Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/10/2010 - 24/01/2011

Central Bank: the amount of tax in the budget of 2011 amounted to 2.7 trillion Iraqi dinars

The Central Bank of Iraq, Thursday, that the assumed value of the tax to balance in 2011 amounted to 2.7 trillion Iraqi dinars.

The adviser said the Central Bank of Iraq the appearance of Mohammed Saleh told the Kurdish news agency (Rn) that "the estimated amount of tax to balance the 2011 reach the 2,7 trillion Iraqi dinars, worth a total of 3% of the value of the state budget."

He added that "Iraq file the tax in the semi-disabled due to poor performance of services tax planning and evasion of citizens from the payment of fees to the state general tax."

He said that Mohammed "Do not enable file tax returns to Iraq is one of the countries of the parish Bawardtha that rely heavily on oil, which argues its citizens from paying tax."

He said the central bank adviser that "the Iraqi Ministry of Finance said it wants to do the flat tax for the Iraqi people the authority to carry out educational and awareness of the importance of tax in the construction of the country as a financial resource that will be important for the Government to finance their economic needs."

The sector has witnessed in Iraq, taxes nearly ceased in recent years because of turmoil in Iraq, the economic situation and the tense security situation, which led to limit the tax system on the sector staff and dealers only.

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/210118/

More than $ 100 billion the size of oil investment in Iraq

Said spokesman Assem Jihad, Oil Ministry, on Wednesday, that the volume of oil investment in Iraq until the first two rounds of licensing and the second was more than $ 100 billion.

The Jihad told (Voices of Iraq) that the companies investing in Iraq need to support efforts to facilitate their work, indicating that the oil investments inside Iraq until the two rounds of licensing the first and second estimated at more than $ 100 billion.

Jihad said it was necessary to provide transportation for these companies from aircraft and to provide ways to move smoothly, noting that everyone work to overcome obstacles through the creation of ports and corridors that facilitate the work of companies in Iraq.

http://radionawa.com/Ar/NewsDetailN....111&LinkID=155

Basra is preparing to hold the largest conference for economic development in Iraq

The Economic Adviser to the President of the Iraqi Council of Representatives on Thursday during his visit to the province of Basra, said the council Orteurakd largest conference for development in Iraq to discuss all the ways that would promote the economic reality of the province.

Said Abdul Kareem al-Rubaie, told the Kurdish news agency (Rn) announced today that "House Speaker Osama Nujaifi admitted after his recent visit to Basra that the province is one of the provinces affected and need to develop and rise fast, so Torteurakd largest conference for development in Iraq for the advancement of the economic reality of the province."

Rubaie said that "the meeting held today with senior officials in the province is to prepare for the conference to be held on the second of March next and the formation of committees of scientific, economic and political supervising him."

For his part, said provincial council chairman Jabbar Amin Jaber's (Rn) announced today that "This conference will provide economic research to invest in gas and rehabilitation of palm plantations and the establishment of the port of Faw and the development of Iraqi ports and address environmental pollution and marine and water resources, and cancer diseases and the effect of salinity on agriculture and the imposition of control animal products, food and medicine in the province."

He said Jaber, "The conference will discuss the rehabilitation and development of infrastructure such as safe drinking water, electricity and sanitation and services through the implementation of projects Stratigic, and preemption of the water crisis expected during the current century, as well as the development of education curricula, education and address the problem of the marshes and the borders and territorial waters with neighboring countries."

The themes of the conference to be held in the province of Basra (550 km south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad) is divided into six sectors, notably security and economic development has made calls to neighboring countries to participate in the conference and to discuss the outstanding problems between them.

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/210179/

Kuwaiti PM in Baghdad, eyes investment in Iraq

Kuwait declared its interest in investing in Iraq as its prime minister on Wednesday paid the first visit to Baghdad by a premier of the Gulf state since Saddam Hussein invaded it in 1990.

Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al Mohammad al Sabah met his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al Maliki in an effort to improve ties, still strained by Kuwait's insistence that Baghdad owes it around $22bn in reparations.

Iraq's new Shi'ite leaders have argued they should not be held accountable for the actions of Sunni dictator Saddam, overthrown in the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"We have many ideas and we have a real desire to build bridges between the two populations ... there is a wide desire to invest in the Iraqi infrastructure and this is what we want to discuss," said Kuwait Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad al Salem al Sabah, who travelled with the premier.

Some Kuwaiti firms, like Agility, the Gulf's biggest logistics provider, are expanding into Iraq, and the two states have reached initial agreements to share border oil fields.

But occasional friction still erupts. A Kuwaiti coast guard member died on Monday during a confrontation with Iraqi fishermen Kuwaiti officials said had strayed into their waters.

"I believe this visit is capable of repairing relations between the two countries if other steps are also being taken," said Iraqi political analyst Ibrahim al Sumaidaie.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said a ministerial committee would be formed to discuss issues between the two countries, and Maliki was expected to visit Kuwait soon.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/kuwai...aq-373345.html

Iraq needs billions to meet mass housing shortage

After another sleepless night drenched by winter rains, Nahla Kadhim spent the morning scooping water off the floor of her two room shack in the Iraqi capital's northeastern slum of Sadr City. The makeshift hovel is made of bricks and cinder blocks, topped with a piece of corrugated metal. A tangle of electricity wires hangs on the walls. The windows have no glass, and the kitchen has no door. It has no running water or a sewage system. Kadhim, her husband, and their 10 children are squatters. They are among two million Iraqis who were displaced during the highpoint of Iraq's deadly sectarian strife in 2006 and 2007. Around 600,000 people were driven out of their homes by violence or fear in Baghdad alone, the United Nations says. Some of those displaced found shelter with relatives. Wealthier ones rented or bought new homes. But Kadhim's Shi'ite family had little money when they fled from a Sunni area north of the capital to the sprawling Baghdad slum of Sadr City. In the absence of affordable public housing, they squatted on public land and built their ramshackle house.

"I swear, last night we had to sleep standing up (because the floors were so wet)," said Kadhim, 50.

"We're tired. We're poor. We need God's help and the government's help," she said. "I just want them to pay attention to us and our children and find us a place to live."

As it emerges from the sectarian warfare triggered after the 2003 US led invasion, and the three decades of economic decline under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship that preceded it, Iraq faces an acute housing shortage. The government's five year plan says two million new homes are required and some experts put the shortfall at three million. Billions of dollars are needed to build them and despite its vast oil wealth, Iraq has nowhere near enough funds. Those numbers are bound to rise; the national population of around 30 million is growing by about three percent a year, said Mahdi al Alak, head of statistics at the Ministry of Planning.

"This is a human tragedy which should be resolved," said Salam al Khafaji, deputy minister of migration and displacement, adding the exact number of displaced who ended up as squatters in someone else's home or on public lands was hard to gauge.

Iraq hoped for a tide of foreign investment as the bloodshed subsided in the last two years, but bureaucracy, red tape and outdated land ownership laws have put off investors. Continuing violence as a stubborn Sunni Islamist insurgency keeps up a steady stream of bombings and shootings is also a deterrent to foreign investors.

The government has offered many projects for investment. The National Investment Commission, or NIC, in early 2010 said it was looking for bidders to build one million new housing units, valued at an average of $50,000 each, for a total value of $50bn. It then considered raising its target to two million houses due to what it said was a high level of interest from foreign companies. But despite much public fanfare and the grandiose aspirations, progress on the ground has been thin.

Amman based Iraqi firm Amwaj International unveiled a $238mn housing and hotel project in the heart of Baghdad last May during a high profile ceremony attended by Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, but construction has yet to start. In November, the NIC said it signed a memorandum of understanding with a South Korean group to build 500,000 housing units. The Korean companies, however, said they had done nothing of the sort. Emirati companies have won contracts to build homes in Baghdad and in southern provinces. Iraq awarded a $30bn housing project to the Abu Dhabi based Bloom company to build a whole new town near Kerbala in southern Iraq. That project has been on the drawing board since 2009.

The companies say legal snags are the problem.

Iraq's parliament in 2009 passed laws allowing foreign investors to buy land, a measure seen as vital to ensuring that the country could meet its housing needs. But the law did not set out how to determine what price to put on public lands sold or leased to private investors.

"The investor can't start digging or put one brick on the ground if the land is not registered in his name," an Amwaj executive said on condition of not being identified.

Officials said regulations for public land sales and rentals will be issued by the Iraqi cabinet soon. Iraq finally received a new government on December 21 after nine months of political bickering and factional horse trading after an election.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/iraq-...ge-373478.html

Iraq Says Oil Output Will Rise; Akkas Gas Field Deal Next Week

Iraq, seeking to rebuild its energy industry after years of dispute, said oil production and export levels will rise this year and a delayed agreement to develop the Akkas natural-gas field will be signed next week.

Crude oil output is expected to exceed 3 million barrels a day by the end of the year, Abdul-Mahdi al-Ameedi, the head of the Oil Ministry’s licensing department, said during a news conference in Baghdad today. The increases are mainly from the Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna fields, he said.

Iraq, home to the world’s fifth-biggest oil reserves, seeks foreign funding and expertise to help it boost energy exports needed to pay for modernizing an economy stunted by years of conflict and sanctions. Crude production has suffered in recent years from insufficient spending and insurgent attacks.

Crude exports from the northern autonomous Kurdistan region will resume “soon,” after a halt of more than a year following a conflict on oil sales proceeds with the central government, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said at the conference.

Iraq is exporting 2.1 million barrels of oil a day, which will increase next month, Falah al-Amri, head of the country’s State Oil Marketing Organization, said at the same event. About 60 percent of crude exports are sold to Asia, he said.

The Middle East country cut the price of its Basrah Light crude exports to Asia, the U.S. and Europe for February, SOMO said today in an e-mailed statement. Exports to Asia were cut to 10 cents a barrel below the average of Oman and Dubai grades, from a 20-cent premium for January, according to the price list.

Improved Efforts

Iraq’s oil output rose to 2.7 million barrels a day by the beginning of January, while crude exports increased to 2 million barrels a day from 1.95 million barrels in December, al-Luaibi said Jan. 2. The increases were due both to improved efforts by the country and investments by international companies that have signed contracts to develop Iraqi fields, he said.

Oil output was steady at about 2.4 million barrels a day after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. The government has awarded 12 licenses for oil developments and three for gas, and oil ministry experts will hold meetings “within days” to prepare a preliminary draft for contracts to be auctioned in a fourth licensing round, al-Luaibi said at the time.

The agreement to develop the Akkas natural-gas field will be signed next week, after a two-month delay, al-Luaibi said during today’s news conference.

The ministry had planned to sign an agreement for Akkas on Nov. 14 with Korea Gas Corp., known as Kogas, and KazMunaiGaz National Co., Kazakhstan’s state fuel producer. Authorities in al-Anbar province, where the field is located, had been concerned that all of the gas from Akkas would be exported and they might not benefit from it

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...next-week.html

BP Hits Oil Production Milestone in Iraq: It’s a Start

BP has raised production more than 10 percent at Iraq’s Rumaila field, meaning it can finally start to cash in on a deal that required a major upfront investment into workers, infrastructure and technology.

The upshot? The production milestone is important — helping lift Iraq’s production to the highest level in two decades — and props up ambitions to more than quadruple output capacity in the country. And BP will benefit financially, although once costs are considered it’s not as big a windfall as it appears.

The production milestone

BP confirmed Tuesday that it increased production more than 10 percent above the 1.066 million barrels a day initial production rate agreed to back in December 2009. BP, along with partner PetroChina, an arm of China National Petroleum Co., were among the first foreign firms in nearly 40 years to secure a contract with the Iraqi government aimed at resurrecting damaged oil fields and boosting production. BP has a 38 percent interest in the project, PetroChina 37 percent and Iraq’s state oil marketing company 25 percent.

What BP will get now that’s met the production milestone

Two bucks for every additional barrel of oil produced above the 10 percent milestone. That means $2 for every barrel above 1.172 million barrels a day. One Iraqi official reportedly said the Rumaila field is now producing almost 20 percent more oil than before, or 1.275 million barrels a day. If that’s correct, BP would be paid about $206,000 a day (at that 20 percent above target level).

BP CEO Bob Dudley said in prepared comments that the company “looks forward to working with our partners to make Rumaila the world’s second-largest oil field.” That would mean production at Rumaila would have to hit 2.85 million barrels a day. Or nearly $3.4 million a day.

What BP and partners had to do to meet the goal

• Double the number of workers to 10,000 (most from the Iraq’s South Oil Co.)
• Add 20 new rigs
• Drill 41 new wells
• Rehab 103 older rigs
• Lay 122 kilometers of flowlines
• BP and its partners also are building a new headquarters and an accommodation complex in south Rumaila.

The work isn’t over. International oil companies like BP have boosted oil production in Iraq quickly and stand to benefit financially as a result. But, as the WSJ recently noted, costly challenges like transporting necessary equipment to oil fields and water remain.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/clean-energ...s-a-start/3822

Many reasons behind the delay in adoption of the budget public

Opinions of Representatives on the causes of delay in approving the budget for the year 2011 before the House of Representatives. With refer some reasons for the delay to the existence of some gaps and problems experienced by the budget, including the lack of priorities of the projects submitted and to give powers to provincial councils, others said: that the insistence on the view the budget to parliament before the formation of the committees of Finance was the main reason for the delay in approval. member of the Alliance center Muhammad Iqbal said in a statement the "morning": that the reason for the delay budget is due to the way presented by the parliament on the grounds that the Presidency of the Council insisted on the view the budget before the formation of the Finance Committee and this was contrary to the rules of procedure, as he put it, in addition to the delay in forming the committees, which was another reason, because the subject of commissions has not been decided yet. Iqbal said that the "file the budget would be doing a new roof and estimated to end the file by the Finance Committee will be months, and this month will affect the work of the government, considering that the state's resources are disabled and would have a negative effect and this thing borne by the large blocs as not submit candidates to the presidency of the committees until now. He pointed out that the price of oil the default would have a positive effect in terms of the budget either negative budget relates to provincial assemblies and the distribution of wealth, as the population size was absent in this budget, especially as there are a lot of provinces have suffered from injustice in the past period and do not want to repeat this situation. As a member of the National Alliance Abbas al-Bayati, recalled that the general budget will be read after reading the initial report of the Interim Finance Committee.

Bayati said the "morning": that "there are some disputes, technical, and the government has worked to address them have become the budget is now ready, because you pass in the parliament through the stages of the legislative, and is voting for her, There is no substantial modifications in the extent Matkon adjustments in some of the figures and the budget will be ready ". The general budget of some 93 trillion dinars, of which 29 trillion dinars allocated for the expenses of the investment projects, while the operating expenses 64 trillion dinars by a financial deficit of more than 14 trillion dinars covered from cash retained from the Federal budget for the year 2010 and internal borrowing and external.

In turn, said a member of the Kurdistan Alliance Mahma Khalil: The Alashkalayat facing the approval of the budget include a material violation of the Constitution. Khalilzad said in a statement the "morning": that the budget bill included a provision linking the allocations of the Kurdistan region the size of export and it is not constitutional, and can not achieved by the central government, as the budget deficit up to 14 Trliuna and this is the biggest proof that any destination can not guarantee the issue of exporting crude oil. It is said that the budget was built on the basis of "calculating the revenues from export of crude oil based on the average price of $ 73 a barrel and the rate of export of 2.25 million barrels a day, of which 150 thousand barrels of crude oil revenues from export of crude oil through the territory of Kurdistan, and to compel the region to transfer income from that to fund the reconstruction of Iraq after the deduction of 5 percent of compensation for the Kuwait war, or any another percentage decided by the Security Council and paid to the United Nations. "said Khelil also said that the budget bill did not include the final accounts and the lack of a classification equivalent to the constitutional requirements for non-attendance at the relevant minister to parliament. He added by saying:" The failure to budget classification are correct and the lack of balance in customizations are among the obstacles in the law so the government must work in Jeddah to repair these paragraphs. " In a related context, MP Salim Abdullah said the current budget is ratified in whole by the Council of Ministers has been to provide a copy to the House where many of the points, the most prominent of the amount higher, which tolerated the budget figures, in addition to not giving powers large of the Council of provinces, as well as the mechanisms by heart clear of the projects submitted.

Abdullah said in a statement the "morning" that "there are a number of observations will be when you read the budget, calling for a review of the large amounts contained in the budget, including social benefits, which he described without unjustified and powers given to provincial councils.

http://www.alsabaah.com/ArticleShow.aspx?ID=945

Mobile phone companies have indicated their willingness to use the influence of international gateways

Announced that mobile phone companies operating in the country to respond to the demands of the media and the Ministry of Communications calling for the use of the gates of the international influence of the incoming and outgoing calls.

An official source in the media and communications that the Commission held a joint meeting with the Ministry of Communications and mobile phone companies operating in Iraq to discuss the linkage of these companies gates influence the International Committee of the Ministry. He added that the meeting dealt with the importance of developing the telecommunications sector and the further investment and emphasis on the integration of efforts in this field to by the need to use gates influence international affiliated to the ministry because of their importance to both security and economic and dealing seriously with this project, the fact that a license granted to the companies that provides for obligatory use of these gates. The source said representatives of the companies presented during the meeting and a paper containing basic principles to be the nucleus of a draft contract to be signed between these companies and stakeholders in the state and discussed, noting that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the dispelled fears of companies from inequality in the use of gates between them and the fourth company, which hoped that the ministry formed during the next term on the grounds that the Commission did not give frequency of this company so far and that the Authority has formed committees in order to ascertain the extent of the competence of the gates by allowing firms to sign the contract. He pointed out that those present agreed to hold further meetings in order to unify a vision of a draft contract and finalized to be ready for signature.

For his part, said Executive Director of the Company (Asia Cell) for the mobile Dr. Diar Ahmed, the "morning" The mobile phone companies expressed willingness to use the gates of influence for all calls. He added that the paper provided by the mobile phone companies during the meeting, consisting of ten general points have been approved nine which remained one point will be discussed by the ministry and the body, valuing the role of the Commission, which recently intervene to resolve this matter after thrown it upon themselves to organize the telecommunications sector in Iraq and in particular the mobile phone and promotion. Advisor, Ministry of Communications for a mobile phone Dr. Hayam Yasiri has been confirmed in a press statement earlier that the problem of shedding of incoming and outgoing calls by neighboring countries may have been set, the ministry solution is the use of gates influence international owned by the ministry, pointing out that there are competent companies communication refuse to use them in spite of a decision of the Council of Ministers force her to do as well as what came in one of the terms of contract license.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...VKtbRAeZqo1VUw

National Alliance: Iraq seeks to cancel the debts incurred by companies, individuals and countries

MP for the National Alliance on Falh, Thursday, that Iraq is seeking to cancel debt for quite a few companies and individuals and nations, noting that some lawmakers have made presentations to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the seventh item.

Falh said in an interview for "Alsumaria News", "Iraq is seeking to cancel the debt owed him for quite a few companies and individuals and nations, during the invasion of Kuwait in 1991."

Falh added that "a number of interventions provided to the House of Representatives and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on item VII, where he was raised how to keep the Iraqi funds after the expiration of the maintenance and the amount of six months."

The UN Security Council approved during its meeting last month, three special resolutions in Iraq, ending the first oil for food program, while calling the other to extend the immunity that protects Iraq from claims associated with an era of former President Saddam Hussein to the June 30, 2011 (six months) instead be stopped in time later this month as scheduled at the beginning, after Iraq said it would not request any further extensions of the work (the Development Fund for Iraq) which was the immunity from claims for compensation.

In the third resolution, approved by the UN Security Council to lift the ban on imports of Iraq's nuclear program to implement the civilian nuclear ending restrictions on weapons of mass destruction, missiles and so put an end to the ban lasted 19 years, under resolution 687 of 1991.

The Iraqi government is keen to ensure the extension of the work of the Fund which was established in 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein in order to protect revenues from sales of oil and natural gas in Iraq.

http://www.alsumarianews.com/ar/1/15...-details-.html