields located within the territory, also rejected Also paying the salaries of more than 190 thousand members of the Guard Territory (PESHMARGA) from the budget of the Defense Ministry Central.

Othman and that "what distinguishes the current talks is to form technical committees resulted from previous visits were able to solve many issues."

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Towards an objective mechanism in the process of borrowing banking

Lending economic activity handled by banks and specialized funds aimed at activating the national economy and filling gaps in want of a citizen .. As well as higher rates of development and living standards and increase the productive activities of the various sectors ..

This activity or approved this policy throughout the globe and photographs very advanced .. The itinerary scramble donors to facilitate and diversify the aim of achieving their goals .. There is a daily movement of active and wide-diligent in interest rates and the variables and calculated daily in the ceilings and loan rates and methods of delivery and its accompanying facilities ..

There are counselling centres for asylum loans "predecessor bank" about how to invest and ways to benefit from the operation, all are in favour of the state's economy ..In order to achieve a dignified life comforting to live and absorb an important aspect of the volume of unemployment .. While creating new job opportunities .. But the image of this activity is still in arrears of debt-to-complex and low volumes of loans and accounts far from the truth of the reality of inflation and worries of rising prices and market movement has always had entered the new year with what was called "The elimination of administrative and financial corruption" as in ages .. Must be balanced with the start of this concept must reconsider this activity and the mobility and fast, because the benefits and advantages required disappear under the new reality.

There are many questions on housing loans are no longer commensurate with the size of the price of raw materials escalating .. No longer sufficient to build part of the House or containing a small ..

The volume of loans do not fill part of the construction process as well as interest borne by the bank loan This fact may constitute a heavy burden already .. If we want to contribute to the development and creation of trust and entertainment citizen .. We must put a new mechanism does not constitute a burden on economic development while contributing to solving the problems of borrowing policy as a humanitarian contribution.

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Position of the evolution of public and private sectors

Associated shifts in the position of the public and private sectors in developed countries shifts in the economic conditions, specifically in terms of the economic cycle and shifts in economic thinking, on the other.

State began the policeman or traditional then transformed into effective and less neutral, then returned again to play less effective and more neutral. In return, we find that the economic history of developing countries, indicates that the governments of those States, have taken a different direction, then turned actor began about the role of Less effective and more neutral, bringing the trend towards expanding public sector peaked in the early sixties of the twentieth century, and then gradually reducing the inaction at the beginning of the eighties as a result of the heightened momentum of privatization, with the increasing role of multinational corporations and the widening scope of globalization.

When reviewing economic history of developed countries, the governments of those countries adopted a neutral stance during periods of prosperity and economic recovery, promoting and pushing of liberal economic thought that was reason to curtail the role of the State Economic and particularly in the areas of production and trade.

And accounted for in traditional activities such as security and defence, and this move came as part of the defence of economic freedom and full competition by requiring an end to all forms of government intervention and monopolistic practices that existed in the commercial capital, which was not contained in an economic crisis Classic, market players were hot or Very Over heated, and were capable of correcting any imbalances or conditions wrong, but ex****bate crises and manifestations of unemployment and stagnation Althelatiniat had proved invalid lawsuits Classic, and opened the way for the application of Keynesian ideas, which calls for the exit of State for traditional neutrality and demanding role adopting developmentally extends to all aspects of economic and social.

Was then retreat from this trend at the beginning of the seventies of the twentieth century after the appearance of supply shocks that followed the outburst of oil prices, and the entry of capitalist economy in a state of stagnation long-term, restoring back to the ideas of liberalism, and the development of ideas school economics supply-led Milton Friedman , Which called for privatization and away from state economic activity. When reviewing economic history of developing countries, the governments of those countries have experienced significant development after achieving political independence, as a result, rushed towards the adoption of options presented by Western models of economic growth, in the absence of curriculum and ideas Economic derived from the local environment and the experience of modern development, missed their options, most often in response to political pressures and external economic rather than reactions to the internal economic pressures, and thus the actions of economic policy were not only a simulation of the economic policies of developed countries, including Rome did not find any rationale For such simulations, laws and economic systems relative and not absolute in time and space, and every community should take them as consistent with the degree of development and institutional arrangements, and therefore what is beneficial to the States gone to great lengths in the development process, may not necessarily be beneficial to the countries still under The brunt of underdevelopment.

Although this does not contradict with the principle of benefiting from the experiences of other countries to adopt those making careful study of the history of developed countries, specifically on the stages which have sought by those countries out of underdevelopment and creating conditions to move towards development, which reveal a vital role in the state Achieve economic progress, protecting the national economy and the capitalist class support, and assist in the process of compiling the surplus directed to the Economic and events capital accumulation necessary for the development process. Based on those developments could be argued that the state play a larger role in the growth process whenever the economy is more backward. Kuznets has acknowledged the influence of Kuznets That premise it, when he drafted in which the premise that underdevelopment growing pressure exerted great paid in units of the private sector entering late into the market to rely increasingly on state authority to help them catch up with more advanced units.

In this same vein connects Aekshtein Eckstein need for extensive state intervention in economic activity following factors:

1. The targets that seek to achieve economic development, where this long-range terms of quantity and quality has increased the need for extensive state intervention in economic activity.

2. Short time horizon when they need to achieve practical goals.

3. Whenever increased scarcity of resources and means available to achieve these goals.

4. More non-economic obstacles to the process of economic change, industrialization, and resulting from the weakness of flexibility or rigidity architecture social, cultural, institutional, since these factors will be reflected in turn the legal and contractual arrangements, the degree Althoudro_khasas, and the degree of social mobility, the nature of the construction class, and the composition of political forces and the size of popular participation In the formulation and implementation of development decisions, and the prevailing system of values, and the cash exchange operations, and how these factors interact with each other.

5. The higher the degree of relative backwardness of the economy.

On the other hand, believes "Aekshtein that" there is a strong correlation between the level of economic development and the opportunities available to the private sector to exercise choice and individual initiative, but it confirms the other hand, the importance of the role of internal constraints, especially technical and resource constraints, which does not leave much room for the selection of institutional form Appropriate for the process of economic development in developing countries.

It can be said in general that the selection process is automatically controlled economies in which the private sector and the market system, either in economies dominated by the public sector and the system of central planning, the selection process and mechanisms for the disposition of productive resources and economic policies are often a function of the direction the political system, more than As a function of economic variables.

And distinguishes "Aekshtein" between five kinds of government intervention in the economic sphere, namely:

1. Government intervention to provide social capital, and maintaining law and order in society, and military and defense post. All of which are being processed normally by government agencies.

2. Provision of basic economic infrastructure, such as central banks and monetary and financial facilities, roads and other public utilities like water and electricity and means of transportation and communication networks, particularly railways.

3. The application of direct control and indirectly through a variety of actions such as customs tariffs and taxes and support the legalization of goods, credit and price controls.

4. The establishment of some government projects, ranging from management of certain industries or certain public projects in various industries, or public ownership of some or all of the means of production.

5. Central planning, which may include complete or partial focus in economic decision-making in the Council of national central planning.

And that each type I and II of government intervention is a minimum of government functions, and represent the dominant pattern in most advanced industrial countries, while the latter type style central planning is comprehensive, represents the upper limit of the functions of government. The more inclusive and speed provided by the Government of the minimum Of its functions, the less pressure or the need for its functioning in the Supreme alone. May be relying on the ceiling of government jobs proof of the government's failure to provide minimum functions in the past and present. And determined the optimum pattern of state intervention in economic activity, in the framework of the Millennium Which seeks to raise the levels of economic and human development to be accompanied by expansion of the scope of the exercise of choice and individual initiative.

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Senators Seek to Stop Iraq Oil Deals

A group of senior U.S. Democratic senators on Tuesday urged the Bush administration to try to stop the Iraqi government from awarding short-term service contracts to major oil companies, saying the no-bid deals could inflame sectarian tensions.

Sens. Charles Schumer of New York, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Claire McCaskill of Missouri said that the deals should not be signed until the Iraqi government completes a long-awaited oil revenue sharing agreement among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

"We can't blame Iraq for its desire to expand its oil production," Schumer said at a news conference. "However signing oil contracts without a revenue sharing law is a recipe for disaster. The glue that was supposed to make the future Iraq stick together was a revenue sharing (agreement) and it is not there."

Iraq's oil ministry on Tuesday said it had completed negotiations on the short-term oil service contracts. The companies involved are Royal Dutch Shell, in partnership with BHP Billiton, Exxon Mobil and Chevron in partnership with Total. Iraq has also been in talks with a consortium of Anadarko, Vitol and Dome.

The U.S. senators wrote a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to ask the Iraqi government to put off signing any oil contracts until agreement is reached on a national oil law.

"We fear that any such agreements signed by Iraq's Hydrocarbon Ministry without an equitable revenue sharing agreement in place would simply add more fuel to Iraq's civil war," the senators wrote. The deals would heighten tensions in Iraq "at the same time that American service members are fighting night and day to reduce the levels of violence," they said.

The State Department said the United States, which has 146,000 troops in Iraq, has no say in the matter.

"Since the United States has had no involvement in this, I'm not sure on what basis the United States could 'block' the Iraqi government from contracting it the way it sees fit," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "It's a decision for the Iraqis to make."

Iraq's cabinet agreed to a draft oil law in February 2007, but it has failed to get it through parliament partly because of disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad over who will control oil reserves and contracts.

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Presidents Talabani and Bush Discuss Iraq’s Situation

The Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is going to meet US President George W. Bush today in Washington. Iraqi-Us Long Term Agreement and Iraq’s Situation in general are key issues to be discussed between both Presidents.

The White House Spokesperson Gordon Johndroe said in a press statement “The U.N’s Mandate will expire at the end of this year. The Iraqis informed US that they don’t want renewal of that mandate but prefer to ink an agreement with the US to organize the future of partnership in Iraq.”

PUKmedia :: English - Presidents Talabani and Bush Discuss Iraq’s Situation

Al-Azzawi: Commission uproot the Baath completed draft amendments to the law of accountability and justice

The member of the de-Baathification committee in the House of Representatives Iraqi Accord Front deputy, Rashid Al-Azzawi, "The Commission has completed draft law recognizes the introduction of several amendments to the Law on the accountability and justice responsible for the file of the dissolved Baath party in Iraq after the abolition of the de-Baathification."

The Iraqi parliament has endorsed in February of last month to establish the accountability and justice alternative to uproot the Baath Party that was formed by the President dissolved the coalition authority in Iraq, Paul Bremer.

And between Al-Azzawi in an interview with "Uzmatik", today, Wednesday, that "most of the amendments will be made on the law, are not covered by elements of the security services who had belonged to the Baath Party and who are currently in the Iraqi military institutions, procedures for exemption from the posts they occupy."

Al-Azzawi and added that "the amendments also provide for the non-inclusion of former Baath Party members who have left the Labour Party during their years in the seventies and eighties and early nineties of the last century, summary dismissal from employment or retired or prevention work in government departments," as he put it.

The Al-Azzawi said, "These amendments aim to lift the injustice that has afflicted many Iraqi citizens who were expelled from their posts following in 2003, simply for belonging to the dissolved Baath Party."

Member of the de-Baathification committee in the House of Representatives Iraqi said, "These amendments will contribute to the success of the initiative of national reconciliation among the components of the Iraqi people, and emphasizing the prosecution of Baathist elements that have committed crimes against the Iraqi people."

Al-Azzawi and demanded the Iraqi government to expedite the appointment of seven judges who will oversee the work of the accountability and justice under the law approved by parliament of the Iraqi body.

It is noteworthy that the national reconciliation initiative launched by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in 2006 in several states including procedures, abolish the law of de-Baathification, to ease restrictions on officers and staff of government departments, the Iraqi who belonged to the Baath Party, during the rule of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Translated version of http://iraqalaan.com/

Kurds sign oil deals with S.Korea firms
Iraq's Kurdish region has signed two production sharing deals with a South Korean consortium, the second such announcement in as many days despite complaints from the central government that deems the contracts illegal.

Oil deals have caused tensions between the largely autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq and central government. The Kurdish regional government (KRG) has shrugged off Baghdad's objections and says the constitution permits it to sign deals with international oil companies.

Disputes between the Kurds and Baghdad have held up a national oil law that aims to bring much-needed investment to Iraq's energy sector. Iraq holds the world's third-largest oil reserves, mostly found in the north near the Kurdish region and the south around Basra.

The contracts with the South Korean consortium, headed by state-owned Korea National Oil Corp., sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed in February, the KRG said on its website on Wednesday.

Aside from the two new production sharing agreements (PSAs), the consortium will take smaller stakes in six other blocks that will give it access to an estimated 1.9 billion barrels of oil, KNOC said on Wednesday. The eight blocks hold oil reserves of 7.2 billion barrels.

In return for the oil, KNOC has agreed to invest in a massive five-year infrastructure programme worth as much as $10.8 billion to be undertaken by South Korean companies in the Kurdish region, South Korea's Ssangyong Engineering & Construction said in a statement. The first phase of the programme is worth around $2.1 billion.

Ssangyong is one of the group of companies that will build the power plants and distribution networks, water purification, highways and schools. Others in the consortium include Hyundai Engineering Engineering & Construction, Kolon Construction and Doosan Construction.

Iraq needs billions of dollars to modernise its oil industry and raise output after decades of sanctions and war. South Korea, the world's 10th largest energy consumer, wants to secure stable energy supplies as it imports 96 percent of its oil.

Baghdad halted oil exports to Korea's SK Energy in January in response to SK signing a deal with the Kurdish region.

"Kurdish prime minister Nechirvan Barzani plans to explain to the central government the contributions that Korean firms are making... and he does not expect any negative response to the deal, given their improving relations," KNOC said in a statement on Wednesday.

Barzani was in Baghdad this week to discuss the oil law with the central government.

On Tuesday, the KRG announced it had signed oil contracts with Canada's Talisman Energy.

The Kurdish region aims to raise output to one million barrels per day (bpd) in around five years but little exploration has been carried out in the region.

Resource-hungry South Korea aims to boost the state reserve that is to be used in the event of oil shocks and produce 18 percent of its own oil needs by 2013.

Currently Asia's fourth-largest oil user only pumps about 4 percent of its 2.2 million bpd of demand.

Its latest efforts to raise its reserves, however, hit a snag, as a gas consortium working on a Myanmar project agreed last week to sell natural gas to China National Petroleum Corp.

The gas consortium, which includes state-run Korea Gas Corp., had to give up exporting natural gas to South Korea due to Myanmar's preference for transportation through pipelines.

South Korea is a relative latecomer to the Asian rush for overseas energy purchases, with the state flagships of China, India and even Japan making significant inroads this decade with major deals from central Asia to Africa to South America.

It has 16.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent reserves and participates in 123 oil and gas projects. (Reuters)

Kurds sign oil deals with S.Korea firms - Energy - ArabianBusiness.com