Central markets warn against proceeding with their privatization..and demand their reactivation

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[size=52]Central markets warn against proceeding with their privatization..and demand their reactivation[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Osama Al-Bayati[/size]
[size=45]The General Company for Central Markets called on the Council of Ministers to back down from referring its buildings to the private sector, stressing that the decision caused it to lose most of its job cadres, and talked about the challenges it faced, including conflicting competencies with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, stressing that returning it to work would achieve economic balance. Facing the phenomenon of high prices.[/size]
[size=45]This comes at a time, an economic expert stressed the need to allocate 140 billion dinars to restore life to these markets in Baghdad and the provinces, pointing to their ability to provide job opportunities for about 70,000 people.[/size]
[size=45]Zahra Al-Kilani, director of the General Company for Central Markets, said, "Our company is committed to implementing Cabinet Resolution No. 128 of 2017, which includes referring its sites for investment, sale and rent."[/size]
[size=45]In an interview with Al-Mada, Al-Kilani added, "The decision was unfair to the company, as it robbed it of its rights and privileges, and it is still an independent company."[/size]
[size=45]She indicated, "Referring the central markets and their locations to the private sector will not contribute to supporting the economic process or the Iraqi consumer."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kilani explained, "Repeated letters have been sent by the company to the Prime Minister's Office to cancel the decision so that the company can restore its markets, but this issue has not been decided at this moment."[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out, "The company is required to implement the decision and invite the investing companies to rehabilitate these markets, even though the issue is not in their interest or in the interest of the government."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kilani spoke about "many obstacles that stand in the way of reopening the central markets, including the absence of government support and the cabinet decision that also includes the dismissal of the company's employees and their transfer to other departments, and this paragraph was implemented by previous administrations."[/size]
[size=45]And she expressed her regret that “the company has lost huge numbers of its cadres and expertise by referring them to forcible retirement, because the company has become a loser, and it is currently receiving the salaries of its current employees from the Ministry of Finance.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kilani also reported, “there is a fear among the employees of the Central Markets Company of repeated accounting by the regulatory authorities,” stressing that “the companies of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals practice the same tasks we do in marketing goods and concluding contracts with exchange commission, and this process affected our work significantly and led to a decrease in revenues. “.[/size]
[size=45]And she noted, "The company wants to restore life to the Iraqi central markets because of its role in importing goods from global origins."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kilani called on the government to “establish a sovereign fund for reconstruction and investment, after it had a financial abundance resulting from the rise in oil prices and placing the central markets among the beneficiaries of this fund.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kilani went on to "the need for the government to reconstruct the central markets instead of transferring them to the private sector to achieve economic balance and provide financial support so that it can emerge as a major supporter in providing consumer goods to the Iraqi citizen."[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the economic expert, Jalil Al-Lami, said in an interview with Al-Mada that "the time has come for the government and the Ministry of Commerce to intervene in activating the work of the central markets."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Lami added, "Iraq includes 67 central markets, distributed over all governorates within major and vital commercial sites."[/size]
[size=45]He estimated, "The value of these markets is about two trillion dinars, as it extends over a large area estimated at 10 to 12 thousand square meters."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Lami continues, "The restoration of life to these markets requires 140 billion dinars, at a rate of two billion dinars for each branch, and this will lead to providing job opportunities for about 70,000 people, in addition to creating competition and diversification in commercial markets in order to prevent a monopoly on major consumer services."[/size]
[size=45]Economists had called for the restoration of central markets in order to compete with merchants and maintain the prices of consumer goods, which witnessed a clear rise this year, causing great damage to the poor and middle classes.[/size]
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