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

Originally Posted by Jola

???????

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

Yes! that would have been yesterday

Iraq unable to spend billions of oil revenues

MENAFN - 11/12/2006

The New York Times said in a report that Iraq is failing to spend billions of dollars of oil revenues that have been set aside for reconstruction of damaged roads, schools, refineries and pipelines.

The report said that Iraqi ministries are spending only 15 percent of the 2006 capital budgets allocated for the rebuilding, with the Oil Ministry's expenditure being the weakest as it relies on damaged and frequently sabotaged pipelines and pumping stations to move the oil that provides almost all of the country's revenues.

President of the Iraqi Board of Supreme explained that the country's
overall capital budget in 2006 was $6 billion, but only 20 percent of the capital budget had been spent, according to the committee's recent figures.

However, here is an article dated today....

Iraqi dinar builds head of steam amid nation's chaos - Los Angeles Times

Iraqi dinar builds head of steam amid nation's chaos
The currency nears its peak value since being reissued in 2004. With the state buying to curb inflation, the strength may be temporary.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writer
December 11, 2006


BAGHDAD — An unexpected bright spot has appeared in this war-ravaged Iraqi capital: The national currency is strengthening against the U.S. dollar.

The dinar has appreciated to about 1,400 dinars to the dollar, near its two-year high, triggering a dinar buying frenzy among currency traders.

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"I had people call to sell $150,000, $100,000. I had to tell them I didn't have that many dinars," said Alaa al Shemry, deputy manager at the Beirut Exchange Co., where he sat last week, watching a man sell dollars for the blue 5,000-dinar notes adorned with waterfalls and desert fortresses.

Economists and investors say the dinar's rise is temporary and largely driven by the Iraqi Central Bank, which is buying the currency as it seeks to raise interest rates to combat rampant inflation.

But that hasn't stopped currency speculators from seeking to cash in.

A.F. Alhajji, an associate professor of economics at Ohio Northern University who has studied the Iraqi economy for 15 years, received e-mail from Mideast currency speculators urging him to buy Iraqi dinars, similar to messages he got after the dinar was issued in 2004.

Alhajji says he watched teenagers in Jordan and Saudi Arabia respond to the e-mail, buying up the currency.

"They seriously think they can gain money by buying Iraqi dinars. This has become like a fever over there," he said.

And not just over there.

In Danbury, Conn., Jeff Pasquarella is buying billions of Iraqi dinars for customers through his currency trading website, Bet-OnIraq.com, which sells the Iraqi currency "because liberty breeds prosperity." EDinar Financial in Los Angeles and similar companies have popped up from Nevada to Wisconsin.

At Dinar Trade in Brentwood, Tenn. (formerly Bakersfield), sales dropped off during the last few months but picked up again in the last two weeks as many of its 54,000 customers took a renewed interest in the dinar, an employee said. The company expects the dinar to appreciate 10% to 20% in value.

"Picture Iraq as a company selling stock," the website says. "Each Dinar you purchase represents a share in Iraq's bright future."

On Thursday, the last day of business in this largely Muslim country, the dinar was trading at 1,424 against the dollar, according to the central bank. That was its strongest price since March 2004, when it was 1,420.

Some economists are surprised at the dinar's rise, considering that Iraq's economy is still a shambles, with trade and major industries such as agriculture and oil crippled by the ongoing conflict.

Electricity is so sporadic in the capital that the Iraq Stock Exchange — which is preparing to switch from erasable white to electronic boards on the trading floor — can still count on only two hours of power a day.

In late November, three car bombs exploded in markets near the central bank, killing at least 68 people, injuring 111 and destroying 22 businesses, police said.

The dinar's price is determined at streetside foreign exchanges and daily dollar auctions at the central bank. Each weekday except Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, traders from 30 state-run and private banks arrive at the central bank in downtown Baghdad, each bearing an envelope listing the amount of dollars they wish to buy and a bid price. Bank managers confer and set the price.

The central bank is widely believed to be trying to force the exchange rate down to 1,000 dinars per dollar, in line with the Saudi riyal and the Jordanian and Kuwaiti dinars.

Ahmed Salman Jabouri, the deputy central bank governor who oversees the foreign exchange market, said Iraqi banks were buying up dinars, reversing a recent trend.

Under a multiyear agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Iraq is required to increase its dollar reserves and bring inflation down to 15% as part of the nation's reconstruction effort. During the last two years, the bank's dollar reserves about doubled, records show, now totaling about $11 billion, while inflation has leaped this year, Jabouri said.
-----------------------------------------------------

An IMF report in May showed inflation of 58% during the previous 12 months, compared to 31.7% the year before. Economists and investors put current inflation even higher, at up to 80%.

A Western official in Baghdad said the Iraqi government is doing all it can to fight inflation.

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"They're basically meeting their targets," said the official, who requested anonymity. "I think this is actually a good thing for Iraqi consumers."

Most Iraqis receive oil and food subsidies but struggle to pay for cars, computers and other items, said Laith al Abadi, 30, a computer engineer who was exchanging dollars for dinars at the Beirut Exchange Co. last week. Abadi said he imports PCs on the black market to avoid taxes and keep his prices low — $300 to $1,400 for a basic model.

"If something changes, if the market is OK, then I pay taxes," he said.

Investors were more upbeat last week at the stock exchange, where 93 stocks appeared on whiteboards. In a stucco building behind an armed checkpoint and concrete barriers, men fingered prayer beads as they waited for the exchange to open. Some said they are more confident that the central bank can curb inflation as the dinar's value rises.

"It's a sign of stability because you are going to have capital that has fled the country coming back," said Saad Lutfi, 64, a trader who mostly invests in the banking sector, which he said is picking up. "But it's a long-term thing."

Alhajji, the Ohio economist, said Iraqis were following the bank's lead, exchanging dollars for dinars.

"People historically, since the days of Saddam Hussein, saved their money in non-Iraqi currency. Since the U.S. came, it was the U.S. dollar, especially since the military was paying in dollars," he said. Now people believe the economy is improving and will keep buying dinars, he added.

Even with prices rising, U.S. soldiers in the streets and bombs in the markets?

"Sometimes high inflation is a sign that the economy is picking up," Alhajji said. "In Dubai, inflation is rampant, but it is one of the most prosperous places in the world."

But Iraq is no United Arab Emirates. The Dubai skyline is dotted with construction cranes, while Baghdad's high-rises are pocked by mortar rounds. Iraq emerged from Hussein's rule with $125 billion in international debt, pared down to $76 billion, and trade ties weighted heavily in favor of foreign countries, chiefly the U.S.

Add to that the complications of post-colonial currency shifts.

After World War I, when Iraq fell under British rule, the official currency was the Indian rupee, with rates set by the empire. Once Iraq gained independence in 1932, leaders created a national currency board to set exchange rates for the dinar but not shape monetary policy.

Under Hussein, the exchange rate fell from $3.30 per dinar to a low of 3,000 dinars per dollar in 1995 as the government, bedeviled by international embargoes, massively printed old dinar notes, including those emblazoned with the dictator's likeness.

The new central bank was created with U.S. and British oversight in part to help stabilize the dinar. Some say the currency's rise amid the sectarian war is the result of the bank's dysfunctional money management.

"Given their history with money in Iraq, they should never have had a central bank," said professor Steve H. Hanke, co-director of the Institute for Applied Economics and the Study of Business Enterprise at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

He said Iraq should replace the central bank with the currency board it had before or adopt a foreign currency. Ecuador, El Salvador and East Timor have adopted the dollar, he noted, while Montenegro and Kosovo use the euro.

Hanke called the dinar's rise "both very dangerous and the worst of all possible worlds" because it is not curbing inflation.

"This is a major train wreck waiting to happen," he said.

The head of the Iraq Stock Exchange, Taha A. Salam, said the dinar will inevitably decline in value. When it does, he said, "you will have more problems in the streets" as Iraqis' buying power wanes.

Shemry, the exchange dealer, advises clients like Mudhaffar Jenari, an employee at the Ministry of Oil, to keep their dollars as insurance against further unrest. Just a few months ago, a car bomb exploded up the street, wounding the owner of another foreign exchange shop and killing an employee. After the blast, thieves stole $40,000.

"Everything depends on the security situation," Shemry said.

This is true for the dinar as with everything else. "One thing goes badly, and we lose everything."

Lunes, 11 de Diciembre del 2006

Iraqi Kurdish PM Discusses ISG Report, Iraqi Oil Law

VOA
Diciembre 10, 2006, 0:56 EST

Irbil, Iraq --
Iraq's Kurdistan region is often overlooked by outside observers because it suffers none of the sectarian violence plaguing Baghdad and other parts of the country.

But the prime minister of the semi-autonomous region, Nechirvan Barzani, tells VOA that is no reason for the U.S. commission reviewing U.S. policy in Iraq to have neglected visiting the area when they were preparing their 79 recommendations for President Bush.

"They stayed just inside [the] Green Zone, and [for] just a few days inside the Green Zone," he said. "They did not come to Kurdistan, or to anywhere, to see the real situation on the ground."

The Green Zone is a secure area in Baghdad where U.S. troops and government officials are housed.

Mr. Barzani is particularly upset about the Iraq Study Group's recommendations for dividing the country's oil wealth, particularly as there are sensitive internal negotiations going on now in Baghdad to draft a new national oil law.

Iraq possesses more than 100 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, so the stakes are high.

The Iraq Study Group's report urges equitable distribution of oil revenues, saying it is necessary to the process of national reconciliation. This option is attractive to Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs.

But Iraq's Kurds, including Mr. Barzani, and also its majority Shi'ites - who sit on much of the country's oil reserves - oppose this, preferring instead to follow the Iraqi constitution, which allocates all regions of Iraq a proportion of oil profits relative to their population.

The Kurds are generally considered to be 17 percent of the population. However, if an expected census is conducted next year, Mr. Barzani says their share is more likely to increase than decrease.

"Our point is, because we do not have any census in Iraq, we told Baghdad, you should keep 17 percent for the Kurds, until you finish that census, and then, according to the constitution, it will be adjusted, and we will accept that," he added.

He says Iraqi oil revenues should also go to a special account outside the country, which would automatically transfer their share from that account directly to the regional government's account.

In Baghdad, as the new oil law is hashed out, the version the Kurds would like to see approved would allow them to retain the right to sign oil deals with foreign countries and keep the proceeds for themselves, which they contend is their right under the Iraqi constitution.

Negotiations on the draft oil law will resume this week, and Mr. Barzani will go to Baghdad to take part.

Also on his agenda there is the annual budget. Right now, he says, the Kurdistan region does not receive any of the money allocated for national security, something he would like to see changed.

"Our point is, we are part of the security in Iraq, and they should allocate some budget for security in this region," he said. "You should give us our share. If the situation here is good, it is because we try hard to be like that. We need more help, more assistance."

Mr. Barzani said he was disappointed that the last round of Baghdad talks did not yield any significant results, but he tells VOA, he is hopeful that this trip will see some of these issues resolved.

I ran across this by accident and it is dated November but there are valuable phone numbers and info regarding Chase Exchanging dinars if this helps anybody.

FinanceVisor - Markets > News > News Detail

Cash for Your Iraq Dinar Now at Select CHASE Banks in USA
November 26,2006 12:00 AM EST

All Oklahoma City OK CHASE Banks and select locations in Houston, Texas will accept your Iraq dinar for exchange near Central Bank of Iraq rates. The day has come. (FVNEWSWIRE Sep 1, 2006)

Winnipeg, MB (FV Newswire) - Iraq Dinar online research alliance has discovered and verified by phone that CHASE bank has both guns blazing in the Iraq investment area. Cash for your Dinars today at Major USA Banks.

Persons who have questions about Iraq including the media will want to scour this Press Release as the 2nd largest question about Dinar is now answered. When can I cash my dinars in locally such as a major USA Bank. CHASE Bank put this question to rest.

Undercover Alliance Member Verifies Truth

First name Jason, he is one of our 2900+ Iraq Dinar Alliance members, 80% of which own Iraq Dinar report the following to the Online Iraq Research Alliance Darren Chabluk, Director of Research-

"I took a 10,000 note to CHASE and acted like I was going to (cash it in) and they looked it up in their computer and said they were authorized to exchange it now but they are only giving .00068 for it. ($680/million dinar)

Any branch in Oklahoma city and most branches in Houston. The phone number to the branch I went to is 405-378-0006 and ask for Becky Ayers or Mariah."

The address of the bank Jason went to is 11920 South Western OK City, OK. 73170 Cashing in now and in the future is a done deal.

Who would want to cash in now you may ask? It is not advised says Darren Chabluk, a former U.S. Treasury Registered Dinar dealer acting on behalf of the investors best interest.

"Buy Dinar if you want, but not more than you can afford to loose. Were dealing with a high risk, yet high potential for return", said Mr Chabluk in an early morning interview.

Critics: Hung buy the Tongue

- Civil War Scare is now an accepted fallacy since the Alliance has claimed civil war in Iraq for 3 years running already. And things are in fact looking up
- "Cutting off zeros (from Dinar Banknotes) will not happen", said the Governor of Iraq contrary to the Finance Ministers suggestion. Thousands of foreign workers would leave Iraq overnight in such case. Besides, Iraq is one of the richest with oil and THE richest with natural gas supply. Dinar has a foundation to grow on.
- Cashing in Dinar in the USA is huge thanks to CHASE Bank, they have a strong presence in the hearts of Iraqis. Inside and outside of Iraq.

Becky and Mariah from CHASE bank on South Western OK City, OK both agree-

"The phone at the bank keeps ringing", Iraq Dinar online Research Alliance members report after Darren Chabluk sent out a news blast to the entire news hungry investors and critics.

Media are invited to contact Darren Chabluk directly for interviews and information on the topic of Iraq investing and Iraq.

Direct Line: 1-866-828-1991
Other helpful information on this release and free membership to the online Iraq Dinar Research Alliance can be found at: http://DrDinar.com/CHASE

Contact Information
Darren Chabluk
Reply to Darren Chabluk
1-866-828-1991

###


Company: DEC Marketing Inc.
Contact: Darren Chabluk
Phone: 1-866-828-1991
Email: N/A

Article 140 committee receives $15 million monthly

The article was endorsed completely and presented to the Council of Ministers.

Kaka Rash, head of Kirkuk's Article 140 Committee office, told the media that after a committee meeting on December 6, the article was endorsed completely and presented to the Council of Ministers. He also pointed out that during the meeting, the budgets for the Kirkuk, Khanaqeen, and Shangar offices were approved. Rash indicated that one of the members of the committee from Turkoman group proposed a suggestion, but was refused by the committee
Article 140 committee receives $15 million monthly | Iraq Updates

What is article 140 all about? i've seen it mentioned but never was clear on it's contents or significance.

DUH! LOL never mind, it's right there, the budget for kirkuk, etc........

Originally Posted by bahma

so it's on its own, is it?

Here is the rest of the story:

The first page L : A (long) continues the policy of strengthening the dinar rate of exchange. CBE DENIES seeking to offset dollar per thousand dinars.

Baghdad / economic affairs editor
The market is still witnessing a strengthening of the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar and foreign currencies amid confusion and clear in the transactions, as the dollar remained for years the only equivalent of the commodities traded in all its different forms. While became concerned on the Downtown commercial adoption of the new equivalent of the strongest and the Iraqi dinar.
This volatile situation led to the conversion of certain parties rumors to the news reported by the satellite channels reported that the Iraqi Central Bank has sought to make the dollar exchange rate thousand Iraqi dinars, the essay, the market carrying offices Exchange hesitation in accepting the categories of the dollar. With an official source at the Central Bank told (long), that the news is completely untrue, but that the bank's monetary policy aimed at not harm any parties, so has been the adoption of the drawdown rates very simple so as not to leave the harmful effects on the resolutions before the dollar from banks and banking companies and traders.

It should be noted that the dollar, which had reached early last month with the 1470 dinars, the reduction in the daily auction bank gradually comes to the price of the auction yesterday, the first 1435 dinars-the creation of confusion and clearly reflected on the events in general and banking mechanisms and absenteeism. For example, while the average purchase banks eligibility for the daily auction of $ 60-$ 65 million on the 14 / 15 of the last month, the low turnout of up to 865 thousand dollars on 28 of the same month, the day he spread the Bank has sought to promote access to the dollar price of a thousand dinars.
The policy of strengthening the exchange rate of goal which the Central Bank fulfillment of the task withdraw liquidity from the market to reduce the rates of hyper-inflation, which crossed the index seventy% and the actions of raising interest rate adopted by the accounts have to hit 16%, versus the insistence of private banks and government together to prosecute those commission meeting deposits in the Central Bank, and denied to their customers, and remained at their levels preceding 5% is carrying Governor of the Central Bank reporting discomfort irresponsible policies of the banks during the meeting Bmadraeha Commissioners.
At a time when asked to hold the economic situation the Central Bank to open a window competitive in the bank attracts the depositors of citizens to meet interest adopted and refrained other banks pay to their customers expressed official source at the Central Bank told (long) on the impossibility of dealing with the idea while welcoming the proposal of the (long) adopt a policy of preference in dealing with any bank responds to the policies of the Central Bank and in particular the lifting of benefits commensurate with the interest rate by the bank amounting to 16%. Brandishing the possibility of adopting a lower interest or reduction of the facilities for the banks insists on depriving customers of the increased interest.


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Originally Posted by Jola

The central bank is widely believed to be trying to force the exchange rate down to 1,000 dinars per dollar, in line with the Saudi riyal and the Jordanian and Kuwaiti dinars.

Now that would be some interesting math if they were to say 1000 Iraqi Dinars to 1 U.S. Dollar was the same as the Kuwaiti or Saudi rates.... Are they trying to say an Iraqi Dinar is equal to 1 Kuwaiti Fil? Is it just me or is this writer trying to revisit the zero lop idea from another direction.... Looks like the guy writing this article is grasping at anything negative he can find without understanding the issue at hand. Zzzzzz, Yawn the logic in this article is making me sleepy.

Monday, 11 December 2006
Locals invest in Northern Iraq retail
Advanced Tools

Retailers in Northern Iraq are taking an interest in new technology to improve their operations.

Barcode Systems, a retail technology company based in Dubai, is experiencing its strongest sales growth from clients in the Kurdish dominated northern region of Iraq. The company’s manager, G Sreekumar, told Retail News Middle East that stability in northern Iraq, which is strong compared with the situation in the rest of the country, has lead to an investment boom in the retail sector.

“There is a total boom in the economy there. The retailers are ready to invest and open new stores,” he said. “It is still not too advisable for the foreign companies to invest but the local companies are going back and investing.”

Barcode system’s business in northern Iraq has grown by at least 100% in the past year and now accounts for about 5% of the company’s business, according to Sreekumar. He added that some African countries, including Sudan, are also becoming high-growth markets, albeit from a low base.

The company, which markets point-of-sales equipment such as scanners and checkout equipment, is experiencing less growth in the Lower Gulf and GCC, where it deals with retailers such as Choitrams, Emke Group, Adnoc and Carrefour, Sreekumar added.

About 40% of Barcode System’s business is in the UAE, with the remainder in its main export markets of the Middle East and Africa. And while it is the big retail groups such as Carrefour that generate the most publicity in the region, supermarket and hypermarket groups only account for about 20% of Barcode System’s business; the rest lies with smaller retailers, such as convenience stores.

Smaller retailers are generating big business for retail technology companies, mainly because they are being forced to adopt computerised systems for point-of-sales and stocktaking. “The small retailers, those who are expanding their operations with multiple outlets have to computerise their systems as they open multiple outlets,” Sreekumar said.

“They are forced to automate, which helps the retail technology companies in the region.” Barcode Systems, which deals with producers of retail technology, attended the recent Gitex technology exhibition in Dubai in a bid to raise awareness of its technology.

ITPBusiness.net {News: Locals invest in Northern Iraq retail}

Announcement No.(823)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 823 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Monday 2006 / 12/ 11 so the results were as follows :

Details Notes
Number of banks 12 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1419 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ ------ -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 18.490.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) ------
Total offers for buying (US $) 18.490.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) ------ -----

Hummm, I see they are not buying Dinar on this auction.