Thread: Archive Latest News - Dinar Think Tank - 27/08/08 - 15/01/09

Originally Posted by Seaview

Central Bank confirms its intention to delete the zeros of the Iraqi currency

The Central Bank of Iraq adviser, on Wednesday, the bank's determination to proceed with the project to delete the zeros of the Iraqi dinar to convert thousand dinars to one dinar, referring to the adoption of long-term plan for the project, which would be reluctant to cash the huge bloc in Iraq.

The appearance of Dr. Mohammad Saleh, said that "the bank will, in any case, long-term plan for the implementation of the project, in order to avoid any disruption reflected in the cash arena, which will move based on studies and slow and accurate resolution of all problems in the trading bloc committed a result of enormity of cash in the bulging Iraqi market."

The factors of this action, which he described as very important by saying that "Iraq is one of the countries hit by hyper-inflation in more than two decades ago, reflected in hyperinflation, for example, increased monetary issuance of approximately 25 billion dinars in the early nineties, as in 2003 Six thousand billion."

He added, "If we add significant structural changes on the size of the budget that is the source of monetary expansion in the bloc, we can say that the country does not have the discussions thus a large amount of cash currency units, a legacy of a hyper-inflation."

And that "many countries of the world suffered from this problem and turned their economies towards relative stability, it must find a solution to curb the enormous mass of cash to facilitate exchange of cash in Iraqi society, which mainly deal Tdaullach cash now rather than the use of means of payment, advanced banking."

He added, "This means we need urgently to the availability of substantial monetary value categories of small-scale return to any sense of the payments system easy to use and lead to facilitate transactions."

He cites the example of the saying that in the category in 1980 was equivalent to 25 dinars then more than $ 75, the largest category of cash at the time, while in the highest category at present is the key category of 25 thousand dinars, and equals only $ 23."

The "to note the difference .. that Iraq needs to be large groups in value - as we have a small size to facilitate the exchange and perform the functions of the various money."

The interest of clarifying the problems impeding the performance of existing cash, saying: "The problems of one of the" dollarisation "the Iraqi economy, the demand for dollars category per cent to facilitate large transactions paid in cash, which represents about 120 foreign currency thousand dinars, which means that the actual Iraqi economy needs to Category or categories of him cash to facilitate the exchange value of cash, especially in large deals. "

And on the extent of the Bank's approach to the deletion of zeros, the central bank advisor said "it is intended and studies in this regard that any groups are circulating a new progressive and comfortable and not limited to the replacement."

He noted that "this will give a lot of prosperity and stability in the availability of liquidity high and strong and facilitate transactions in line with the stage of growth and economic prosperity optimistic that Iraq will happen in the months or years to come." Available, that "relatively long-term project would be included in the cash economy to gradually add a lot of comfort and harmony in the economic situation."

The "trend is the deletion of three zeroes, instead of cash from the deal even though monetary issuance of $ 18 trillion dinars deal even though the economy of not more than 15 billion dinars, a mass of different categories of comfortable Bsal criticism, circulation and encourages banks to accept cash deposits."

"We know for example that one of the biggest problems at the present time the problem of counting and counting and verification of counterfeit currency or the offense, and this burden to the banking system, the burden on the citizen as well."

The consultant concluded the central bank to say that "low cost counting and counting and other leads to a decline in inflation by an estimated rate of 3%, resulting from the cost of cash transactions of large deals, have citizen in Basra for example, to transfer funds to Iraq through cash into the category of the dollar, Potential burdens and costs and commissions arising from the conversion process. It cost added to the prices inevitably transactions.

Translated version of http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNewsAr.aspx?id=6957

Any more comments on this?
Perhaps a few words from past posters who have contributed great insight.

You know, I still think it is a wait and see as to how this plays out. Hope that these articles are put out deliberately to confuse, but accept that this may very well be the case.

I am more and more believing this is the case and if it is, it is still possible to make a profit (not as much obviously) by converting the dinar to the new dinar currency and holding because I'm sure the rate will increase over the next few years after zero's are removed. If this happens at all.

I haven't posted much this week because of the EID holiday, there is news out there but not important news, however, back to full steam next week.

Analysis: Stable Iraq could influence Mideast

As violence in Iraq recedes, neighboring states are pondering how to deal with an unwieldy country that could re-emerge as a key player along with Saudi Arabia and Iran in one of the world's most strategic regions.

The role of regional power broker may seem far-fetched for Iraq — a devastated land best known for car bombs, death squads and suicide attackers.

Still, countries of the Middle East cannot ignore the potential role of a resurgent Iraq, a nation of 28 million people, bordering Iran to the east, Syria and Jordan to the west and sitting on one of the world's major pools of oil.

For those reasons, the United States cannot afford to lose focus on Iraq, which will remain a strategic and important country even after the last of the 140,000 American soldiers have gone home.

Clearly Iraq is a long way from re-establishing itself as a major force in the region. In a first step, however, representatives of 35 international oil companies are to meet this month with Iraq's oil minister in London to discuss improving Iraqi gas and oil fields. Fellow Arab countries are talking about upgrading their relations with Iraq.

Iraq is likely to play a significant role in America's Middle East policy for decades — even as the Pentagon scales down military operations here and ramps them up in Afghanistan.

The Middle East has long confounded forecasters, and the rosy predictions from the Bush administration that Iraq would emerge as a beacon of Western-style democracy in the Arab world have been long discredited.

However unlikely it may seem today, a relatively stable Iraq would have all the cards necessary to emerge as a major player in the Persian Gulf, where Saudi Arabia and Iran are competing for leadership.

Those three countries account for most of the population and most of the oil in the Gulf, which has about 60 percent of the world's proven reserves.

How the three deal with one another will shape the Middle East for decades.

Iraq's vast oil reserves alone should guarantee the country a major regional role.

Current estimates put Iraq's proven oil reserves at 115 billion barrels. But many experts believe that figure could rise by another 70 billion to 80 billion barrels once better security allows for renewed exploration.
If those estimates prove accurate, Iraq would have the world's second-largest proven oil reserves behind Saudi Arabia and ahead of Iran.

As Iran and Saudi Arabia compete for influence in the region, each has a strong interest in using Iraq as leverage against the other.

Neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia can afford to have Iraq throw itself solidly behind the other. Each wants a stable Iraq — but not one strong enough to threaten its neighbors as when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

In competing for influence in Iraq, Iran would seem to have the advantage. Most of Iran's nearly 70 million people are Shiites, the Muslim sect that includes about 60 percent of Iraq's population.

Iran offered asylum to thousands of Iraqi Shiites who fled Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime. Many of them returned home to assume positions of power after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

Iran has also cultivated close ties with the Kurds, who along with the Shiites have dominated political life in Iraq since the fall of Saddam.

Despite those advantages, Iran faces major obstacles in building influence in a country with bitter memories of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and a legacy of centuries of rivalry between Arabs and Persian Iran.

U.S. and Iraqi officials remain convinced Iran is financing and training Shiite extremists, although Tehran denies the allegation. Many Iraqis — both Shiites and Sunnis — view their Iranian neighbor with deep suspicion.

At the same time, Iran sees Washington's ties to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and others in the Shiite religious parties as a potential threat.
Other Arab countries fear that Iraq will fall under Iranian domination once the Americans have gone.

Arab pessimists see a dark vision of a Middle East with Iranian clients ruling Iraq, Iranian-backed Hezbollah as the dominant political force in Lebanon and Tehran's Hamas clients running the Palestinian entity.

Nowhere are those fears stronger than in Saudi Arabia, whose geriatric leadership has faced problems in responding to the political changes in Iraq, its northern neighbor.

The Saudis and other Sunni-dominated Arab governments maintain close ties to the United States. But their natural allies in Iraq — minority Sunnis — were fighting the Americans for most of the U.S. occupation.

Other Arab governments found it difficult to support the Shiite leadership in Baghdad while Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites were slaughtering each other in the streets.

Sectarian fighting has eased, and thousands of Sunni insurgents turned against al-Qaida and joined forces with the Americans.

Still, Arab governments have been slow to develop full diplomatic relations with Iraq, despite intense American pressure. Iraqis face enormous problems in seeking refuge elsewhere in the Arab world.

Many Iraqis resent the Arab attitude and fear that shunning them only enhances the influence of Iran, which embraced the new Iraqi government.

All these uncertainties will probably encourage Washington to pay close attention to Iraq for years.

"All Americans should be and are proud of the achievements in Iraq and the American role in bringing about the change," U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said recently.

Losing interest in Iraq, he warned, risks paying "a major long-term price."

Robert H. Reid is the AP's Baghdad bureau chief and has covered Iraq since before the U.S.-led invasion.

The Associated Press: Analysis: Stable Iraq could influence Mideast

Iraqi doctors can carry arms to ‘defend themselves’

The government has allowed Iraqi doctors to carry arms amid rising violence targeting Iraqi professionals.

“Doctors are permitted to carry weapons to defend themselves,” said a new ruling the government issued this week.

The decision comes amid reports that scores of Iraqi doctors have been assassinated or kidnapped since the 2003-U.S. invasion.

Special licenses to carry weapons will be issued by the Interior Ministry.

The government has even made it ‘illegal’ for police or security forces to detain doctors. Orders to have them apprehended must be first signed by the Health Minister.

The Health Ministry says thousands of Iraqi doctors, among them top consultants, have fled the country.

Iraqi hospitals suffer from severe shortages of professionals, prompting the government to offer a new system of perks and benefits to persuade those in the country to stay and those abroad to return home. (now that's interesting).

Under new regulations, Iraqi doctors’ salaries are comparable to those in neighboring countries. In addition, there is a hefty bonus of more than 1 million dinars (approx. $1,000) for every operation they carry out.

The ministry says more than 600 doctors have returned home in the past few months.

Azzaman in English

Iraq's Talabani Pledges to Restore Minorities Law: Exclusive

In an exclusive interview to the Middle East Times at the sidelines of the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was upbeat about Iraq's future. Though a bit tired by recent surgery, Talabani also took time out from his schedule to express his views on a controversial decision taken by parliament on minorities.

"Iraq is doing well. Violence is down dramatically and people are returning home," the Iraqi president said.

Talabani, a Kurd, comes from the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, a region in the middle of an economic boom. Separated from the rest of Iraq since the early 1990s, it has developed on its own and enjoyed a head start on the rest of the country which suffered under the stifling control of Saddam Hussein and his Baath party.

A source of controversy is a bill recently passed in the Iraqi parliament to abolish Article 50 of the Iraqi Provincial Election Law, which protects minorities by setting aside seats for them. It has spurred demonstrations throughout the world by various concerned groups including over 5,000 people who took to the streets in Iraq.

In a nation where more than 2 million people have been uprooted and are refugees inside and outside the country, minorities including Yazidis and Shabak, as well as the indigenous people of Iraq, the Assyrian Christians and others are deeply concerned at what they see as an Islamic drift in the country with growing influence from Iran and other more conservative regimes.

They see Article 50 which sets aside seats for each minority to protect them as a check on that drift.

"The law was just recently passed," Talabani said. "It is not consistent with the constitution nor with what we feel is needed for Iraq. We need to do all we can to help those who are currently displaced to return home. As president I have the right to amend what parliament passes and I can assure you that we will be amending the change in the law immediately."

He continued: "We need to protect our minorities and this change sends exactly the wrong message. We are doing all we can to help those displaced to return and recently have put together a plan to provide 10 million Iraqi dinars (approximately $8,500) to all who return as well as help in building a home and starting business for all."

In an earlier statement Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari expressed the same sentiments by promising monthly payments to all refugees from the ballooning Iraqi Oil Fund as well as recognition for an Assyrian province in the homeland of the indigenous Assyrian Christians in northern Iraq.

"We need to get a message to the Assyrians and others that now is the time to come home. Whatever they need we will do for them," Talabani said.

One Assyrian Christian representative at the event said on condition of anonymity that Article 50 was critical for the future of Iraq and that a provision should be passed by parliament in which, for example, Assyrians should be given 10 seats. At the last count – during the regime of former President Saddam Hussein – Assyrians numbered 2.5 million or 10 percent of Iraq's population, the representative said, whereas at present they "have only two seats out of 275."

The Iraqi president told the Middle East Times that he would fight parliament on the matter and win: "Tell them all that I will personally make sure that the article be restored and to contact me directly if there are any problems. We will do all that is needed to get all of our people home, in particular our minorities and indigenous Assyrians."

Although promises come easy to politicians, many Iraqis have high expectations that the assurances made by Talabani, Maliki and Zebari will be realized.

In response to this interviewer's skepticism that his words will end up just that, words, Talabani thundered with his deep voice, "I am president! Don't worry."

But the devil is in the details.

Iraq's Talabani Pledges to Restore Minorities Law: Exclusive - Middle East Times

Terms Take Shape For Iraqi Bid Rounds

The six oil fields to be awarded in Iraq's first licensing round will put more than 43 billion barrels of oil reserves into the hands of international oil companies (IOC), whose challenge will then be to arrest declining output and ultimately deliver an increase in production to an agreed plateau. A second bidding round envisaged by the Iraqi oil ministry would put another 51 billion bbl of reserves in a dozen more fields out for tender -- so, if everything goes to plan, some 80% of Iraq's total 115 billion bbl of proven oil reserves will feature in the two rounds. With so much at stake, the competition will be fierce, but the controversy within Iraq could be even fiercer. The first round will also include the Akkas and Mansouria gas fields ( PIW Jul.28,p1). The 20-year model contract for the rounds doesn't allow for production sharing -- a taboo issue in nationalistic post-Saddam Iraq -- but will allow IOCs to book some reserves. The final list of second round fields is still under discussion, but an initial list includes giants like Majnoon, Nahr bin Umar, West Qurna Phase 2, Nasiriyah and Halfaya; smaller fields such as Gharraf, West Kifl, Qayara and Nur; and the 8 billion bbl East Baghdad heavy oil field, which is considered geologically challenging and in need of further appraisal ( PIW Sep.29,p8). The ministry is also considering three small oil fields -- Qamar, Gullabat and Naudoman -- as well as the Khashm al-Ahmar gas field. All four are in northern Diyala province and could provoke a row with the northern Kurdish region, which regards them as border fields that should come under its authority.

Tender protocols for the first round currently being finalized indicate that bidders will be assessed on commercial rather than technical criteria, sources close to the process tell PIW. Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani also said last week that winning bidders will be those "charging Iraq the lowest fees." Companies will also be required to pay a signature bonus, calculated according to a sliding scale based on the field's potential.The IOCs' remuneration will be linked to an internal rate of return, with 18% considered "acceptable" to Baghdad, ministry sources say. Costs will be recouped from output and IOCs will also be expected to pay tax.

According to the current thinking in Iraq's oil ministry, the service contract applicable for the first bid round will be limited to a maximum of 20 years, with the possibility for the IOCs to receive remuneration in kind. Contracts will be split into a rehabilitation phase, focused on arresting output declines in the major producing fields, and a development phase, in which production is raised to a defined target and sustained there for a certain number of years. One tricky issue will be how to calculate a base production level for declining fields, above which output would be considered as incremental for the purposes of calculating IOCs' remuneration. Iraqi sources say a decline profile is likely to be used, reflecting expected production were no new investments to be made. Any output above that profile would be counted as incremental production.

Development of all fields will be carried out by a joint venture between the IOCs and either state North Oil Co. or state South Oil Co., with the state company holding a 51% majority stake. Each field will have a joint-venture operating company and a joint management committee (JMC), which will act as a buffer between the state company and the joint venture operating company, with equal number of members from the IOC and the state entity and decisions taken unanimously. The board of the joint operating company and the JMC will be tasked with approving field development plans.

http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentD...ment_id=241186

Crescent, Dana start gas supply in Iraq's Kurdistan

The UAE's Crescent Petroleum and affiliate Dana Gas DANA.AD have begun supplying gas in Iraq's Kurdistan region after completing the first stage of a $650 million project, the companies said in a statement on Saturday.

Gas was flowing at 75 million cubic feet per day (cfd) from the revamped Khor Mor field and supply will rise to 300 million cfd in the first half of 2009, the companies said.

The first gas will supply a power plant in Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Supplies coming on stream later will go to another power plant in Sulaimaniya. The two plants will have total electricity generation capacity of 1,250 megawatts.

Supply was initially planned to begin in mid-2008, but was held up as construction of the power plants took longer than expected.

"We are very proud of this historical milestone as the first companies from the Middle East to invest in Iraq's oil and gas sector," said Ahmed Al-Arbeed, upstream ****utive director for Dana Gas in the statement.

Dana and Crescent signed the service contract in April 2007 with the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) to redevelop the Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields. The Khor Mor field was shut after the first Gulf War in 1991.

The KRG has angered Baghdad by moving ahead with plans to develop its energy sector while political wrangling has delayed a federal oil and gas law from going before parliament.

The deal with Dana and Crescent is a service contract, rather than a production sharing agreement (PSA). The Kurdistan government's PSAs have attracted criticism from some politicians in Baghdad, including the oil minister. The KRG says its deals are in line with the constitution.

Crescent says it has no doubts over the legality of its deal and that other regions of Iraq have shown interest in contracting the companies for similar projects.

"We are absolutely certain of the moral, legal and economic correctness of our contract with the KRG and the work we are doing," Majid Jafar, Crescent ****utive director, told Reuters.

"This benefits the Kurdistan Region and all of Iraq... we have already been asked by local officials to replicate similar projects in other regions of Iraq."

The plants will save Iraq over $2 billion annually in fuel costs -- cash the government currently spends on oil products for small power generators.

The project was the largest private-sector investment in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, the companies said. Aside from redeveloping Khor Mor, appraising Chemchemal and building gas processing facilities, the companies constructed a 180 kilometre pipeline that required clearance of some minefields.

Crescent and Dana each have a 50 percent stake in the project. Crescent is based in the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

GAS CITY

The two companies also signed up last year to evaluate the region's gas reserves and to build a large gas-fed industrial complex called Kurdistan Gas City.

Initial investment in the basic infrastructure for the complex would be $3 billion. Dana and Crescent are leading the development and looking to attract partner companies.

Eventually, they hope the complex will attract more than $40 billion in foreign direct investment and will house at least 20 large petrochemical and heavy manufacturing plants with output that will mostly be consumed in Iraq.

Iraq needs billions in investment to rebuild its economy after years of sanctions and war. The Kurdistan region largely escaped the sectarian violence suffered in the rest of Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003 and is already undergoing rapid economic development.

PUKmedia :: English - Crescent, Dana start gas supply in Iraq's Kurdistan

Negroponte to visit Kirkuk city

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to visit the city of Kirkuk today. The news was confirmed by a member in Kirkuk Provincial Council in an exclusive statement to PUKmedia correspondent on condition of anonymity, saying “During his visit, Negroponte is going to meet Kirkuk governor, members of Kirkuk Provincial Council and the representatives of people of Kirkuk.

PUKmedia :: English - Negroponte to visit Kirkuk city

Statement on the deletion of article 50 of the Code of provincial councils

After unanimously, it took most of the past summer months, and after intersections and differences between the parties and the dominant political power in Iraq, to the extent that almost threatened the whole political process collapse and regression, Iraq's parliament approved in the twenty-fourth of September and the majority, the law of elections of provincial councils , And the announcement of this recognition a matter of joy and satisfaction of all our people, who are keen to develop the ongoing political process in our country, strengthening the nascent democracy, but this joy and satisfaction collide barrier of suspicion and mistrust, when it was disclosed that the voting law, they have deleted Article 50 Which was a guarantor of the rights of national minorities and religious in our country, which raises concerns and questions, as it runs counter to the work of the Iraqi Constitution and with the most basic principles and elements of the emerging democracy in our country, national and religious minorities to be marginalized and the abolition of representation in provincial assemblies, through the cancellation of this article, Are essential components of the components of the Iraqi people, one of the first builders of civilization, at the hands of wings sons built the first cities of Mesopotamia, and built temples and Zkorat and minds sons held the wheel and a letter I wrote the first sagas. Iraqi Oslae they resisted the dictatorship and offered on the altar of freedom of thousands of martyrs of Iraq, like the rest of the components of our people.

We condemn the deliberate omission of the article by the highest legislative body in the home, the Iraqi Council of Representatives, we appeal to the national interests of the country depends on, and politicians believe in justice, democracy and the future of the political process to exercise their role in modifying this huge imbalance, and also appeal to representatives of the international community and the United Nations All lovers of freedom, democracy and justice in the world of governments and political parties, forces and figures, to exert pressure on the Iraqi parliament, and to stop and stand behind the deletion of article 50 of the Code of provincial elections, in order to overcome this gap outrageous, and we hope to crack flagrant large democracy such will not shake Can be achieved as long as the forces of living of our people and those who stand to continue its struggle for freedom, democracy, equality, and to end the system of quotas, sectarian and cancellation!

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...K4bDGEQOZUNMow