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

He expected to Yasiri, a bank dealers with the auction in a statement to the News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent, to witness the auction, the return of normal circulation during the forthcoming meetings due to equal the official exchange rate with the rate of exchange in the local market.

It would be interesting to hear what Worf and Off-Shore Wealth have to say about this statement. Thank you.

The head of the Iraqi and American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ra'ad Omar, said that contracts worth $97 million were signed by foreign companies to rebuild the Kurdistan region.

More than 370 Iraqi, Arab and foreign companies participated in the Sulimaniya fair, which witnessed great success according to Omar. He added that there is a plan to establish a fair and free trade zone near Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) next year.

Free trade zone to be established near BIAP next year

Originally Posted by Offshore-Wealth.com

Interesting,

Just heard from my Kurd's and still not a peep on 10K which still seems to lead us to believe they are holding out with any news for a reason we are hoping is revalue related. The more we discuss this, the less sense it all makes. Here we are with another major holiday starting and they have yet to get their last promised gift? Sure is a strange way to build confidence in this new government with the people when you make promises and do not keep them. Reading between the lines, I would have to think that a revalue would surely help people forget about how late they were distributing this gift of 10K. Sure makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Happy Holiday Season to all, Mike

This is a very good point. With all the dinar thats out of circulation, what difference would it make giving everyone 7 bucks? No big deal. Could have done anytime. This really enforces that something else is tied to this. Maybe not an RV, but somthing. Even an Inept Iraqi gov't would have a hard time screwing up even a simple task like this.

Thanks Mike for making me think hard about this again. Time to send off some e-mails across the pond.

Gloribee

Voices of Iraq: Iraq-Currency
Posted by: nadioshka on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 01:55 PM

Iraq-Currency
Dollar demand sharply up in Iraqi Cenbank daily auction
Baghdad, Dec 14, (VOI) – Buying demand for U.S. dollars was sharply higher in the Iraqi central bank daily auction on Thursday, reaching $60.250 million from $17.125 million on Wednesday.
The bank said in its daily statement it covered all bids which were $22.750 million in cash and $37.500 million in foreign transfers.
The exchange rate was at 1,411 dinars per dollar, three dinars down from the last session.
Fifteen banks participated in Thursday’s auction, the biggest number in one session in two months. They offered to sell $200,000 which the central bank bought all at 1,409 dinars per dollar. These were the first offers in four sessions.

Iraq-Currency :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

Originally Posted by Socata 850

Number of banks 15 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1411 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ 1409 -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 60.250.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) 200.000
Total offers for buying (US $) 60.250.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) 200.000

Goooooooooooooood Morning RolClub !!


I was thinking about the CBI's current reval plan and It bothered me that there is no exchange history posted on the CBI website for the month of October. I thought I wonder if this plan to remove dinars from circulation and to limit their liability has been going on for longer than we thought. I started to review all the posts in the history thread and I had to go all the way back to page 1017 which corresponds to Oct 1st. From there I was able to review every auction in October, and guess what. The CBI has been extracting dinars out of the economy alot faster than we thought. Duing the month of October the CBI recovered 1,428,874,130,000 from circulation. The amazing part is that not 1 dinar was put back into the economy NOT ONE ! Zero - Zilch - Nada !! In all the auctions not a single dinar was offered for sale back to the banks. There were 17 auctions in October. Another interesting point is that the amount of dollars being sold back to the banks has been in a steady decline. Previously an average day saw about 75 to 80 million dollars being sold where as lately the average has been around 15 to 18 million. This goes hand in hand with the theory that the bank has been drying up the supply chain. One thing I would like to add, this study would not have been possible if it had not been for the faithful and detailed posting by SGS of the CBI's daily activity and the archiving by Neno of all this valuable information, to both of you thank you very much.

So with that info I have updated the totals to include the month of October, with that we can get a clearer picture of where the CBI stands at this time in their efforts to recapture as many dinars as possible and reduce their liability before they RV the exchange rate.




1. The dinar to the dollar is down 3 more points today from 1414 to 1411

2. Another $60,050,000 (net) worth of dinars, (IQD 84,730,550,000) out of circulation

3. 15 banks participating.

4. 44th auction since the beginning of CBI's reval plan

5. 75 days into the CBI's reval plan.

6. 2,750,799,227,000 dinars pulled from circulation !!

7. Only 282,200,000 Dinars back into circulation today

8. 66 dinar change since Nov 1st (baseline was 1477) 4.468% increase in value of the dinar since beginning of reval plan

You have to ask yourself where does the CBI get all the USD to sell and extract dinar from circulation?

CBI gets the USD to auctions from Govt oil sales, and in turn, the dinar it gets from the banks from the auctions, is paid to the Iraqi Govt (minus a fee for selling the USD), This dinar then is used to pay for the govt expense and projects etc. and thus that dinar is recirculated back into the Iraqi economy.

So bottom-line is, we see one part of the CBI's transaction, but not the other part --- its transaction with the GOI.

So really we can't conclude what the net amount is withdrawn as that would be CBI profit, and the CBI is a non-profit organization.

Originally Posted by Wm.Knowles

He expected to Yasiri, a bank dealers with the auction in a statement to the News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent, to witness the auction, the return of normal circulation during the forthcoming meetings due to equal the official exchange rate with the rate of exchange in the local market.

It would be interesting to hear what Worf and Off-Shore Wealth have to say about this statement. Thank you.

Here is the reply of OSW:

"Interesting,

As most of us have seen while on this journey, often times when there is no NEW news, they repackage bits and pieces of old news and transalations are bad enough, so we end up with double confusing articles, so don't take these repackaged news clips as anything worth reading is how I look at it.

As to the transalation of official rate, as I recall this only refers to existing rate, whatever that may be, so I think some are reading more into it than there is. If you go back over time you will see this mentioned many times, yet it is also describing current CBI rate, so nothing to get excited about.

The latest articles are all bits and pieces, which when there is a lag in news seems to be the norm. It also seems to lead up to another hectic period of news releases, so we know there were some private no press meetings going on, and we have seen news blackouts for various reasons, so this encourages many useless or pointless rehash of information just to fill news voids. Remember, most news links are there for one reason, to generate hits, which equals increased revenues, so take many for what the are worth, about 1 dinar. (g)

Just heard from my Kurd's and still not a peep on 10K which still seems to lead us to believe they are holding out with any news for a reason we are hoping is revalue related. The more we discuss this, the less sense it all makes. Here we are with another major holiday starting and they have yet to get their last promised gift? Sure is a strange way to build confidence in this new government with the people when you make promises and do not keep them. Reading between the lines, I would have to think that a revalue would surely help people forget about how late they were distributing this gift of 10K. Sure makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Happy Holiday Season to all, Mike
"

He has a point.

On the other hand, I read these posts everyday and the statements about the "official exchange rate" and "returning to normal circulation" I never saw before.

I personally believe it is something possitive!

Voices of Iraq: Parliament-Absentees
Posted by: nadioshka on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 01:46 PM

Parliament-Absentees
Iraqi parliament to make absent legislators pay heavily
By Santa Michael
Baghdad, Dec 14, (VOI) – Weary of repeated absence of its members and canceling sessions for lack of quorum, the Iraqi parliament decided to deduct 500,000 dinars (about $340) from the monthly allocations of legislators for each day of absence without a valid excuse.
Each Iraqi parliamentarian gets a total of 17 million dinars monthly.
The parliament also threatened to publish the names of the often-absent members in the media.“Realizing the danger of this phenomenon as is hampers the House of Representatives in carrying out its duties, the presidency of the House decided to deduct the amount of half a million dinars from frequent absentees,” Mohannad Jabbar, head of the parliament media office, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone on Thursday.
The House of Representatives has failed to hold its 59th session for fives times during the last two weeks for lack of quorum. The legal quorum is half the members plus one meaning that at least 138 members should be present to hold a formal session out of the total is 275 members.
The House presidency would freeze the money allocations of frequent absentees, publish their names in newspapers and other media and urge their parties to hold them accountable.
Last week, Shiite cleric Ayatollah Muhammad al-Yaaqoubi issued a fatwa prohibiting members of the Iraqi parliament from performing the annual hajj (pilgrimage) rituals this year to avoid adjourning parliamentary sessions.

Parliament-Absentees :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

HIT 'EM WHERE IT HURTS!!!

Voices of Iraq: Najaf-Security
Posted by: nadioshka on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 03:36 PM

Najaf-Security
Iraqi army to take over security in Najaf Dec 20 - official
Baghdad, Dec 14, (VOI) – The Iraqi army will take over security in the Shiite-sacred city of Najaf on December 20 from the Multi-National forces, the Iraqi government spokesman said on Thursday.
“On the 20th of December, the Multi-Nationals will hand over the security file of Najaf to the Iraqi army,” Ali al-Dabbagh told a news conference in Baghdad without elaboration
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. President George Bush have agreed in October to form a high-level working group to work towards accelerating building up Iraqi security forces.

Najaf-Security :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

Currency Conversion Results

Thursday, December 14, 2006

1 Iraqi Dinar = 0.0007380 US Dollar
1 US Dollar (USD) = 1355.05 Iraqi Dinar (IQD)

Learn about the new Iraqi Dinar
Median price = 0.0006777 / 0.0007380 (bid/ask)
Minimum price = 0.0006775 / 0.0007377
Maximum price = 0.0006783 / 0.0007387

FXTrade: Online Currency Trading with OANDA FXTrade.


FXConverter - Currency Converter for 164 Currencies164 Currency Converter © 1997-2006 by OANDA.com.


Business News

C'mon you guys...sing some Beatles with me..."It's getting better all the time...bettah, bettah, behhttah...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/wo...ge&oref=slogin
(I think you might have to scribe to view the site/article, will find another
copy on another site and post under here!)
Iraq Army Plans for a Wider Role
Iraq Army Plans for a Wider Role
Max Becherer/Polaris, for The New York Times
A soldier of Iraq’s Ninth Mechanized Division guarding the site of a car bombing in Baghdad. Iraq wants its troops to assume more military duties.

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and SABRINA TAVERNISE

Where is our RV?

Published: December 13, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 — Iraq has presented the United States with a plan that calls for Iraqi troops to assume primary responsibility for security in Baghdad early next year. American troops would be shifted to the periphery of the capital.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security adviser, said in an interview that the plan was presented during the meeting in Amman, Jordan, on Nov. 30 between President Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

“I think it is extremely important they reduce their visibility and they reduce their presence,” Mr. Rubaie said of the American troops in Baghdad. “They should be in the suburbs within greater Baghdad.”

A spokesman for the National Security Council, Gordon Johndroe, said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American military commander in Iraq, was assessing the plan.

The plan may hold some attraction for the Bush administration, which is immersed in a review of Iraq strategy, but it also poses risks.

The plan is consistent with the administration’s desire for the Iraqis to take more responsibility for controlling the violence there, and it may reduce American casualties. But the Americans do not want to become complicit in sectarian violence. The Shiite-led government has been slow to act against militias that are forcing Sunnis from entire swaths of northern and eastern Baghdad, most recently from the neighborhoods of Huriya, Zayuna and Ghadier.

Because some of its forces, especially the police, are infiltrated by militias and have been implicated in attacks on Sunnis, American commanders — and Sunni politicians — fear that given a free hand, government forces might be used to cleanse the city of Sunnis.

Referring to the Iraqi demand for more control, one American military officer in Baghdad said the question was, “How do we accomplish that but still maintain some measure of control to ensure the forces aren’t used in a sectarian manner?”

The plan, if implemented, would be a major shift in American military policy. Commanders began this war fighting a Sunni Arab insurgency, and later broadened their efforts to include Shiite militias, after they became active in 2006.

For months commanders have emphasized that they were fighting both enemies with equal vigor, but this plan would shift focus for the Americans more to insurgents and Sunni extremists.

In response to the Iraqi demands for control, the American military command in Baghdad has also been developing its own plan, which comes with conditions that must be met before control is handed over, according to American officials in Baghdad who asked to remain unidentified because the plan is not final.

The Iraqi plan was outlined by Mr. Rubaie in a recent interview in Bahrain, where he was attending a conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based research institute. While the Shiite government has been pushing for greater Iraqi control of military operations for months, the plan was presented formally for the first time to the Americans in Jordan.

The plan calls for pulling back most American troops from central Baghdad and redefining their mission so they concentrate primarily on fighting the forces said to be backed by Al Qaeda and the Sunni-based insurgent organizations, leaving the effort to quell sectarian tensions within the capital to the government’s largely Shiite forces.

Under the plan, the government would have direct command of the two Iraqi divisions in the Baghdad area in the next several months — a timeline that had been pressed by the Iraqis but that the American military has viewed as overly optimistic.

The divisions would be reinforced by two largely Kurdish brigades that are to be sent from Sulaimaniya and Erbil, in northern Iraq. That would amount to several thousand more troops. The training and equipping of the forces would be expedited, Mr. Rubaie said.

Security efforts in Baghdad would focus on seven neighborhoods. (Iraqi officials declined to list them.) There would be fewer checkpoints but they would be better protected. Leaders of death squads would be hunted down.

American troops on the periphery of Baghdad would stop suicide bombers and other terrorists before they penetrated the city. Efforts to prevent infiltration of the capital have not been very successful, partly because the Iraqi military has not adequately staffed the checkpoints, American officials said.

Other American troops would remain as advisers to Iraqi units in Baghdad. American forces might also remain in a supporting role at bases within the capital.

(Page 2 of 2)

“The nature of the American military is that they won’t let go,” said Mr. Rubaie. “I understand it because they do it much better than we do. But we have to stand alone. We have to wean ourselves off the coalition and make our own mistakes and learn from our own mistakes.”

The plan has seriously alarmed Sunni politicians, who said they could not imagine that the Americans would turn security over to a government that they see as deeply sectarian.

“It will be a disaster,” said Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni who is speaker of Parliament. “I think the Americans are not so stupid as to do that. The city would be a safe place for the militias.”

American and Iraqi efforts to secure Baghdad have failed to stem sectarian violence. One problem has been the Iraqi failure to send all the reinforcements promised. The two Iraqi brigades to be provided by the latest Iraqi plan would make up some of the shortfall, but would not nearly compensate for the number of American troops to be withdrawn under the plan.

Mr. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said, “The president was pleased to see the Maliki government being assertive in its plan to secure Baghdad, and made it clear in the meeting that General Casey would study their proposal and take a closer look at it. ”

In response to the Iraqi push for control, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the second in command in Iraq, developed a plan that envisions redeploying American combat units outside Baghdad and giving Iraqi units with American advisers primary responsibility for security in the city.

But such steps would be taken only after progress on political reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite factions, and a major increase in the size of the adviser teams, among other steps, according to a military official in Baghdad.

In addition, the American plan calls for a major employment program in Baghdad and increased spending on reconstruction projects in areas of the city cleared by American and Iraqi forces.

President Bush talked Tuesday in a videoconference with the ground commanders in Iraq, including General Chiarelli.

Bottom line formula for a "Healthy Revaluation" is the SECURITY forces of Iraq has to take and hold their OWN country, if by a "miracle" or by force or a political compact or by "pure Iraqi Citizen Participation". Initiation of the "Neighborhood Watch!" National Neighborhood Watch Institute's Home Page USAOnWatch.org - A Program of The National Sheriffs' Association's Neighborhood Watch Neighborhood Watch Page Neighborhood Watch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As mentioned; the Iraqis have to follow their own leaders, but their leaders and Police and Army forces need to start some "GRASS Roots" programs! Get some grandmothers and mothers that are watching and give them power to report the planting of "IED" type devices! I am sure they see and hear of nasty stuff going on in their neighborhood!