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

CBI issues ID3-trillion treasury bills to cover power contracts

The Central Bank of Iraq will issue treasury bills worth 3 trillion Iraqi dinars (ID) from the monetary reserves during the next few days to cover electricity contracts, according to a CBI consultant on Friday.

"An agreement was reached between parliament and government on one hand and the ministries of finance and electricity and the CBI on the other to issue treasury bills to the tune of three trillion dinars, tantamount to $2.4 billion in order to cover a loan for electricity contracts with General Electric (GE) and Siemens companies," Mazhar Mohammed Saleh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The Iraqi finance minister had said on Aug. 9 that treasury bills will be issued after the government failed to obtain a parliamentary approval to issue bonds to finance contracts of electricity of which Iraq produces only 50% of its needs.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...20contracts%20

Adviser to the Governor of the Central Bank: the deletion of zeros from the Iraqi currency a difficult process

Advisor, Central Bank of Iraq, Mohammed Saleh, said that the appearance of the deletion of zeros from the Iraqi currency, monetary policy will depend on the long-term process that requires legislation by the foot as part of the strategy for the management of the currency in the country.

Saleh said in a statement to reporters that the need to delete the zeroes come from the Iraqi currency bloc, which has become very large which is the product of inflationary phase lasted about 30 years rose from 25 billion to 21 trillion.

He pointed out that the largest category of cash during the year 1979 and the period leading up to the Iraq-Iran war was 25 dinars, and the equivalent of $ 75 the day time either in cash, the largest category is 25 thousand dinars, Atadl only 23 dollars.

Salih pointed out that the strategy aimed at the central pursue consistent with the Constitution and the economic life of good and facilitate intra-group transactions, pointing out that part of the margin of inflation by between 1 and 3% falls to the large number of cash which represents the cost of transactions in the case of deletion of that cost would be reduced, as saying.

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

The next Oil Giants

So much potential, but so little achieved. That could be the headline for Iraq's attempts to bring itself back into the big league of oil producers. With the world's third-largest oil reserves, and perhaps enough undiscovered reserves to make it second only to Saudi Arabia, Iraq is the only country that has the capacity to dramatically extend the industrialised world's access to cheap oil.

There is simply no where else in the world with so much oil, so close to existing pipelines and infrastructure, which can be extracted for less than $20 a barrel. "The indications are that there could be an awful lot of cheap oil to find," says Samuel Ciszuk, Middle East energy analyst at IHS Global Insight.

While Iraq is not alone in having large undeveloped fields, almost everywhere else around the world would be more expensive, sometimes a lot more. The cost of extraction offshore in West Africa or in the pre-salt fields offshore Brazil, those in remote land regions such as Siberia or the Alaskan Arctic, or of the hard-to-refine tar sands of Canada are all much higher than those that Iraq could, in theory, offer.

If Iraq does have the amount of oil that some believe and, if it is able to overcome political and legal difficulties to production, those who predict global oil at $100 a barrel in five years, yet alone $200, may still be proven wrong.

Iraq: a history of disappointment

Iraq always has the capacity to disappoint. Despite enormous efforts, production has recovered now to only 2.3m bpd, compared with the 1979 peak of 4m barrels per day (bpd) achieved under Saddam Hussein. Political infighting, the squabble over regional autonomy with the Kurds, and the still difficult security situation have conspired to prevent the country achieving anything near its true resource potential. Just before US forces invaded in 2003, deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz forecast that with US hands on the taps Iraqi oil revenues would be $50bn-$100bn within two or three years, enough to pay for the country's reconstruction without recourse to the US taxpayer. At current prices, Iraqi annual oil revenues are just touching $50bn a year, but that has taken six years to achieve.

But perhaps this shouldn't come as a surprise. Iraq is a country riven with tension. From its formation in 1921, emerging from Ottoman rule as a British protectorate, it was already a melting pot of ethnic divisions between Kurds and Arabs, and religious schism between the majority Shia Muslims and the minority Sunnis. These differences, suppressed under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, re-emerged with a vengeance after the American-led invasion of 2003. This happened first in a vicious and bloody insurgency, which cost at least 100,000 lives. Later, after elections for a new Iraqi government, it echoed in rivalries between political factions, between ministries, and in a resurgent (and entirely understandable) oil nationalism. Oil, after all, has never been far from the top of the agenda of the powerful throughout the country's turbulent 90-year history. And for the first time in their history, Iraqis are democratically in control of it.

Oil nationalism

That oil nationalism can still be seen at work in the failure of the recent oil field auction, the first in 30 years, and which took place on the same day that US forces handed over control of Iraq's cities to the country's army.

The bidders were a who's who of the most powerful oil firms in the industrialised world, from BP and Exxon to CNOOC of China. The 20-year service contracts on offer would pay the developers a fee for each barrel produced above the minimum output stipulated. However, there was an enormous gulf between the terms envisaged by the Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani and what western companies were willing to offer. The price initially requested by oil majors was at least twice and, in a couple of cases, 10 times Iraq's maximum offer. Only one out of eight fields was sold to BP after it agreed to a late cutback in fees to $2 a barrel from the $3.99 it originally wanted.

But, perhaps having set a political line in the sand, Mr al-Shahristani may become more pragmatic. "The minister has now proved he is not making giveaway deals, so it is possible that softer terms will be on offer if a second round of auctions is brought forward (from the end of the year)," notes Mr Ciszuk.

The Kurdish question

That won't be the end of the difficulties, though. The Kurdish regional authorities are objecting to each contract until a broad deal is agreed, which will legalise the contracts it has separately entered into.

Parliamentary elections are due in December, and this could once again shake up the delicate political balance. Growing political instability in Iran could easily spin off into the Shia groups, such as those led by Muqtada Al-Sadr, who look to Tehran for their religious guidance, or a renewed insurgency in the most troubled Sunni provinces. The biggest undiscovered reserves are expected to lie in the far west province of Anbar, a fiercely tribal Sunni area in which the American writ rarely ran. No one knows whether huge discoveries there would fan efforts to form a separate Sunni statelet, mo****ed on Kurdish lines.

So, nothing can be taken for granted, but there remains huge potential. In the run up to the failed bidding round last month, in which only existing producing fields were offered, the Iraqi oil ministry had wanted production to reach 6m bpd in six years' time. Despite the impasse over prices, the oil companies said they could reach 8m bpd.

"If Iraq, even without additional discoveries, could produce 8m bpd in seven years' time, this clearly would alter everything," says Mr Ciszuk. Production at that level would account for almost 10 per cent of global oil output, and that is without counting a single drop of the tens of billions of barrels that lie under the western desert. Despite bloodshed and disappointment, the lure of Iraqi oil remains.

Oil reserves in context

Iraq has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, at 115bn barrels, but it may turn out to have up to another 100bn barrels depending on how much oil lies underneath the unexplored western desert. US consultants IHS visited 438 undeveloped fields, and used new technologies to come up with updated reserves on existing fields in a groundbreaking 2007 report.

Oil reserves by country

Country, Reserves, Share, R/P ratio

Saudi Arabia 264.1, 21.00% 66.5
Iran 137.610. 90% 86.9
Iraq 1159. 10% >100
Kuwait 101.58. 10% 99.6
Venezuela 99.47. 90% >100
United Arab Emirates 97.87. 80% 89.7
Russian Federation 796. 30% 21.8
Libya 43.73. 50% 64.6
Kazakhstan 39.83. 20% 70
Nigeria 36.22. 90%45. 6
As at end-2008.

Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009

However, getting the oil out of Iraq is much more about political and legal problems than geological or engineering difficulties. Although the country is suffering much less violence than at its peak in 2004, it is easy to be too glib about the terrible toll still endured by the Iraqi people. The Omagh bombing in Ulster in 1998 killed 29. Iraq is still suffering each week one or two bombings that kill at least as many. And while pipeline and installation sabotage is less common, the kidnapping of key staff still remains a threat. Above all, there are many legal and political difficulties. There is still a lack of clarity about who would have the final say on the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure. All of which means that output lags way behind potential.

Oil production by country

Country2008 output (000 barrels/day)

Saudi Arabia 10,846
Russian Federation 9,886
US 6,736
Iran 4,325
China 3,795
Canada 3,238
Mexico 3,157
United Arab Emirates 2,,980
Kuwait 2,784
Venezuela 2,566
Norway 2,455
Iraq 2,423
Nigeria 2,170
Algeria 1,993
Brazil 1,899

Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009

Things are perhaps least bureaucratic, but most legally uncertain, in Kurdistan. The Kurdistan Regional Government has had production sharing contracts repudiated by the national government, which has teeth because most fields in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region still need access to national oil pipelines. A few deals, signed before the 2007 mandate for all production agreements to have federal approval, have been allowed to stand. Companies that have deals in Kurdistan have been blacklisted from working in the rest of the country.

Peak oil

If Iraqi production could reach the levels postulated by the oil companies, the notion that we have already passed 'peak oil' would be largely discredited. Peak oil theory refers to the point in time when global oil extraction begins to decline. It is nothing to do with reserves per se, and is not a theory about oil actually running out. The concept was developed by American geologist Dr M King Hubbert, and is based on the agglomeration of observed production characteristics of individual oil wells, which normally grow exponentially from inception until a peak after which decline is fairly rapid. Dr Hubbert turned this geologically observed model into a predictive curve, which is equally applicable to wells, to fields or to global output. The real controversy isn't about whether peak oil exists – it is obvious that there must be some point in time at which this would occur – but whether we are yet there or not, and whether reaching that point would represent a global economic challenge or not. It would be possible to have oil production peak, but with a lower trajectory of economic growth and good progress on energy efficiency and alternative fuels to find that demand peaked, too. The role of price transmission would clearly be key.

Abdullah Jum'ah, chief ****utive of Saudi Aramco, has been quoted as saying that peak oil will not arise for 100 years, once unconventional sources of oil (such as tar sands) are accounted for. His views are relevant because he is one of the tiny number of top energy ****utives privy to Saudi Arabia's best kept secret: the real size of its giant Ghawar field, which is alone assumed to have 70bn barrels of oil left. However, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (www.peakoil.net) asserts that oil output has already peaked. It points to evidence that new oil fields being discovered are smaller, technically harder and much more expensive to access than the giant oil fields of the Middle East, which it presumes are now in decline. Clearly, if the most optimistic estimates for the size of Iraq's undiscovered oil fields are borne out, then, given their relative ease of access, we won't have to worry about peak oil for a long time to come

http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/...ppointment.jsp

Damac’s $15bn Iraq project faces axe
Dubai-based developer Damac Properties is said to be running into challenges over its AED55 billion ($14.98 billion) Tarin Hills project in Iraqi Kurdistan, government officials in Iraq have said.

Herish Muhamad, chairman of the Kurdistan regional government’s board of investment, said the government was ''facing some difficulties'' with Damac over the project because ''nothing has started on the ground''. He said the project could be cancelled, according to the National newspaper.

''My team and I will discuss all possible scenarios before taking the last decisions,'' he said. ''However, our decision might not be pre-consulted with them,'' the newspaper reported.

The 170m sq ft project, launched in June 2008, was touted as a major pledge of foreign direct investment into a region battered by years of dictatorship under Saddam Hussein.

It was envisaged that sales for the project would start last summer and construction commence by December 2008.

At the time Peter Riddoch, CEO of Damac Properties, said: "The hills of Tarin will be transformed into a golf course residential community with villas surrounding and intertwined among the 18-hole course.

"This community will be augmented with a golf club and health centre, which will be a focal point destination for recreation and leisure.

''In addition, the community will encompass a water and theme park, arts centres, retail complexes, besides schools and business parks."

Niall McLoughlin, a spokesman for Damac, said on Saturday the company was adjusting the project’s timeline and plans because of the global financial crisis.

''Damac has taken the sensible step of reviewing the construction timetable with a view to rescheduling some projects,'' he said.

''It simply makes good business sense for us at this time to focus on those construction sites where we are at a more advanced stage.''

McLoughlin said the company was in negotiations with the board of investment, according to the newspaper.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/56486...s-potential-ko

Interview: CBI adviser Mohammed Saleh discusses new currency and deleting zeros

Central Bank of Iraq adviser to the appearance of Mohammed Saleh / private dialogue

* What is the secret behind the disappearance of currency in small denominations of 50 fils and 100 fils with low inflation in Iraq?

- The monetary system in the unit of currency is the dinar, dinar consists of 100 fils 0 This unit is the foundation and build the system Cash In Iraq As the historic Select the dinar is equal to 3 dollars This situation prevailed To 1979-1980 Since the entry into Iraq Iran-Iraq war Started Show for the first time currency exchange rates in black Iraqi dinar began to decline in value of Foreign Affairs and, referring to the Iraqi dinar and the currency values have a common external and internal value are subject to the internal level The general price Interior and the currency value is inversely proportional with the general level of prices higher The general level of prices the value of the currency to deteriorate Value is the foreign exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar to the dollar of foreign exchange and other, and this Also Began to deteriorate The values of the currency moved in a single line towards the deterioration of the financial system of payment of cash transactions Be in different forms Currency transactions of small-small and large transactions will be through the CHEC)

But Iraq, by virtue of its inception by its Third world country Dependent on cash transactions As in 1980 was the biggest currency of 25 Iraqi dinars, which is equal to the then 75 U.S. $ And (cable and dirham) All of these are the currencies of the purchasing power with them, although they are simple fractures of the currency because of economic decline and the deterioration of the domestic production that in turn reflected the inability of the supply of real goods and therefore in great demand here and spend A large and significant borrowing Greater than the force that the structure of supply, where supply fell because of the war and the deterioration began the rise in prices, the value of internal and external value of the deterioration of the Iraqi dinar exchange rate, noting that there Workers Are the reasons behind the deterioration of the Iraqi currency. D

* Rate of inflation stood at more than 50% in Iraq

Since 1991, as Iraq was going through hyperinflation Per more than 50% causes Formed by the inflation The budget resources are few During the siege and have high requirements The then Government to release the cash and documents And thus The value of the currency to deteriorate because of the lack of product supply in Iraq, the expansion of cash In 1980 from 25 billion to 60 trillion dinars In 2003, which was a replacement of the currency and this has made the purchasing power of the currency is not worth either the time being We have concluded that the largest category is the currency of 25 thousand dinars, which is equal to 22 dollars and this is a big difference shows that there is inflation

* Sings inflation Alognea crush the poor and the hard-line policy must be to raise the interest rate of the true value of the dinar

Inflation sing The rich that is crushing the poor monetary policy has been successful in achieving its goals and its key objective is to contain inflation and Alisar It is a policy followed in the Central Bank in its Over the past three years followed strict policies This tightening in the trends over the The first nominal interest rates were raised to give the real value of the dinar which is the value of real and not illusory, but commensurate with the force and the Iraqi economy as the Iraqi economy must achieve a separation in the budget of any external balance of payments has become the largest export of the imports and therefore Be a surplus This is Large reserves in the budget of the Central Bank Where

* Central reserves of foreign currency is Approximately 50 billion dollars

The reserves Central foreign currency Approximately 50 billion dollars But after the fall was not to exceed two billion dollars to this fact we have started raising the external value of the Iraqi currency This was to improve the Iraqi dinar exchange rate by 25% and raised the Interest rates so that the value of the Iraqi dinar This led to the reduction of inflation (base)

* For the first time in the history of Iraq as the level of inflation after 30 years rising to one decimal

Inflation and the inflation index is the same year just delete it Paragraph Fuel because it is unstable UNSTEADY and it dropped from 34% in 2007 to the day for the first time in the history of Iraq as the level of inflation after 30 years rising to places where one had fallen in the past few days to 4.5% and rose to 7.5% Guarantees and fluctuates, but the one decimal place, and this is the success of monetary policy In the bank and to the Prime Minister, "as described"

Q: Is there a specific period for the lifting of the zeroes and Asaddaramlp new

And small groups have ended in front of such waves from inflationary transactions, therefore, we must re-characterization of monetary unit Again through the issuance of currency Represented by the lifting of the zeroes A strategic policy adopted by the Central Bank currently Strategies within the But we (cook Cook).

The period in which The Iraqi dinar Increase in the value of There was a demand for the dollar and this is Remarkable for the attention and puts us in a surprising we had a question why Ikabbalkm traders to buy this? He answered My request to the dollar daily trading easier for me Because the $ 100 The paper is the equivalent of one 120 thousand dinars This became clear to us There The cost of transactions due to the cost of currency And counting, sorting, and other fraud in addition to inflation of about two to three of these dangerous Absence of categories of currency Commensurate with The reason for all this part of the causes of inflation, which is happening in forms

* Politicians opposed and fearful of the new monetary Ndham issue of race

The process of lifting of the zeroes and the issuance of new currency citing delayed The first reason is Intervention and the reluctance of some political actors in the government of the issuance of a new monetary system is the apprehension of illegal and we asked The issuance of a large group."

He pointed out that the Political They said that there would be inflation and this is not true because if the large groups, speaking on inflation We passed a very small groups of inflation and the removal of this case is Saiklogip does not mean anything and Iraq a strong and successful political Monetary policy in the apprehension of illegal, if the alternative, which was approved by the Economic Commission in a timely manner We endorsed the This problem, the Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers as the largest of the Commission to draw up alternative policy of deleting the zeroes "The Finance Minister Bayan Jabor, the proponents of this project".

The second reason is to be public education and we continue to educate the public, who are Importance On the issuance of such currency We need the legal frameworks and legislation that protect the rights of citizens, some of which may be a fraud such as counterfeiting of currency due to conversion and thus lose their rights with the understanding that rights are not lost because the change does not change my name change to the purchasing power in the purchasing power of wealth.

But we are afraid of change, to sort out some of the suffering of the switch and Astav workers at the Central Bank Service in the form of issuance of the Turkish experience to learn about and study what are the problems and constraints experienced during the lifting of the zeroes of its currency and that the Turkish experience That have been studied, he said, adding that there should be a creation of the logistics of the design of the currency and the currency will be bilingual Arabic Under the constitution, Kurdish and Iraqi Kurdistan part of Iraq and the Kurds the right of the citizen and the fact that this currency is the currency also.

This issue was succeeded by technicians at the central bank and there was no urgency on this experience, because we need to be timely
Issued in order to achieve success so that the people fully informed on this currency The draft Tend the idea gradually.

* To be the willingness of banks to receive the new currency

There is a generation of young people not proficient in the use of coins (Alkjons) and at the same time banks must be ready to receive

Promise in terms of storage and as you know, at present we have a mass of cash in the market is estimated (21) will be shortened to one trillion 15 billion, and this needs to be Study of all aspects, because there are values Social impact on the This version that the Iraqi dinar is covered 100% of foreign currency a day on which the dinar holders purchasing power Good He pointed out that in the nineties The paper carries no cash value (paper journals) Because of the economic setback at the time for that Must be on the citizen to know and did not feel that the currency has no value with the currency of the current Iraqi They have value and purchasing power, believing that the reserve currency may be stolen and this behavior does not exist In Iraq Will not be repeated today the central bank On the attribution of the Iraqi currency you 100% today with Iraq and foreign at the same force Therefore, the preferred currency of the national currency and an honor to be Iraq.


* In response to our question about the scrap, which was published in 2006 and a road accident Basra

This, he said the currency issued In 2006 We at the Central Bank of factors, we then Did not agree on the issue, but there was great pressure from the Iraqi prime minister in the previous period The This scrap of Balkhmsin hundred dinars and the dinars paper (Kjons) metal in a timely manner and we are shown to the prime minister, said the Iraqi economy was not ready to issue currency, and dealt with Need to educate the public around This is part of a large project Pointing out that it was a hasty and ill-received by the public and not accompanied by an incident Against security force personnel at the central bank to discourage bringing these containers loaded with the currency (scrap) From the port of Basra killed four martyrs of the impact of the protection of security Central Bank and the theft of One of the containers, adding that the four martyrs Followed with actions taken by the State's legal rights granted to them as martyrs, either the container has not been recovered, a value not Scrap it He pointed out that the scrap was not distributed storage in the Central Bank and will be sent to the Ministry of Industry and Minerals.

* The resentment of some of the parliaments of the method used for the daily auction of Central Bank

The resentment of some of the parliaments of the auction method used daily to the Iraqi Central Bank responded The monetary system in Iraq, the dinar protector protector protector of the rights of foreign currency that the bank's daily auction, leading to the first three purposes of foreign trade financing to the private sector financed by the auction of foreign currency, the central, not the government because the government has not funded this work is the work of trade finance bank.

Many of the retirees Living on Iraqi territory Iraq and the transfer of funds to them abroad Many of the Iraqis have the right to their money abroad, but we are a central bank Provided that pass through And put in front of the law against money laundering, money, crime, terrorism, the bank has no option other than this Any law Nothing in the Iraqi currency did not go through this law is the smuggling of funds and the members demanding the means to prevent foreign exchange inflows (and frankly, stop) This is us back to the former totalitarian regime We know they have something important to know that today is economic liberalization sacrifices We know Not all be transferred to serve the country abroad, some of it for personal interests as private funds and has the right to dispose of

One of our employees, we check in the bank and the prosecution that there were economic crimes We Nstguenaha With all the security in the country and this issue can not be compromised by the work of the Central Bank led to the stability of the dinar for the sixth consecutive year For the first time after 35 years, we do not want the officials in parliament Or any government, whether to leave the interest of the country and see the work and stop talking, which makes no sense, we are asking them to substitute for the auction and we Are ready to offer an alternative non-auction are ready to study and interact with All the energies available to us, we are working Do not matter and that the alternative meaning of the criticism is not justified and I hope it ends that we have liaison relationships with all Vlieradwa Alternative programs, he Some of the statements we have heard from government officials, we decided to scrutinize transactions more bureaucratic This scrutiny Led to the deterioration of the Iraqi dinar by 5% during the 24-hour We are aware we have built for a period of five years by 25% Only if we continue to hit the Iraqi dinar The Iraqi market Insensitive and do not bear the If he believed that Central Bank reserves are high are not high in Algeria, Iraq's reserves against reserves amounted to 125 billion dollars and the fear of an economic crisis or other and that there was a cost must be prepared for any emergency that countries such as the situation in Iraq remains fragile, its development must be large reserves Taathot If the central bank reserves in the global financial crisis and the power of Iraq to back to square one of the economic collapse of the dark period Days of corruption Where Did not mention one of the Central Bank of strength and the strength of Iraq's reserves that sustain the market And stability in the time where the world was deteriorating and the economy thrive."

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl...weHuRycVvpxScg

can you interpret what was just stated above Seaview?....the way they talk the translation gets confusing to me....does this mean my 25,000 dinar bill will become a 25 dinar bill?...and my 10,00 dinar bill will now become a 10 dinar bill?.....just was wondering..maybe Mike[OSW] could help me out here also...thanks...Pat

It is a bit confusing. I am reading that. However, this article turned up today.

No hints over Iraqi currency changes
Saturday, August 15th 2009 1:00 PM


No hints over Iraqi currency changes

Kirkuk, 15 August (AKnews) – Iraqi parliament announced that it has not received any law to change the Iraqi currency.

It is hard now to change the Iraqi currency and incorporate Kurdish lanaguge on the news currency as there is no law mentioning that, lawmaker Ismaeil Shukir said.

It is true that the Iraqi constitution identifies Kurdish and Arabic as two formal languages as both are appeared on the new Iraqi passport, Shukir said.

During the Iraqi governing council in late 2003, the Iraqi currency changed under the rule of the US governor to Iraq Paul Bremer.


http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/62997/

Decline in the sales of the Central Bank of the dollar

Sales of the Central Bank of the U.S. dollar at an auction on Sunday after a total price of the bank Mapall auction of $ 97,000,000.

The bulletin, which received the Independent Press Agency (EYBENS) a copy of which was that the sale price of money (1175) dinars to the dollar, including the commission of the Central Bank in the amount of (3) dinars per dollar. The cash sales price (1178) dinars to the dollar, including the commission of the Central Bank in the amount of (6) dinars per dollar, and the quantity sold, the amount in cash (63,860,000) dollars and the amount of remittances (51,200,000) dollars.

The bulletin said the price basis, which won the auction for sale 1172 dinars to the dollar, and the number of banks contributing to the auction (11) banks.

The Central Bank shall receive a commission of $ 3 JD from the amounts purchased.

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl...IMZCn0BN6tFycQ

Interesting,

As all the old timers here now know, it is near impossible to interpret what these wacki Iraqi's are saying. lol As mentioned, there has been no issues I have found indicating the Kurds are demanding that Kurdish language be added to currency, and certainly, if this was an issue, we all would have heard about it, so I don't know where this most recent article came from, but it seems whoever made statement is not from Kurdistan region and is blowing smoke as this being an issue which would require a reprint of notes.

We all know the Kurds have issues with Baghdad, nothing new here, so if they blast Baghdad on all sorts of issues, don't you think they would have added this issue into the mix? As to the old lop comments, lets face it, they do not mean lop in the traditional sense, for if they did mean take off zeros, it would not make sense for anyone. What they more likely mean is smaller notes, and this is how I heard it from my Kurdish contacts, smaller notes is the same as lop terminology as I hear it.

It is just nice to be hearing talk of reprinting notes, and if they want to make a lame excuse it was to add the Kurdish language, hey, I could care less, we know they wouldn't be stupid enough to waste millions on a reprint just to add a language and not change the notes to smaller denoms, minus a few zeros. Remember, the coins are off the market, Iraqi's are creatures of habit, they always had coins, and they will have them again for the main reason it is cheaper for they do not have to keep printing notes over and over again as paper wears out 100 times faster than coins, and in that dirty gritty environment, it makes no sense not to see more coins of lower denoms added to mix, and of course, we won't see any new 25K or 10K notes when they do reprint, I assure you.

Success to all, Mike

The circulation of currency paper torn in Erbil & omissions in the central & southern Iraq

Diwaniya, 16 August (Akaniwz) - "the allowances" or "what you have, however, this" neutral and Chbhma other words, are the first words spoken by any dealer or seller in any transaction in the market or the other, when the currency in circulation or were torn poster of an adhesive transparent.

A junior high graduate, says the trade in Baghdad, Marwa Hassan Ali, a tourist came to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Arbil, accompanied by her family to enjoy the beauty of the nature of Arbil was surprised when I saw it more than the process of trading and dealing between the seller and the buyer's currency and torn paper with no parties to take it.

The Mroué to Kurdistan News Agency (Akanyuz) that "the circulation of the currency transaction shattered does not apply to all governorates of Iraq, but not by the traders and vendors and customers in southern Iraq and central Iraq, did not apply to the governorates of the Kurdistan region and in particular the provincial capital of Irbil."

He asked the media Ahmed Junejon, which recently visited Arbil, in the media, as to why the Iraqi vendors or customers in central and southern Iraq to refrain from handling paper currency after being affixed to the construction or tear, leaving the answer to the Iraqi citizen.

With the economic expert said Moussa on what it considers to be the most dangerous of the vendors and the customer with the Iraqi currency trading and dealing, or torn and affixed to the safe use, and said that "there were some vendors and customers are reluctant to deal torn currency, etc. This is a grave economic mistake, what is more a and the severity of which is the number of banks with the government of the receipt of amounts on deposit shattered parents or government agencies for funds, "he said.

Urged "government agencies especially the Ministry of Finance to pay attention to the danger and refrain from dealing with the circulation of paper currency or torn portrait, especially by the banks, because it is the destruction of the Iraqi economy."

One of the owners of stores that sell food in the region of Arbil, a sheikh of God Rizgar Zmnaku said, "I have no problem with me, or I have received the amounts of paper torn out because the client received from me Sestelmh merchant bank or the other, or even the rest of the customers, and therefore the process is moving normally."

On the other hand, the Ahmed Abdul-Zahra, a sports clothing shop owners in Diwaniya suffering torn with the amounts they said after the withdrawal of his office drawer I feel torn paper and the amounts that were parked in one corner (the stairs) "Look at this torn paper currency, which more than ( 225) thousand dinars, do not accept the one I received and to deal with them, and that Arkinha in the corner of the stairs."

Following: "I am not I am not received any sum of money and a paper or poster, since torn about (3) months, there was no one willing to handle and received by me if taken."

And ended by saying sarcastically, "I was bitten by a spider hole (currency) shattered, many times that I should not be more than the number of bites of the same hole Vowkd non-faith, a believer is not bitten from the hole twice."

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