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

Higher demand for dollar in CBI auction

Demand for the dollar was rose in the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auction on Sunday, registering $96.365 million compared to $78.765 million during the last session.

"The demand hit $24.365 million in cash and $72 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at a stable exchange rate of 1,183 Iraqi dinars per dollar, compared to 1,184 Iraqi dinars per dollar on Thursday," an official source from the bank told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

The 14 banks that participated in the auction did not offer to sell dollars.

The CBI runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi Kurdistan still a tough sell to investors

Iraqi Kurdistan has been primed for a wave of foreign investment for years, but officials say the grand goals of a relatively peaceful northern enclave are frustrated by violence plaguing the rest of Iraq.

Kurdish officials dream big, speaking of bringing Europeans to ski the region's snow-capped peaks, building modern schools and hospitals and rejuvenating thirsty wheat fields.

In Arbil, the Kurdish capital some 310 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, the streets buzz with activity. Several upmarket hotels and housing projects are going up on the outskirts of town. Direct flights arrive from Europe and westerners are a common sight in the city centre's booked hotels.

"We have many things: oil, iron, phosphate," said Baqi Salaye, a Kurdish businessman sipping sweet tea in an elegant, gold-trimmed reception room in Arbil's chamber of commerce.

Yet Salaye, who dabbles in aviation, tourism and other business, echoes widely felt frustration when he bemoans the muddled perceptions of outsiders, who often fail to notice that Kurdistan has been largely been spared the bloodshed in Iraq.

"If something happens in Mosul, they say 'northern Iraq.' If it happened in Diyala, they say 'northern Iraq,'" lamented Karim Sinjari, Kurdish state interior minister, referring to northern areas that fall outside the Kurds' autonomous region.

"So -- someone sitting in the United States -- you see the news and you cannot differentiate."

Kurdistan, closely allied with Washington for years, seemed poised to flourish after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein, the unflinching leader who had waged war against minority Kurds and slaughtered civilians en masse.

Since a new investment law was issued in 2006, promising investors a 10-year exemption from non-customs taxes, Kurdistan has licensed over 100 investment projects, said Nawroz Muhammad Amin, a senior official at the region's Investment Board.

Investments in housing, tourism, industry and other sectors, not including oil and natural resources, total around $16 billion from 2006 through mid-2008, she said.

About 16 percent of that was foreign investment, 25 percent Iraqi and foreign partnerships, and the rest local. Among outsiders, Arab companies have so far led the pack.

Damac, a developer from the United Arab Emirates, plans to begin work this year on a small city of residential, commercial and recreational properties near Arbil worth at least $6 billion, aiming to attract returning Iraqi exiles.

But Western investors are arriving more slowly, which frustrates Muhammad Amin.

"We visit different countries. We have an investment law. We have the government Web site, and ads on Arabic channels," she said, throwing up her hands.

CALCULATING RISKS, BENEFITS

Even before Iraq violence dropped sharply in the last year, the Kurdish government aggressively courted investors, *****ing itself 'the other Iraq' and wooing clients in foreign capitals.

Timothy Mills, president of the American Chamber of Commerce-Iraq, said most U.S. companies have so far stayed away from Kurdistan because they don't fully understand the balance of risks and benefits of doing business there.

"The perception in American boardrooms is informed by the (U.S. State Department) travel advisory, by what is seen on TV," Mills said. "Degrees of uncertainty."

Another red flag is the fighting between Kurdish PKK rebels in the mountainous area near Kurdistan's northern edge and Turkish forces on the other side of the border.

"The Kurdish government is trying a lot, but some things are not in our hands," Sinjari said. He urged the United States and Britain to relax travel policies discouraging would-be visitors.

The U.S. State Department, in its most recent advisory, strongly warns U.S. citizens against travelling to Iraq, ticking off a litany of threats: rocket attacks, kidnappers, thugs -- and the PKK, which Washington considers a terrorist group.

But Sinjari hopes a change in such policies, at least for Kurdistan, would encourage business travellers and tourists.

U.S. officials say foreign investment across Iraq has also been hindered by a lack of confidence in its overall regulatory regime. They expect change with the passage of an oil law in Iraq, which has the world's third largest proven reserves.

The Iraqi cabinet passed a draft of the law in 2007, but a final version has been bogged down in a number of disputes, including whether Kurdistan will have the power to sign oil contracts on its own and who will control reserves there.

Also contentious is the status of oil contracts the Kurdish government has already signed, which Baghdad deems illegal.

Kurdish oil reserves amount to 45 billion barrels, officials say. Many have also long dreamed of making the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, just to the south, part of Kurdistan.

Such oil disputes have stopped the world's biggest international oil companies from investing in the Kurdish region's oil and gas reserves, for fear Baghdad will blacklist them from deals in the rest of the country.

Earlier this year, the central government halted oil exports to Austria's OMV and South Korea's SK Energy after the companies signed oil deals with Kurdistan.

Privately, western officials also point to another deterrent to greater investment in Kurdistan -- fear of corruption and lack of trust in contracts signed with local partners.

Indeed, many businessmen mutter complaints about the formidable sway of Kurdistan's KDP and PUK parties, which each control a swath of the region around Arbil and Sulaimaniya, in the private sector.

Yet Mills said local officials were mindful of the need "for Western companies to adhere to anti-corruption standards".

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Kurdistan still a tough sell to investors

Tomorrow is 1st day of Ramadhan

KRG Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs held a meeting yesterday and issued a statement saying “Sunday, August 31, is the complementary of Sha’ban and Monday, September 1, will be the 1st day of Ramadhan.”

Yesterday, the Sunni Endowments also announced that Monday will be the 1st day of Ramadhan.

Meanwhile, the Arab countries of Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Sudan had announced the same news.

In this occasion, we would like to congratulate the Muslims in Kurdistan and all over the world.

PUKmedia :: English - Tomorrow is 1st day of Ramadhan

Zebari denies replacing of negotiating team

In a press statement yesterday, Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari denied the news of replacing the Iraqi negotiating team, which is headed by Foreign Ministry undersecretary Mohammed al-Hajj Hammoud, according to PM Nouri al-Maliki’s order.

Zebari said “the team has accomplished its mission legally and technically and reached to a one draft. The remaining matters are political decisions and they are not in the team’s authority.”

It’s worth mentioning that parliamentarian sources mentioned that PM al-Maliki had ordered to replace the negotiating team and that the new team will include National security advisor Mowafaq al-Rubaie, government’s political advisor Sadiq al-Rukaibi and PM’s office manager Tariq Najim.

PUKmedia :: English - Zebari denies replacing of negotiating team

Meeting of Kurdistan region delegation-Iraqi government starts in Baghdad

A closed-door meeting between the delegation of Kurdistan region and the Iraqi government, began today, at the residence of the Iraqi prime minister in Baghdad”, a private source in Baghdad exclusively told PUKmedia correspondent on condition of anonymity.

The meeting will discuss the recent crisis in Khanaqin.

The Kurdistan delegation includes: Dr. Barham Salih, the Deputy Secretary General of the PUK, Dr. Roj Nuri Shawes, the representative of the President of Kurdistan region in the Political Council of the National Security, Dr. Fuad Massum, the head of the Kurdistani Alliance Bloc in the Iraqi Parliament and Hoshiyar Zebari from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

PUKmedia :: English - Meeting of Kurdistan region delegation-Iraqi government starts in Baghdad

These spate of conflicting shuffle or disclaiming of decisions on their Negotiating Team only adds to poor decisions centered at the very core of the Leadership to be recognized as far from competent with governing.

It is their country & destiny after all and playing into those just wanting to see this continue for many years to give the excuse of offering an alternative solution while the death toll is all the reason to sustain mercilessly with the insane human bombs mingling within the innocent crowds.

Turkish Airlines plans to resume flights to Baghdad

THY Board of Directors decided to relaunch flights between Istanbul and Baghdad, company's chairman Candan Karlitekin told reporters at a news conference.

Turkish Airlines (THY) plans to resume flights from Istanbul to Iraqi capital Baghdad which were suspended 17 years ago.

THY Board of Directors decided to relaunch flights between Istanbul and Baghdad, company's chairman Candan Karlitekin told reporters at a news conference.

Karlitekin added that flights from Istanbul to Baghdad could possibly begin in October.

PUKmedia :: English - Turkish Airlines plans to resume flights to Baghdad

Kurdish bloc urges Iraqi political parties to be committed to constitution

The Kurdistan Alliance Bloc urged the Iraqi political parties not to sympathetically deal with the issue of Khanaqin and other disputed areas, but to be committed to those articles of the constitution pertaining to normalizing the situations in those areas.

Muhseen Saadun, Iraqi lawmaker from the Kurdistan Alliance Bloc, told the Italian news agency Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call that the Iraqi government should respect the demand of the residents of Khanaqin calling for not deploying the Iraqi army in Khanaqin sincetheir area is stable.

PUKmedia :: English - Kurdish bloc urges Iraqi political parties to be committed to constitution

Shiite lawmaker stresses historical ties between Kurdish and Shiite parties

The office of the Iraqi lawmaker, Humam al-Hamudi, issued a clarification regarding the statements he made during his recent visit to Iran. According to the statement, his remarks were misinterpreted by the media as he reportedly claimed that the percentage of the Kurdistan region's budget from the Iraqi revenue was more than what Kurds deserved because their population was overestimated.

"He did not issue any press release when was in Iran expect for answering some questions made by a number of the Iraqi students regarding the budget of Iraq and that of allocated to the Kurdistan region," the statement said.

Humam said that it was agreed that Peshmarga forces are regular army provided that they should be stationed only in Kurdistan region while the presence of those forces outside the Kurdish administration border without an agreement between the KRG and Iraqi government is considered illegal. Meanwhile, the Iraqi lawmaker from the Shiite Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council stressed the importance of the historical ties between his party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in particular and other Kurdish parties in general.

PUKmedia :: English - Shiite lawmaker stresses historical ties between Kurdish and Shiite parties

Iraqi Businessmen Union: foreign trade delegations pave the way for Iraq's openness to the world

The vice president of the Federation of Businessmen in Iraq on behalf of Antoine, that visits by a number of senior officials from Arab and foreign paved the way for Iraq to the openness of the Arab world in particular and the neighboring countries, as businessmen and we hope that reflected positively on the economy Iraqi and the Iraqi market, and there is openness as compared to those obtained by the businessman in neighboring countries and other Arab states in many of these gains and advantages.

The name of Antoine told the Independent Press Agency (Iba) today, Sunday,, hoped to have a businessman of Iraqi and Iraqi traders and industrial benefits equal to those benefits. He pointed out that official visits to officials concluded memorandums of understanding under which visitors Iraqi oil at preferential prices and for their countries as happened with Jordan and Lebanon.

He stressed that Iraq Antoine got the benefit of joint facilities as provided by Iraq in terms of imports, services and trade and investment firms from countries of the officials who have borne the trouble to come to Baghdad against what it means opening up entry from an Iraqi Arab and regional investment and construction.

Translated version of http://www.ipairaq.com/inner.php?name=economy&id=933