Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Japan to offer 82.6 bln yen, 40-yr loan to Iraq

Japan to offer 82.6 bln yen, 40-yr loan to Iraq

Japan to offer 82.6 bln yen, 40-yr loan to Iraq

Mon, Dec 11 2006, 11:15 GMT
AFX News Ltd. London : Financial News Products

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - The government said it will provide an 82.6 bln yen loan to Iraq to help it improve its crude oil and electricity-related facilities.
The 40-year loan, with an annual interest rate of 0.75 pct, will be offered through the state-funded Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The loan is designed to finance the construction of pipelines in the southern Iraqi city of Basra and improve power transmission facilities across the nation, the ministry said.
The loan is part of financial assistance to Iraq announced by Tokyo in 2003. Japan, a key donor to Iraq, has also offered 6 bln usd in debt waivers and 1.5 bln usd in aid grants to Baghdad.
afp




For more information and to contact AFX: AFX News Ltd. London : Financial News Products and
AFX News Ltd. London : Financial News Products

Originally Posted by motomachi

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/images...nar2-515h.html



http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/images...nar2-515h.html

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...n_01/dinar.jpg

Well, these two sites speak for themselves, correct lndmn_01?

lmao

Now that would be cool.

»« Invitation »», «Islamic doing Note old

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-11-2006
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Said that the rapprochement between the two «is not directed against anyone ... »« Invitation »», «Islamic doing Note old
Baghdad-Wahid taste of life-11 / 12 / 06 / /

The top leaderships of the partisan advocacy «» »,« Islamic revive old memorandum of understanding to coordinate their positions inside and outside the Parliament, away from the media. He threatened «» Islamic boycott any future government «if it is not a real quality of the resolutions in the political and security».

He said the leadership of the Party «invitation» Walid jewelry in a statement to «life» : «seek through our current with the ruling Islamic« »to the revitalization and restructuring of the joint committees of coordination and cooperation in the political, economic, social and other». He said that the two parties reached an agreement during a meeting the day before yesterday included Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Secretary-General's invitation Ibrahim Jaafari and hospitality, Haidar Faleh Al-Abbadi, Walid jewelry, on the one hand, and Iyad al-Samarra'i, a champion Ani of the Islamic «» to the adoption of these committees to discuss problems and control away from the media ». He pointed out that the political pressure during the last period, and calls Islamic leaders «» «for political reforms do not stem from differences between the two, but the problems between the government and the party does not pertain to partisan». He assured the jewelry Iraqi forces others to «revive a joint strategy between the two parties are not directed against anyone will not produce an Islamic fundamentalist extremist», pointing out that the two «represent the moderate line of Islam and enjoy good relations with both secular and religious orientations other». He reported that there is «a broad program« »invitation to move in the direction of all Iraqi forces in an effort to mobilize efforts to contain the political crisis».

He said the party leadership in the Islamic «» champion Ani «The agreement is part of our responsibility to get out of the current crisis», it said in a statement to «life» «that the deep roots of our relationship has helped to revive the joint strategy of the new agreement was to unify the political discourse and the media away from sectarianism and discrimination».
He ruled Fadil al-Sharaa (from the current Sadri) that the agreement would lead to provoke irritated liberals and secularists «especially that the Constitution to preserve the rights of everyone in the new Iraqi state, and not any clamor or fear of such meetings to take place within the framework of peaceful consultation and within the tools of democracy».

Originally Posted by kiko

Kirkuk budget unexpectedly shrinks
11 December 2006 (The Kurdish Globe)

The budget for the Kirkuk city will be increased to 200 billion Iraqi dinars for the year 2007.

Kirkuk City Provisional Council held its regular meeting last week to discuss and vote on the budget earmarked for 2007. In the meeting, members of the Brotherhood List in the council boycotted the vote on the proposed budget.

"We heard from the council, following its latest meeting with Iraqi Prime Minster Al-Maliki in Baghdad, that the budget for the city will be increased to 200 billion Iraqi dinars for the year 2007. However, we have seen it surprisingly shrink to 114 billion dinars," said city council member Mohammed Kamal to Khabat.

"The population of Kirkuk is currently estimated at over one million, not counting the people who will be returning to the city," Mohammed said, adding, "Any attempt to reduce the budget is interpreted as an oppressive act against the city and its people."

Kirkuk budget unexpectedly shrinks | Iraq Updates

Does anyone know what their budget was at pre-war levels? Does this amount correlate with a large re-val? I personally hope it does!

Workers at the Baiji refinery stopped receiving threats

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-11-2006
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In Baiji refinery workers receiving threats to stop working
A source at the Baiji refinery, "said the gunmen threatened workers and the liquidator in the event of his death or go work at the refinery in response to the siege imposed by the American forces of the Chinese hand near the liquidator ten days ago."
The source added in a press statement today, Monday, that "one of the conditions for lifting the siege on the armed hand, Chinese workers but they will be killed or beaten and staff liquidator arms and missiles."
The Baiji refinery of the filter function in the country and rely upon some electric power stations as well as the production fill a large proportion of domestic consumption of fuel.
Radio Tigris

Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih confirms confirms that the

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-11-2006
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The Republic of Iraq
Council of Ministers-the governmental communications
Media Relations
Press Release Press release /
Monday 12-11-2006

Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih confirmed that the text of the International Covenant with Iraq represents a national vision for Iraq, as it represents the will of the government and people


The Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki officially in the 10th of the current month of December the final text of the International Covenant with Iraq.

The resulting text as a result of protracted discussions with the United Nations, the World Bank and other international partners and organizations in the relationship.

Since the announcement of the plan on the 20th of July last two preparatory meetings were held in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait States and relevant organizations under the chairmanship of Iraq and the United Nations, in addition to meetings at the technical level was held in Baghdad since the month of July last.

And Mr. Prime Minister, in the presence of Dr. Barham Salih Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Planning, the full text to the ambassadors and representatives of the United Nations, the World Bank and the Office of the European Union and the United States of America, Japan, Korea, Germany, France and Italy.

And, Mr. Prime Minister, that the text was discussed and agreed upon in the Council of Ministers last week, explaining that the Iraqi program is the firm's reform legislation and development in the economic, security and political.

The Prime Minister thanked international partners to show them support now, and asked them to take urgent response as part of their contribution to the Covenant, exciting attention specifically to the subject of the $ 70 billion of the remaining debt on Iraq and accumulated since the time of the former regime, and not for the benefit of the Iraqi people but to buy weapons to suppress the will of the people.

The sovereignty to the natural riches of Iraq has yet to be exploited fully only after the repair of Iraq's infrastructure.

For his part, described the Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih text such as a national vision for Iraq, as it represents the will of the government and the Iraqi people.

It is expected that the signing of the International Covenant with Iraq in the coming weeks.

Originally Posted by CharmedPiper

Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih confirms confirms that the

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-11-2006
This issue was sent to a friend

The Republic of Iraq
Council of Ministers-the governmental communications
Media Relations
Press Release Press release /
Monday 12-11-2006

Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih confirmed that the text of the International Covenant with Iraq represents a national vision for Iraq, as it represents the will of the government and people


The Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki officially in the 10th of the current month of December the final text of the International Covenant with Iraq.
......

It is expected that the signing of the International Covenant with Iraq in the coming weeks.

???????

Wasn't it supposed to be signed these days ( this week)??

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 — Iraq is failing to spend billions of dollars of oil revenues that have been set aside to rebuild its damaged roads, schools and power stations and to repair refineries and pipelines.

Iraqi ministries are spending as little as 15 percent of the 2006 capital budgets they received for the rebuilding — with some of the weakest spending taking place at the Oil Ministry, which relies on damaged and frequently sabotaged pipelines and pumping stations to move the oil that provides nearly all of the country’s revenues. In essence, the money is available — despite extensive sabotage, the oil money is flowing — but the Iraqi system has not been able to put it to work.

The country is facing this national failure to spend even as American financial support dwindles. Among reasons for the problems — like a large turnover in government personnel — is a strange new one: bureaucrats are so fearful and confused by anticorruption measures put in place by the American and Iraqi governments that they are afraid to sign off on contracts.

The inability to spend the money raises serious questions for the government, which has to demonstrate to citizens who are skeptical and suspicious of government corruption that it can improve basic services, and that at a time when American funds for reconstruction are being reduced, it can prove to other foreign donors that it can quickly put to use the money they may be willing to commit.

After the expenditure of roughly $22 billion in American taxpayer dollars on Iraq reconstruction, the increase of the Iraqi capital budget was seen by many as a sign that oil revenues could finally begin paying for the rebuilding, four years after Bush administration predictions that the country could afford the program on its own.

Iraq’s overall capital budget in 2006 was nine trillion Iraqi dinars, or about $6 billion, said Abdulbasit Turki Saeed, president of the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit and a member of the Iraqi cabinet’s economic committee.

But Mr. Saeed said that across the entire government, only about 20 percent of the capital budget had been spent, according to the committee’s recent figures. A senior Western official agreed with that estimate.

“It’s slow. It’s disappointing,” the Western official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. “In general, they have had trouble getting projects started.”

The problem was briefly acknowledged in the report last week by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which gave similar figures for capital expenditures and said that “many ministries can do little more than pay salaries.”

In interviews, alarmed Western and Iraqi officials sought to put the best face on the problem, saying they thought that the pace of spending had picked up in the last two to three months as the government began taking steps to improve its performance.

Those officials said that in a nation with reconstruction needs around every corner, the puzzling phenomenon of unspent money was partly explained by the rapid turnover in governments, security woes, endemic corruption and a lack of technocrats skilled at jobs like writing contracts and managing complex projects. In short, nearly all the ills that have undermined the American rebuilding program seem to be plaguing the Iraqi one.

Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, said he thought that he could spend substantially more of this year’s budget if he could resolve administrative bottlenecks, like Finance Ministry delays in authorizing payments.

“It’s the bureaucracy,” Mr. Shahristani said. “Particularly financial people take too long to change their old habits.”

But some American and Iraqi officials here are also saying that the stringent measures they had favored to slow the rampant corruption may be especially daunting for bureaucrats who have little experience with Western-style regulations and oversight. Those officials say that Iraqis who have seen their colleagues arrested and jailed in anticorruption sweeps are reluctant to put their own name on a contract.

“As it’s applied right now, this new thing scares the hell out of everybody,” one Western official here said.

The colliding priorities of oversight and spending have left American and Iraqi officials in a quandary as they work behind the scenes on the so-called “Compact with Iraq” — the centerpiece of the American Embassy’s effort to create economic and political milestones that this nation promises to meet in exchange for pledges of foreign investment and support.

Anticorruption officials themselves are facing a loss of support, with the most serious impact felt by Rathi al-Rathi, the head of Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity, who has been privately accused by Western and Iraqi officials of zealotry, political bias and other failings.

A previously undisclosed letter to Mr. Rathi from prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, dated Sept. 6, is close to an accusation that Mr. Rathi himself is guilty of corruption. The letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times, directs him to account for what the prime minister asserts are hundreds of thousands of dollars of undocumented expenses by the commission.

Ali al-Shabot, a spokesman for Mr. Rathi, who was traveling last week, at first insisted that the letter was secret and that he could not discuss it. But finally he dismissed its charges as based on bad information. Mr. Shabot indicated there was at least one good reason that, despite the pressure, the commission would remain in business. He confidently pointed out that international donors who provide financing to Iraq do so “with the guarantee that there are institutions to oversee the money.”

While it is clear that new financial support is unlikely without a strong anticorruption campaign in place, Iraq’s inability to spend its own money undermines the message that the country will actually be able to use the support if provided.

“People we are trying to deal with and obtain additional funds for Iraq will come back and say, ‘Iraq is not spending its own resources,’ ” said Yahia Said, a research fellow at the London School of Economics who is working as a consultant to the United Nations on the compact.

Mr. Shahristani, the oil minister, who has put new anticorruption measures in place on top of those imposed from the outside, said the solution was to teach the bureaucrats how to cope with the new rules.

“Obviously I’ve heard of these complaints,” he said of the criticisms of the anticorruption organizations. “I don’t think that they have gone too far. I think this is necessary given the level of corruption that we have inherited.”

Iraq’s total budget is about $32 billion in 2006 and is projected to be more than $40 billion in 2007, said Bayan Jabr, the Iraqi finance minister, in an interview. Most of the budget, which comes almost entirely from oil revenues, is consumed in operating expenses, including roughly $8 billion for ministry salaries and pensions and $6 billion for Iraq’s socialist-style food and fuel subsidies.

The nation has spent those funds much more easily than it has spent the $6 billion for capital improvements — a number that by some projections could roughly double next year in view of Iraq’s vast infrastructure needs.

According to a report by the Oil Ministry, about half of the money was to go for repair of pipelines, building refineries, improving oil fields, repairs on export terminals, and other improvements to the oil industry. The remainder was to be spent on projects ranging from improving the electrical system to irrigation systems to roads and government buildings of various types.

The same report says that, for example, Iraq is in need of major new oil storage tanks, a 42-inch-diameter pipeline in the south and better electrical generation to run the oil pumps.

Officials are still sorting out what went wrong in the early months of the 2006 program, but some of the problems were similar in kind if not in detail to the ones that derailed major portions of the American effort.

First, after the December 2005 elections, politicians jockeyed for ministerial posts for months, creating uncertainty about whether priorities would change, and then the newly seated officials were unfamiliar with their jobs. At the same time, deepening security problems not only made purchasing and construction difficult, but also continued to drive skilled midlevel ministry employees out of the country.

Final numbers across the ministries will not be available until year’s end, but Mr. Jabr, the finance minister, said that a few trends had emerged. Expenditures at the Housing and Construction Ministry and the Oil Ministry were low, while at the other end of the spectrum, the Electricity and Water Resources Ministries were spending as much as three-quarters of their allocations.

But the overall picture is clear, said Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who as commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq works extensively with the Interior and Defense Ministries, which he expects to spend about half of their capital budgets this year.

“I think the government of Iraq has got a challenge writ large,” General Dempsey said. “The 27 ministries will not execute their 2006 budgets.”

American and Iraqi officials are already taking steps to improve the situation, streamlining the contracting process, giving training sessions on the process to ministry employees and, Mr. Jabr said, putting in place measures to penalize ministries that do not spend money fast enough.

General Dempsey said the unspent money in the security ministries in 2006 would not be lost, because Iraq had agreed to allow the funds to be held in the same foreign accounts that are used to coordinate the Pentagon’s military purchases until the agencies were ready to use it.

As the financial and political stakes rise within the Iraqi-financed rebuilding program, few officials have escaped blame.

The public integrity commission is cited most often as intimidating. But those who deal with investigations of questionable deals and officials on the take in a historically corrupt country are not surprised by those complaints. “This is normal,” said Mr. Shabot, the integrity commission spokesman. “They hate us because we are monitoring them.”

Mr. Jabr expressed deep impatience with ministry officials who, he said, told him that part of the reason they were moving so slowing was to avoid running afoul of the integrity commission.

“I said, ‘Why are you afraid? If you are not a thief, don’t be afraid,’ ” Mr. Jabr recalled.

Iraq Is Failing to Spend Billions in Oil Revenues - New York Times

Originally Posted by shotgunsusie

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ok this story is important because it is one of the things on the list of things they are doing to accomplish the goal including the revalue. census completion. woOt on this baby!!!!

Yep, Susie. I have been wondering about this for awhile. I can't remember the exact reason this needed to be done, but I remember them announcing that the census needed to be completed before something important could be done. It was kind of a downer when they announced that the census needed to be done because it indicated that the reval may take longer although it was an indirect association between the reval and the census.... Its on the tip of my brain, was it something to do with providing the 10,000 dinar gift to every citizen???

Back when the need for the census was announced around the end of Sept. early Oct of this year it sounded like it would be a long time before they could complete it, but well once again here we are ahead of schedule and just in time for the end of the year. Is this just a coincidence? Man, they must have been counting fast while they were ducking bullets....

Originally Posted by kiko

Dinar soars: Iraqi currency hits 2-year high
11/12/2006

Iraq’s dinar currency has risen to a nearly two-year high against the U.S. dollar, as the nation’s central bank tries to fend off skyrocketing inflation by buying up the currency with dollars at its daily auctions.

Most of the money the Iraqi government earns is in U.S. dollars because oil exports are the main source of its income, and the bank has about US$14 billion in foreign assets, said Mudher Qassim, the Central Bank of Iraq’s director of statistics.

On Thursday, the last day of the work week in Baghdad, the central bank led the way at its daily currency auction, which saw 25 million U.S. dollars sold by about a dozen banks, the central bank said. Even larger amounts of dollars were sold during 10 of the auctions in November.

"Our goal is to reduce inflation, which is now running at about 50 per cent, by improving the dinar and thereby making imported goods cheaper," Qassim said, adding that more than 80 per cent of all Iraq’s tradable goods are imported, he said.

In a report in August, the International Monetary Fund also said inflation was escalating in Iraq. The 12-month rate of inflation ended 2005 at 31.7 per cent, but inflation then accelerated, with 12-month inflation reaching 58 per cent in May 2006, the report said.

Iraq’s Central Bank also is trying to fight inflation by raising interest rates. In November it raised its key policy rate to 16 per cent from 12 per cent. Wednesday’s report from the bipartisan U.S. Iraq Study Group said that by the end of 2006, the bank will raise rates to 20 per cent and appreciate the dinar by 10 per cent.

The Central Bank’s fight against inflation could prove to be an uphill battle, however, since many observers believe the leading contributor to inflation is the high cost of security involved in distributing goods throughout the country.

On Thursday, the dinar was trading at the central bank’s auction price of 1,424 against the U.S. dollar, its strongest price since March 23, 2004, when it was at 1,420.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2733

I remember early in Novemebr we had a lot of discussion about what the CBI was really doing. This article clearly states that they have been removing dinar from the economy. So, that discussion is ended. By now we all know what this means. How it effects inflation and what a reduction of the base money supply will do to the eventual price of the dinar. Its exciting to see a country that has the financial means and the management (CBI president) to accomplish this feat. We shouldn't take this for granted, I hate to sound like a broken record, but few countries have the wealth to make these types of interventions. I also read that they expect to have oil production at 8 MBD in four years. When we combined the actions of the CBI with increasing oil income and developmental assistance by other countries (i.e. recent report from Japan) (also over 60Billion in a reconstruction fund) then the formula is truely a remarkable one with eventual wealthy dividends. This week will continue to be interesting. Maybe an RV, if not a continuation of a program by the CBI similiar to what we have seen. In any event, its just a matter of TIME. Thank You.