Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/05/09 - 04/09/09

Gulf Cooperation Council calls for Iraq to implement Security Council resolutions relating to Kuwait
The foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the need for Iraq to implement UN Security Council resolutions on Kuwait, in a reference to keep Iraq under Chapter VII of the United Nations.

The Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdulrahman Al Attiyah at a press conference in Riyadh after the conclusion of the Ministerial Meeting of the Gulf states: «The Ministerial Council stresses the need for Iraq to complete the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions relevant to the assertion that these commitments will be implemented under the umbrella of the United Nations and in the framework of the international mechanisms established for this purpose ».

The Iraqi President Jalal Talabani rejected the attempts to sour relations, Iraq - Kuwait, following the escalation of rivalry between the two countries after Congress required the payment of compensation to stop the Iraqis from the occupation of Kuwait in 1990.

A statement from the Media Office of the Presidency of the Republic yesterday that «Talabani expressed his rejection of attempts to sour relations between the two countries».

Talabani called on during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill «treated the quiet of the issues existing in the interests of the two brotherly countries and working on closer ties of brotherhood between them».

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Iraqi banks have indicated their willingness to support the economic and productive sectors

Association organized a seminar for Iraqi banks in cooperation with the business community and industrialists.

The focus of discussions at the symposium on the financing constraint, which is now the first and last as well as huge amounts of money spent in vain to restart the plant is part of what makes the Iraqi economy into a service economy rather than to development.

The Iraqi banks (30 banks) during the seminar prepared to support the economic and productive sectors through the establishment of joint stock companies, including private banking and the government.

The Secretary-General of the Federation of Iraqi businessmen Sami Zubaidi in a speech at the seminar initiative by the Iraqi banks the task.

It pointed out that an invitation to contribute to the establishment of private banks, development projects, either to participate or lending, stressing the Central Bank of Iraq to facilitate the performance of banks for this role and to develop mechanisms for lending to projects stalled.

The other hand, the E.xecutive Chairman of the Association of Abdul Aziz Hassoun, the need for the establishment of a joint higher committee of stakeholders to develop recommendations on how the banking sector's contribution to the revitalization of the industrial sector stalled.

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As oil prices rise, Iraq nurtures budget hopes

If oil prices continue to rise and Iraq's oil output and exports improve, the government may be able to pass a more generous supplementary budget later this year, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday.

Iraq, just emerging from years of sectarian war, had to chop its 2009 spending plans three times after global oil prices plunged from a peak last summer of more than $147 per barrel.

The final version, which involves $58.6 billion in spending, was dependent on average oil income of $50 per barrel and oil exports of 2 million barrels per day.

Iraq's oil exports crept marginally higher to 1.905 million barrels per day in May, and oil prices recently leaped to $70 per barrel.

Iraq earns less for its crude than world benchmark prices. On Monday, London Brent crude was priced at $68 per barrel.

Holding out financial hope to cash-strapped provincial officials, Maliki said local governments should make sure they spend their entire budgets in the meantime to make sure citizens could see progress in the provision of essential services.

"And God willing, improvements in oil prices and oil production and exports, might allow us, God willing, to present another supplementary budget, which may mean more money for the provinces," Maliki told a conference of regional officials.

Iraq's budget woes have hit at a sensitive time.

The bloodshed unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion has begun to recede but analysts warn violence could be stoked again by public frustration if the economy does not grow and the provision of basic services like electricity and water does not improve.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt...72974320090608

Professionals have no place in Iraq

Azzaman, June 7, 2009

Iraqi professionals of various specializations living abroad used to think that their exile would come to an end once the regime of former President Saddam Hussein was toppled.

That dream came true in 2003 when a U.S.-led invasion removed the regime from power. In the first few months of the invasion, it was reported that hundreds of exiled engineers, doctors, university professors and highly skilled technicians had opted to return.

But it did not take them long to discover that new gates of hell were descending on Iraq, this time with a force much worse than that under Saddam Hussein.

A new exodus took place. This time, it did not include those who had decided to return but covered thousands more who had endured Saddam Hussein’s hardships.

And all discovered that the hardships caused by the former regime were a ‘blessing’ when compared to those that descended on the country in the U.S. invasion aftermath.

I have received several letters from university professors in exile telling about untold suffering in what is being sold to the world as ‘the new democracy’ in the country.

The environment in the country is not one of patriotism but one of factionalism. Political interests and sectarian affiliation come before loyalty to the country.

Only those with a factional and sectarian umbrella can prosper in today’s Iraq. Without that umbrella you are doomed.

But for professionals, there is nothing more disdainful than factionalism and sectarianism. These bright Iraqi minds, some of them now occupy prestigious positions in Western institutions, are among the Middle East’s most secular people.

Instead of fostering them, the U.S. invasion and the governments it has sponsored, have strived to exterminate them.

Stories of Iraqi intellectuals killed, kidnapped and tortured are too many to be told.

And as the country sees some faint light at the end of its tunnel, the government blocks the way for the professionals who would like to come home.

The relative quiet has tempted many of them to make another try only to find that there is no longer a place for them under the pretext of the slump in oil prices.

But prices are edging up once again, and the returning professionals are still waiting for a word on whether they have a future in their own country.

We have reported that hundreds have decided to return once again. We urge the government to accommodate them as soon as possible.

We are a country which needs its professionals most.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index...06-07\kurd.htm

Forged checks widely spread – Rafidain Bank

The phenomenon of using forged checks has been widely spreading especially in state-run institutions and for big amounts that reach billions of Iraqi dinars, the director general of the Iraqi Rafidain Bank said on Tuesday.

“Recently, there has been a phenomenon of forged checks issued by state-owned institutions and for big amounts of Iraqi dinars,” Abdulhussein al-Yasseri told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“It is hard for the Bank staff to distinguish those forged checks from the real ones as advanced technologies and computers are used to produce them,” he said.

“The load we have and the quality of forgery make it hard for our staff to discover the forgery,” he added.

Al-Yasseri explained that he really “does not know how some people were able to obtain checks of state institutions that carry official serial numbers, names, stamps, and account numbers.”

“There must be corruption in those institutions,” he noted.

“Magnetic checks should be used to limit forgery,” he pointed out.

He stressed that those who use forged checks also use forged IDs with unreal names, which makes the issue of finding them very hard.
The state-owned Rafidain Bank was established in 1941.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=114349

Dollar sales on the rise

Demand for the dollar increased further in the Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) auction on Tuesday, reaching $195.59 compared to $133.319 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $46.270 million in cash, covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,176 Iraqi dinars, and $149.320 million in foreign transfers outside the country, covered at an exchange rate of 1,173 Iraqi dinars per dollar,” according to a CBI news bulletin received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

None of the 17 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=114353

Kuwaiti ambassador in Iraq, the task of calming the atmosphere between the two countries on compensation

A member of the Kurdistan Alliance MP Sami Atrushi that left the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Kuwait in an effort to soften the atmosphere between the two countries, the transfer of views and try to stay away from statements that led to the kind of tension in diplomatic relations, and the Government of Kuwait has shown a willingness to get out of Iraq, subject to Section VII, It confirmed that Iraq has met with some of the'80 and duties towards the UN Security Council.

Atrushi said that during the previous period were made up positions between the two countries, but it was one of the members of the parliament, but the whole positive His attitude toward Iraq, the President of the former Iraqi parliament decided to form a parliamentary delegation to visit Kuwait, the final resolution of the outstanding issues; but what happened to the part of the revitalization oversight in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, and campaigns ministers prevented the completion of the case so far.

For his part, Deputy Sheriff on behalf of the bloc, Fadhila that Iraq would need the cooperation of international justice issues in the consideration of the compensation imposed on the country during the period of the previous regime.

He added that Sharif calls for financial compensation from Iraq, the levels of the personality, the possibility of imposing the issue of invitations to be malicious, which requires the cooperation of the international community with Iraq in order to determine the real damage caused by past wars and to know them honest

Sharif said the need to deal with the technical demands of the people and the respect of compensation, emphasizing the need for Iraq to international cooperation to ensure the rights of its people and enhance the prestige of the Iraqi individual

He said that Iraq, or to keep out of the seventh item is a complex, but the positives that could serve the economic reality.

Sharif said that for Iraq to full sovereignty and the preservation of its assets abroad and re-evaluation and developed with the countries of the world will get the most positive by Iraq, noting that the agreement included a security mission in Iraq serving with item VII

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Development options

Now that the Iraqi economy is in transition with the same question as the best option for the development during this transitional phase and we have to go back to tape the events in 2003, specifically a large turbulent phase of change that has occurred in Iraq, where things tend to shift from a centralized economy dominated by the totalitarian when State arbitrator on the grounds of economic activity to a market economy must be the transformation of the economy taking a single-sided and a two-thirds of the oil sector GDP and 98% of its exports and 92% of the total government revenue to a diversified economy of resources depends on the productivity of a broad base of where the sector private owner, and arm-in-arm to take over, and the capital of the State and directed the activities of the Organization of the private sector and sponsors.

And supportive of its production, but the big question we posed the right way and what is best for the Development of Iraq, and with this we can see that there are two main options in the economic landscape is the first choice in the new capital, where the former tried to Paul Bremer in Iraq, Bremer, application changes, or structural economic reforms through the trauma, without taking into account potential impacts on the economy, such as the Iraqi economy after the devastating 2003 through reliance on market mechanisms to guide economic activity and dispensing with the role of the state and leave market forces to compete freely for the public interest through the effects on prices and access to levels balance, which reflects the relative costs and benefits, as alleged by the school of social liberalism and, as the Iraqi economy suffers from structural imbalances and has no private sector is able to possess the leadership, as well as the sectors of agricultural and industrial productivity and trade are covered in a deep slumber, the option of the civil governor, and that has not gone unheeded in contributed to the procedures adopted at the border wide open to flood the market with certain controls as well as tax cuts and the abolition of customs duties and raise the protection of industrial and agricultural.

All these measures contributed to the reduction of growth in all productive sectors, there has been a recession and reduced employment and increased unemployment rates and increased rates of poverty and increased levels of inflation during 2004 to 2006 before the commencement of tight monetary policy pursued by the Central Bank of Iraq, which has worked to reduce inflation from 50% to 14% currently had either the second option is the option which is the national to the adoption of planning based on market factors through the development plan the development of a comprehensive spatial and sectoral and both the public and private, where the Ministry of Planning has prepared a plan for development under the threat of civil administrator Bremer to dissolve the ministry was to serve as a guide the work of medium-and long-term investment in the implementation of projects within the budgets of the State Assembly, but also hit a snag of violence and terrorism during the years 2005 and 2006 is here it now requires the adoption of a plan for development and this Maaalnt by the Ministry of Planning through its conference, held last month, our best option for development and will come back to supply and analysis in the events to come.

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Originally Posted by Seaview

Mobius Says Money Supply to ‘Explode,’ Lift Markets (Update3)

June 4 (Bloomberg) -- The money supply is set to “explode” worldwide and boost emerging-market stocks as central banks pump cash into the financial system to counter the global recession, Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius said.

“Everyone is scared of deflation, so they are printing money,” Mobius, who helps oversee about $20 billion of emerging-market assets as E.xecutive chairman of Templeton, said at a press briefing in London. “It’s beginning to flow out, with greater confidence, into emerging markets.”

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a 22-country benchmark for developing-nation equities, surged 37 percent this year as central banks led by the U.S. Federal Reserve reduced interest rates and purchased assets to revive economic growth. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England today kept their benchmark interest rates at the lowest levels on record.

The Fed said its M2 gauge of money supply, which includes all currency held by consumers and companies for spending, money held in checking accounts and travelers checks, savings and private holdings in money-market funds, rose at a 9 percent annual rate in the week ended May 18, above the target of 5 percent the Fed once set for maximum growth. The central bank no longer has a formal target.

Mobius, voted among the “Top Ten Money Managers of the 20th Century” by the Carson Group, said emerging-market equities will rise faster than developed-country stocks and that Templeton is buying shares in Russia.

The nation’s benchmark RTS Index has jumped 75 percent this year, the second-best performing market worldwide after Peru.

Hedge Fund Bets

While the “longer-term trend is up” for emerging-market stocks, they may suffer a “correction” of as much as 20 percent in part because some hedge funds are selling shares in a bet they will decline, Mobius said.

“There has to be corrections along the way, that is the nature of the beast,” the 72-year-old investor said. “We continue to try to be as fully invested as possible in these markets.”

Commodities will gain and the dollar will weaken in the “longer term,” Mobius said. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index has climbed 11 percent this year, rebounding from a 36 percent tumble in 2008. The dollar slid 2.2 percent against a basket of six major currencies this year.

Mobius said he may be investing in Iraq in a year and is looking to invest in Iran.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...Ilw&refer=news

Another article!!

Mark Mobius eyes Iraq as new investment frontier

Franklin Templeton emerging markets veteran Mark Mobius is looking to invest in Iraq in the next year, just as soon as he can persuade a custodian bank to set up there.

Speaking at a press briefing to mark the 20th anniversary of his UK investment trust, TEMIT, Mobius spoke of the next growth markets he was interested in for his frontier markets funds.

'In the frontier markets you have to look at Africa, and countries like Nigeria and Kenya.' he says. 'Also in the Middle East, countries like Iraq, Iran and Syria are all potential growth targets going forward, although it doesn’t seem plausible right now.

'Iran has lot of potential. We are also looking at Iraq, though we are not invested there now. We would have to convince a custodian bank to set up there though, and make sure the walls of the safe are thick enough... It could be six months to a year until that really comes together, and volumes would be small when it does.'

Among the frontier markets, he also likes places like Ukraine and Vietnam, partly because of the growing influence of domestic investors.

'These markets are small illiquid and are going through growing pains, but they will grow. Make no mistake about that,' he says.

In contrast to Roger Guy of Gartmore, who last week said he sees 'big problems' in Eastern Europe, Mobius is becoming more positive on the region.

'If there are no big shocks externally, then I think we will probably see a recovery in eastern Europe by the end of year, because most of their problems are already out in the open,' he says.

Mobius 'loves markets that are bombed out,' and so says he is looking to increase his exposure to Russia and the Baltics at the moment. However, after the rally that has seen the MSCI Emerging Markets rise 60% since the end of February, Mobius thinks a minor correction could be just around the corner.

'I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an emerging markets correction,' he says. 'There must be lots of hedge funds shorting emerging at the moment. There has to be corrections on the way, that’s the nature of the beast. But a correction of 15-20% is nothing, especially with all those derivatives out there. But the long term trend will be up, there is no doubt in my mind about that.'

'Investors need to be ready for volatility, but also they should be confident markets will move up as the money flow increases, so we continue to be fully invested and confident that emerging markets will outperform developed markets.'

Mobius, who was one of the world's first fund managers to focus on emerging markets, admits that after more than 20 years of fund management, he has passed over most of his responsibilities to his team of portfolio managers and researchers, such as eastern European specialist Grzegorz Konieczny.

'I really don't run these funds any more,' Mobius said, describing his role now as 'badgering' his portfolio managers.

http://www.citywire.co.uk/selector/-...=343377&Page=1

Alshabibi: we have been able to control the rise of the dollar by the cash reserve
The private banks to play the role of production and development support

The governor of the Central Bank of Iraq d. Shabibi told the morning of the central bank has proved its ability to meet the disclosure and administration of Iraq dinar size of the deficit against the dollar due to the buildup of Iraqi cash reserve

Which exceeded 41 billion dollars in the development of the banking business, which held under the auspices of the Association of Iraqi banks and high-level representation of the Central Bank of Iraq in it.

Alshabibi and that there might be participants in the first stage of the financing wheel of major reconstruction, and we in the Central Bank of Iraq would encourage the entry of private banks for the financing of strategic projects.

With regard to the high U.S. dollar exchange rate between the central bank Alshabibi Iraqi develops emotional void, but there are some measures that we have tried to check out some important issues in central bank auction, because the situation was very sensitive and has an impact on the market rapidly, the dollar exchange rate moved upward, which we wish clear that the rapid realization of the bad is what makes the reaction of the market's exchange rate, but the capacity of the Central Bank and the hard work back to stability and full control over the cash reserve which is managed by the Central Bank of Iraq and dealt with the case of oscillation at high speed.

Alshabibi officials and called on Iraqis to be expressed in statements to talk about monetary policy, because we Anteklm on the development of a particular sector, but a sensitive and important sector and a real advance in the development of Iraq, and as mentioned above, the purpose of the reserve is to stabilize the Iraqi dinar, which succeeded the Central Bank to sustain.

Alshabibi added for the morning that the banks now have the Iraqi Special Manmiia as a financial investment to participate in the medium-sized enterprises and large, as they are qualified to play a real role in reviving the Iraqi economy.

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