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

Last nights conference call was probably the most exciting we have had. If you missed it, we have uploaded it to the site.

Some highlights!

Minister of Finance is going to be replaced. According to Dr Qaddouri, Al-Shibibi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, has once again been asked, and it appears that he might take the position.

The Dr. Qaddouri believes that there will not be a zero lop from the bills. This suggestion from the outgoing Minister of Finance was not taken lightly and sparked a major controversy in Iraq, spurring many economists in Iraq to write editorials. Some remarking that if they lopped zeros, it could cause the economy in Iraq to collapse, as it would be taking money out of the pockets of the Iraqi citizens.

The Dr. also thought we would see a revaluation of the Dinar by the end of this month. This is due to several high ranking meetings going on this month between Iraq, the IMF, the World Bank, as well as our own government (USA). All of this leads us to believe that August is the month that we have been waiting for.

How much? Dr. Qaddouri still thinks it would start at 100:1 (a penny) and quickly rise to dollar for dollar. As you many of you remember, the Iraqi government has made statements that they would like to be on par with the US dollar, and eventually make it back to $3.00.

Here are some links to some articles. Some were only in Arabic, which we have had translated.

Iraq Central Bank Offers Stability

Six New Ministers

Economists view

Not sure if the links will work. I'll go to the site and see if I can copy and paste them.

Economists: Dropping three zeros from the Iraqi currency leads to a collapse

Baghdad – Haqqi Ismaeil

Economists doubted the benefit from dropping three zeros from the Iraqi currency saying that this step will help in collapsing the collapsing Iraqi economy due to the bad security situation and financial and administrative corruption in the governmental institutions. They expected an increase of item prices and decrease in purchasing demand if implementing the zero dropping. They suggested opening the door for investments, finding a base for production, controlling resources and getting rid of illusive projects. The ministry of finance has submitted a proposal to the Iraqi Central Bank asking for dropping three zeros from the Iraqi currency. Dr. Ismaiel Taha, a professor in Economy and Administration College in Al-Mustansiriya University, said that dropping three zeros has no sense now but minimizing the number of different currencies in transactions. It will lose the Iraqi dinar its purchase power and there will be no space for small currencies. Dr. Salim Mohammed Abood, from the Customer and Market Researches Center in Baghdad University said that the step of dropping the zeros will decrease the purchase power of the Iraqi dinar and in stead of that we should control the national resources, get rid of the illusive projects which have high percentage of expenditures in addition to the salaries and equipments assigned for security institutions.

Dr. Salah Sahib Al-Baghdadi, from the Higher Institute of Accountant and Financial Studies in Baghdad University clarified that the government has tasks to concentrate on such as defusing the fuel crises rather than increasing its prices, supporting the item prices in the markets, continue providing foreign currency through the Iraqi Central Bank to keep the exchanging price of the Iraqi dinar against foreign currencies. Sinan Al-Shibibi, the central bank governor has promised to form a committee of experts from the bank, ministry of finance and the commercial bank to study proposals. The Iraqi citizen, Jasim hameed expressed his happiness wondering if the Iraqi dinar will regain its value during the seventies and eighties of the previous century when it equaled 3 American Dollars. He also said (why don't we have a strong dinar since our country is rich and has all the necessary requirements for development). Another Iraqi citizen, Hasan Bahaa, has another vision. He said that the government is aiming at keeping the Iraqi people busy because most of them are unemployed and even if they find jobs, they will find themselves exposed to many risks so there is no use of such unpractical procedures

(Translated from Arabic)

Iraq's central bank offers stability amid chaos
02 Aug 2006 12:40:15 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Alister Bull and Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Iraq's central bank offers a beacon of stability in a country on the brink of civil war, but the governor is still forced to use safe houses for meetings with guests too scared to visit his headquarters downtown.

Sinan al-Shabibi makes light of the bank's location a few blocks from Haifa Street, one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad. But many prefer to avoid the narrow road that leads to the bank, fearing it is too easy for potential kidnappers to block.

"It is very difficult. In many cases we see a lot of people outside. We designate a house or something like that and see them," he told Reuters in a recent interview in his third floor office, overlooking an internal courtyard.

The central bank is on Rasheed Street, long Baghdad's financial centre, and next to its old headquarters, badly damaged during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein and from which his son Qusay allegedly stole $1 billion on the eve of war.

Approached through a bustling market, the bank remains in the heart of the city, in contrast to most government operations which have moved to the heavily fortified Green Zone on the other side of the Tigris river.

"It is very difficult to work somewhere else. All the banks are here and all the staff. We can always have alternative offices, but it is better to be with the staff of the bank," said Shabibi, who spent 11 years at the United Nations and was Iraqi Minister of Planning from 1977 to 1980.

The guardian of Iraq's new currency, the central bank was re- created by U.S. occupiers in the image of a modern institution with its independence enshrined in law.

NEW APPROACH

It now conducts daily foreign currency auctions, in which the Iraqi dinar has maintained striking stability at around 1,475 dinar to the dollar despite an Iraqi inflation rate of 52.5 percent year-on-year in June.

Shabibi says there is no intervention to keep the dinar strong. Nor is there a black market currency price, indicating the official exchange rate reflects real dinar purchasing power.

The very model of a modern monetary policy maker, Shabibi said: "The most important objective of the central bank is the preservation of price stability. That is why we are concerned and monitoring the (inflation) situation."

Interest rates were raised to 12 from 10 percent in July and Shabibi said in the interview further action might be needed.

All this marks a sea change from the mismanagement the central bank endured under Saddam, whose government used its overdraft at the bank to print money while saddling it with debts that were never paid.

Shabibi said a recent audit of the bank by accountants Ernst and Young, which has not been published yet, gave it a clean bill of health from corruption, but exposed the costs of years of abuse.

"It opened our eyes to what kind of losses we had in operations and to losses from outside our operations, which were put on our balance sheet, and that is not fair," he said.

The same treatment was meted out to state-owned lenders Rasheed Bank and Rafidian Bank, which the central bank must now restructure in cooperation with the ministry of finance.

Shabibi said changes to create the healthy banking system needed for economic progress in Iraq would happen soon.

But he declined to be more specific, displaying a gift for sidestepping questions that he claimed to have learned from the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

"We had some technical assistance from Alan Greenspan in being vague," he said.

AlertNet news is provided by

New Ministers for six Iraqi ministries in September



Baghdad – Nidal Al-Mousawi

The Council of Representatives, after the end of its holiday, is studying ministerial changes for six service ministries in September 2006. Mr. Abbas Al-Baiyatee, a member of the United Coalition said to Azzaman newspaper yesterday that the Prime Minister, Norry Al-Maliki will make ministerial changes for six service ministries because they are not qualified to keep their positions referring to the fact that enough period of time has passed to prove their achievements but they did not. He also mentioned that the attempts of reaching an agreement during the formation of the government lead to not to concentrating on the qualifications of the nominated ministers. Al-Baiyatee added: (After passing enough period of time for the assigned minister, Al-Maliki found them not qualified to keep their positions and they did not achieve anything. Therefore, he decided to changer those ministers and will changes other ministers who did not achieve any progress in their ministries. These procedures will not stop the performance of the political groups who nominated those ministers). Al-Baiyatee assured that the naming of the new six ministers will take place on September 2006 directly after holding the session of the council to vote for the new candidates.



Azzaman International Newspaper - Issue 2468 - Date 3/8/2006

Our reasearch team may be way ahead of FreeDinar. I am not sure if any or all of these were already posted before. I didn't have the time to go back and look...just wanted to post info to add to the already growing folder.

I remember on the last call I heard a few weeks ago, that he said it would not be on July 20th. He said that a specific date could not be given and he did not want to be a liar. So I think it is a big deal for him to say even "AUGUST"

He has always down played the peg starting very low....BUT as our esteemed leaders have pointed out I think this should be a very interesting month with everything that is going on. I hope...and pray...all will be well as others have said in the next few weeks.

Everyone here is so informed, positive, helpful, and SMART It wouldn't surprise me if FreeDinar comes here to get their information and updates

Thanks Par77! We love you and your message!

I am sure you all have seen this site.

Interesting.

Kurdistan - The Other Iraq


cheers,
Bill

Thanks Par77... I was impressed too... because he has always been conservative in his statements almost discouraging and this time he did come accross more positive in the present time frame ... renewed my hope...

EZCASH....they put the wrong date up in the audio link. They reposted 7/13 NOT 8/3 on FreeDinar. I wanted to hear it for myself in case they missed something in the highlights. Oh well, what a bummer. I hope they fix it SOON....SOON being the OTHER word for PATIENCE!

IMF Completes Reviews of Iraq's Economy

8/3/2006

Thursday August 3, 11:59 am ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
IMF Completes Reviews of Iraq's Economic Program, Keeps Credit Line Open

Iraqi Dinar News - IMF Completes Reviews of Iraq's Economy, SafeDinar.com

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that it has completed two reviews of Iraq's economic performance, keeping open a credit line to the country.
An arrangement with the IMF, approved in December, gives Iraq access to a credit line worth about $705.6 million should the country need to tap into it. The IMF said the arrangement is "being treated as precautionary by the Iraqi authorities."

The Iraqi government is making progress on some economic matters despite continued violence in the country. The country has been struggling to rebuild its economy after the U.S.-led war.

"The Iraqi authorities have taken important and decisive measures to bring their economic program back on track, although continued progress in the authorities' reform efforts will remain critically dependent on an improvement in the security situation," the IMF said in a statement.

Separately, the Bush administration earlier this week expressed optimism about countries boosting international economic support for Iraq.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt, the president's special envoy on the issue, said he was hopeful that the necessary work will be completed in coming months so that an international conference to collect pledges of financial support can be held by the end of November.

A donors conference for Iraq held in 2003 raised an initial $13.5 billion, but so far only $3.5 billion to $4 billion of that amount has been disbursed, Kimmitt has said.

IMF: IMF -- International Monetary Fund Home Page




IMF Completes Reviews of Iraq's Economy - Source

Iraqi Dinar News Article List