Thread: Archive - Latest News Think Tank - 15/01/09 - 04/05/09

Central Bank warns of serious consequences will occur the economic reality

Central Bank of Iraq, warned of serious consequences will occur the economic reality of the country because of the calls to dispose of the financial reserve of the bank.

The adviser said the Central Bank of the appearance of Mohammed Saleh in a statement singled out by the Radio Dijla, said the decision would weaken the ability of monetary policy for the protection of the national currency.

http://74.125.77.132/translate_c?hl=...ERM8ZIyIxyrDGg

Iraqi-French Joint Committee held its 11 in Paris

Due to the complexity of the Iraqi-French Joint Committee of its 11 in the French capital Paris for the period from 20-24/3/2009 to discuss the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in all areas and to discuss the draft conventions are different.

A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a copy of the Tigris Radio on Sunday, said Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi delegation will be headed by a President of the Iraqi side of the participation of representatives from a large number of Iraqi ministries.

The statement noted that it was the invitation of the Minister of Economy and Industry of France Christine Lagarde the French side, the Chairperson of the Committee.

http://74.125.77.132/translate_c?hl=...tx_2s6bVl8DRkQ

Iraq and how it relates to cash with the World Bank

That claims to re-draft budget to the government as legitimate, especially that it (the budget) has been on the agenda of the Iraqi Council of Representatives and read the first reading, that these demands were based on a fundamentalist is that such balancing of the tables, as well as its own final accounts for previous years of work and projects of ministries and institutions governmental organizations and the amounts allocated to such projects and completion rates.

Must know the fate of the money earmarked for the current year's budget, as well as the surplus from this budget, and whether the surplus will be added to the budget for next year? Or paid these amounts in full?

Here we need to know how and where made, because one of the most important duties of the Iraqi Council of Representatives oversight, and perhaps the most important reasons for the late submission of final accounts is to cover cases of financial and administrative corruption in Iraq, and we believe that there are flaws in the great and mysterious subject, and perhaps there are heinous crimes in the disposition of money public against the national interest and, therefore, the nature of things requires that the state government budget submitted with the final accounts, and this requirement is not impossible or arbitrary, and the Iraqi Council of Representatives of the duty to correct this imbalance.

There is confirmation in the next budget to the investment side, as was the case in previous years ..

Those who follow the field but did not see the achievement so far, or a giant investment projects completed in full, and this is not considered a member of the Chamber of Deputies and the Ministers, or specialists in this regard, but the public sees in the community, where unemployment is still widespread and extreme poverty as well as the obvious weaknesses in the level of public services, All that is declared to be no more talk in conferences and symposia, to change, or the performing of these projects in some ministries implemented poorly and incorrect example, we hear a lot of people say that certain street or alley has been recently, but he Thblith break from digging a new and filled with bumps and after a very few, and San they say: The question left on his earlier done much better than hundreds of millions of dinars!!

The link to Iraq the way the World Bank policies that adversely affect the salaries of staff and their suffering is not justified. That would undermine the confidence of the government, the excessive dependence of the World Bank has brought us the scourge in the future, especially after we saw the intervention of the World Bank concerning the life of the things of daily living, such as support for fuel, and the ration card, and increased salaries and wages, that the honor of responsibility we need to move away from this prejudice necessities, at least at this particular time.

Abdel-Rahman Duzci Group

http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Parliamentary committee working on revising investment act - MP

The Iraqi Parliament's economic committee is working on a revision to the investment law number 13 of 2006, to solve all the problems and obstacles that are facing investments and investors in the country, a member of the committee said on Monday.

"The committee is working to revise some of the act's items," lawmaker Amira al-Baldawi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

"The amendments will be submitted to the Iraqi council of representatives during the coming legislative term," he said.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...20act%20-%20MP

Barham Salih, discuss with U.S delegation economic cooperation between the 2 countries

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Ahmad Saleh with a delegation of American ways of economic cooperation between the two countries.

The source said that the benefit of the Council of Ministers met yesterday with the Economic Affairs Officer at the American Embassy in Iraq, Gen. Mark Wall Perkins from the leadership of the multinational forces and the accompanying delegation ways to promote trade cooperation between the two sides.

He pointed out that the two sides also discussed the intensification of efforts to promote investment and develop the Iraqi economy.

The source added that the two sides traded the mechanisms of joint action for the implementation of the security agreement, as discussed, and the International Covenant document between Iraq and the international community and the verification of the completion rates.

http://209.85.229.132/translate_c?hl...nAysCX1AXYmbZA

MPs fear the expansion of Iranian influence after the withdrawal of U.S. troops

Iraqi forces called on to uphold the national project in fear of an expansion of Iranian influence in Iraq after the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The President of Dialogue Front, Saleh Mutlaq, "the need to uphold national unity, and to adopt a political project and the one containing all the Iraqi people and guarantees the future of their country." His deputy, accused the Accordance Front, Dhafer al-Ani, "unnamed parties of helping Iran in its intervention in the region, according to the opinion."

The leader of the Dawa Party, Abdul Hadi al-Hassani, cautioned, "of trying to restore the country to dictatorship and to undermine the political process."

The sources said the Iraqi government official refused to manifestations of the regional intervention in Iraqi affairs, and called for the development of relations with all neighboring countries.

http://209.85.229.132/translate_c?hl...Ccv1VkaYnfW9RQ

Hashemi: We will face a dilemma if it is not economic to find alternatives to oil

Deputy President Tariq al-Hashemi, which he described as the critical financial and economic situation in the country unless it is to find alternatives to oil imports, according to him.

Hashemi said during his administration and the Faculty of Economics at the University of Baghdad, that if we do not act to save the national private sector industrial, agricultural and find alternatives to compensate the shortfall in resources for the export of crude oil, we face a dilemma financially and economically.

He pointed out that Iraq is in dire need for appropriate economic model with the privacy of the problems and challenges faced with the need to shorten the time for the advancement of economic and physical reality.

http://209.85.229.132/translate_c?hl...2x8sEQjJDVnEaQ

President Talabani: We don’t accept any amendment affects Kurdish achievements

In an interview with al-Arabiya S.atellite TV channel yesterday March 16th, 2009, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani denied that there is any Kurdish intend to withdraw confidence from the Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki and said “we are still a part from the government of national unity that is headed by PM al-Maliki.”

He described the news on the intention of the Kurdistani Alliance bloc to present a paper for withdrawing confidence from PM al-Maliki by saying “they are fabricates, rumors and baseless.”

In answering a question regarding the change of some Kurdish parties tone towards al-Maliki, according to al-Arabiya question, President Talabani said “the main Kurdish forces don’t show enmity towards al-Maliki. Changing the tone doesn’t mean that there is an intention to withdraw confidence.”

Regarding the security keeping forces in Baghdad, President Talabani said “al-Maliki is the commander in chief of the armed forces. The security keeping forces is not private forces for al-Maliki. They are legal forces. We have no concerns about al-Maliki’s authorities as the commander in chief of the armed forces.”

In response to a question about the Kurds’ stance from any constitutional amendments, President Talabani said “we are with the agreed on constitutional amendments, but we don’t accept any change or amendment that affect the constitutional achievements of the Kurdish people.”

He described the relations between Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) by saying “they are strategic and necessary for the future of Kurds and Iraq.”

He said that the two Kurdish parties will participate in all the coming local and national elections with a joint list.

On the other hand, the leader in al-Daawa Party Ali al-Adeeb denied, in a statement to al-Ittihad newspaper, the news that said there is a conspiracy to withdraw the confidence from PM al-Maliki by the Kurdistan Alliance bloc. He said “my statements were distorted. I spoke on a triple solidarity between the Supreme Council, Islamic Party and Kurdistan Alliance bloc through voting on the budget by cancelling allocations for some offices of the Prime Minister, which have no legal or constitutional cover.”

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=9925&Itemid=1

Clinton defends choice of Ambassador to Iraq

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday defended her choice for US ambassador to Iraq, saying he made “lemonade out of some pretty bad lemons” in talks to end North Korea's nuclear programs.

“Both of those criticisms are unjustified and unfounded,” Clinton told reporters in response to the comments by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who last week urged President Barack Obama to reconsider the nomination.

It is to be noted that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans on March 25 to hold a hearing on Chris Hill’s nomination, which is opposed by some Republican senators who fault his lack of Middle East experience and suggest he mismanaged talks with Pyongyang.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...r-to-Iraq.html

Iraq economy facing greater hardship
Iraq's shattered economy will face even worse hardship next year if oil prices do not recover, Iraq's OPEC governor said on Monday.

Iraq needs oil money to rebuild after years of sanctions and war. The $100 price slump to under $44 a barrel from a record near $150 last summer has already forced Baghdad to curb government spending by a fifth for 2009, and more belt-tightening may be needed.

"We have sufficient funds for the budget this year but it is going to be difficult for Iraq next year," Falah Alamri, Iraq's top representative to OPEC, told Reuters in an interview. "The problem is the economy and how it is affecting oil demand. The world economy is in a mess." The price of Iraqi oil so far in 2009 has stood at around $37, down $50 from the 2008 average, he said.

Oil fell over 4 percent on Monday after OPEC decided to keep output targets unchanged at its meeting in Vienna on Sunday. "We knew the price would fall if we didn't cut again," Alamri said. "But the problem is the economy. Until the economy reaches bottom, we're not going to see more demand and a better price." The fragility of the economy and the belief that oil prices were stabilising due to OPEC cuts since September stayed the group's hand on Sunday, despite concerns about oversupply and high inventories. If global initiatives to prop up faltering banks and revitalise credit markets succeed then the oil price could recover to around $50 to $60 a barrel in the fourth quarter, Alamri said.

"The problem is that there is so much economic uncertainty out there," he said. "We don't know how much worse it is going to get, at least for the next few months." Baghdad aimed to boost oil exports to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year from 1.83 million bpd now, Alamri said. Exports have slipped from the 1.85 million bpd average last year, he added. "However, the export level for the rest of the year should increase gradually and our target is to reach 2 million bpd during the fourth quarter of 2009," he said.

Iraq had seen strong demand for Basra crude, its main oil export blend, despite falling demand globally, he said. New and upgraded plants worldwide meant refiners could get better margins refining a medium sour crude such as Basra than they could in the past, he added. The impact of the low price on Iraq's economy had sparked a debate in the country about economic diversification that was positive for the longer-term future, Alamri said. "This is a good opportunity for all sectors to put plans together to increase their share of Iraq's GDP," he said. "At the moment, oil accounts for more than two thirds of GDP." Iraq needs to attract foreign investment and technology both in its oil industry and in the wider economy in order to develop quickly, he said.

Aside from oil, the country should focus on development across the economy and in particular in agriculture, industry and when security conditions allow, tourism, he said. Iraq sits atop about 116 billion barrels of oil, the world's third largest reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran. But it needs billions of dollars of investment to overhaul its dilapidated oil sector and boost production.

The world's largest international oil companies are competing for contracts to service some of Iraq's biggest oil fields, in what Baghdad hopes will be a big step toward attracting foreign investors back to the country's energy sector. (Reuters)

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/54976...eater-hardship