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[rtl]Imposing tutelage and pressure with its economic and financial sticks, and imposing success, many and effective sanctions[/rtl]
[rtl]Monday, February 20, 2023 - 07:30[/rtl]
[ltr]Jassar Saleh Al-Mufti[/ltr]
[rtl]Iraqis and observers are following with great interest the results of the visit of the Iraqi economic delegation to the United States a few days ago, because of its decisive effects on the economic and living conditions of the country, present and in the future, in light of the repercussions of the American-Iranian conflict on the Iraqi arena and the region.
In an attempt to convince the American administration to ease restrictions on the movement of the dollar that it imposed on Iraq recently to limit massive transfers of Iraqi funds to Iran and some neighboring countries, the Baghdad government sent an economic delegation to Washington that included Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, senior economists and finance experts, and representatives of some ministries, where the visit raised divergent opinions between the Iraqi delegation's claim of the success of its mission, and the indications of the failure of the visit and the US imposing its conditions on Iraq.
failure indicators
Many indicators confirmed the difficulty of the economic delegation's task in persuading Washington to ease its restrictions imposed on the movement of the Iraqi dollar to limit its flow towards Iran and its allies, as part of the United States' efforts to control the Iraqi economy by linking it to it and its allies and keeping it away from Iranian influence.
In what appears to be an acknowledgment by the Baghdad government that the US position cannot be changed, the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, described the attempt to impede the wheel of the economy and return to smuggling and violating the laws as a "losing bet." Al-Sudanese stressed that “the wheel of economic reform is moving forward” and that “whoever bets on going backwards, practicing smuggling, and violating laws and instructions, is a losing bet. ».
This statement coincided with a massive campaign launched by the security authorities against banking companies and banks that buy dollars from the market and smuggle them abroad, where it was announced that many of those involved in this matter were arrested, to limit Iraqi banking companies buying dollars from the market to smuggle it or manipulate its exchange rate. And this came in the wake of the US Federal Reserve's recent decision to place restrictions on illegal transfers of billions of dollars from Iraq to other countries, which Washington considered a breach of the international sanctions imposed on Iran and its allies.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who met in Washington with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, announced that the Iraqi delegation called on the Americans to implement the provisions of the strategic agreement signed by Iraq and the United States in 2011. The Iraqi delegation held numerous With American financial decision makers and the World Bank, in order to convince them of the safety of the Iraqi government's meetings measures to curb currency smuggling, which is not an easy task in light of the Baghdad governments' silence on the widespread smuggling of dollars to Iran since 2003. The meetings also discussed the economic situation in Iraq, the problem of banks, the exchange rate of the dollar, the production of gas, oil, electricity and others.
In order to reassure the American side of the Baghdad government's efforts to move away from dependence on Iranian oil and gas, Fuad Hussein affirmed, "We are working to achieve independence in the field of energy," claiming that "Iraq cannot be an oil and gas state and does not have electricity," stressing that the Iraqi government recently decided to activate the agreements concluded with various companies to extract gas from the fields, and that agreements will also be concluded with other companies to invest in the field of gas associated With oil, as Iraq is the second country in the world in wasting gas.
US focus on Iraq's economy
As for US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he stressed in his speech during the press conference with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, "that his country is working to strengthen the Iraqi economy and reintegrate it into the region within the framework of the strategic relations that link the two countries," explaining, "We are now focusing very intensively on the economic dimension of that agreement."
In stressing Iraq's distance from dependence on Iranian oil and gas, Blinken said: "There will be a special focus on energy and electricity in the strategic framework agreement," stressing that Iraq "can and must be independent in the field of energy." It is a reference to the American rejection of the Baghdad government's dependence on Iranian oil and gas, in conjunction with the deliberate waste of Iraqi gas and the rejection of calls for its investment by local and international companies.
It was noted that Blinken did not address in his statements the main issue related to the movement of the dollar in Iraq, which indicates that the US administration did not change its restrictions and did not respond to the Iraqi demands. Informed sources confirmed that the American position was strict on the need for Iraq to reconsider its banking system, which has large loopholes that allow the smuggling of Iraqi funds to Iran and help it break the blockade and sanctions against it. Washington also revealed that it closely monitors money laundering and currency smuggling in Iraq, and therefore warned Baghdad of the need to control the movement of its dollar, otherwise the Iraqi dinar will be doomed to collapse, as happened with the Syrian and Lebanese pounds.
The joint statement of the two countries stated that they had decided to “accelerate efforts to exploit the burning gas, modernize the infrastructure for natural gas distribution, regional connectivity to the Iraqi electricity network, modernize the electricity infrastructure in Iraq, and explore renewable energy opportunities.” .” The American delegation praised “Iraq's commitment to regional electrical interconnection projects with Jordan and Saudi Arabia.” They also urged the use of solar energy. The two delegations affirmed "the convergence of views that the pursuit of an ambitious agenda for energy independence is necessary to achieve maximum economic prosperity for Iraq and protect its sovereignty."
While the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, affirmed the bank's intention to launch the second package of measures that would enhance the stability of the dollar exchange rate, stressing that “the new electronic platform to avoid the imposition of any penalties on the parties that carry out transfer operations, whether they are banks or others, as it is a protection for the banking sector and the bank.” The Central Bank and the banks from falling into any forms related to foreign financial transfers, and this serves all parties.
Iraqi economic analysts indicated that the US Federal Bank gave Iraq a short period of time to commit to monitoring the movement of its funds, in accordance with international standards, and to avoid money laundering and informal transfers.
Samir Obaid, an academic and expert in political and strategic affairs, revealed, in a series of tweets on his personal page on Twitter, “Washington imposed a number of conditions on Iraq in order to overcome the dollar crisis and smuggle it abroad, and that Among the American conditions signed by the Iraqi delegation in Washington is the opening of a federal office in Amman.” His mission is to monitor the movement of Iraqi funds ». He revealed that "Al-Sudanese broke the barrier of hesitation and courtesy with the framework leaders (Iran's allies) and informed them of the strict American conditions signed by the Iraqi delegation in Washington, which have become binding," he said, which he considered "imposing American tutelage on the Iraqi economy by signing them in Washington."
shiite criticism
Perhaps the most prominent indicator of the failure of the Iraqi delegation to change the American position is the angry reactions of the forces of the coordination framework allied to Iran, which expressed dissatisfaction with the results of the Foreign Minister's move in Washington and pledged to send Prime Minister Minister Muhammad al-Sudani to Washington for this purpose.
The forces of the framework directed various accusations against the United States, at times of seeking to control Iraq and its economy, with calls to get rid of the American financial hegemony over Iraq. In addition to calls for the Sudanese government to sell oil to India, China and other countries, in currencies other than the dollar, away from the US financial system that controls the world economy. While some framework sources stated that Washington took the oil export agreement to Jordan through the (Basra-Aqaba) pipeline as one of the conditions for resolving the dollar crisis, others claimed that the Russian-Chinese-French move towards Iraq recently prompted Washington to impose restrictions to put pressure on the Iraqi government economically.
Away from intentions and goals, observers see that the American measures are welcomed by most Iraqis, as they are beneficial to their country and limit the draining of Iraq's funds by other countries. They also see that the decisions of the US Federal Bank are systematic and deliberate to direct the Iraqi economy and prevent its exploitation by Iran and its allies. As for the Baghdad government, which has fallen between the American rock and the Iranian anvil, it has no choice but to abide by the American restrictions, despite the pressure exerted on it by the Iraqi loyalist forces, which reflects Iran's unwillingness to abandon the Iraqi dairy cow, amid anticipation of the next Iranian steps to circumvent the American decisions.
But it could only be what the occupiers and the recipients wanted... A remarkable financial development witnessed by Iraq at the end of 2022, with the decision of the US Federal Bank to stop suspicious and fictitious financial transfers from Iraq abroad, which caused an increase in the exchange rate of the dollar and an increase in commodity prices, as well as many countries surrounding the country have been deprived of billions of Iraqi dollars.
In a strange paradox, a severe financial crisis has engulfed Iraq these days, as a result of the consequences of the decline in the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar, reaching unprecedented record levels, despite the large financial surplus available to it as a As a result of the high prices of Iraqi oil sources and the lack of a budget for the year 2022.
The rise in the exchange rate of the dollar came from 1450 dinars per dollar to reach about 1600 in the parallel market, due to the lack of supply of hard currency, followed by a significant rise in the prices of all goods and services in the Iraqi markets, which constituted additional new pressure on the purchasing power of citizens and the stagnation of the market movement. Amid the government's inability to deal with the situation and its exposure to embarrassment, as it promised to reduce the exchange rate of the dollar within the program of the government of Muhammad al-Sudanese, which has been around for two months.
The causes of the crisis
There is no doubt that the direct cause of the new financial crisis is due to the US Federal Bank preventing fake and suspicious financial transfers from Iraq abroad, especially to Iran and its allies in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, where these Iraqi financial transfers are a lifeline of support for the economies of those countries that are under pressure from international sanctions and stifling financial blockade.
The US Federal Reserve Bank had imposed amendments to the procedures for Iraqi transfers that go through the "Swift" system to include an audit of the source of funds until the final recipient, in a measure that reflects political motives, after repeated US warnings to Iraq not to breach the sanctions on Iran. On the other hand, several parties bought dollars from the market to compensate for stopping their dealings with the Central Bank of Iraq, which led to an increase in commodity prices.
Parliamentary movement
In the face of the widespread popular discontent and the stagnation of activities in the markets due to the huge rise in prices, many deputies moved to convene a session of the House of Representatives and address the problem. At the forefront of the initiators were the representatives of the Tishreen reform movement.
The "Humans Movement" took the initiative to collect parliamentary signatures to hold a parliament session, to discuss the serious repercussions of the high dollar exchange rate and to find out the government's measures towards it. While the head of the political bureau of the “Emtiad movement”, Raed Al-Saleh, criticized what he described as the “appreciated silence” by the government regarding the exchange rate of the dollar, referring to “efforts to interrogate Prime Minister Muhammad Al Sudanese over the failure to control the exchange rate of the dollar and other issues.”
In a statement, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Shakhwan Abdullah, called on the government, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to “reconsider financial policy, take measures and increase the opening of foreign currency sales outlets in banks and at the government rate, in order to prevent a rise in the exchange rate of the dollar.” He called for "not enabling those who control the black markets to benefit from the exchange rate of turmoil, and to cordon off wrong monetary practices that harm the economy and commercial activity throughout the country."
However, the former politician and deputy, Mishaan al-Jubouri, was more frank when he explained, "The US treasury revealed operations to smuggle currency out of the country and demanded that the Iraqi government make sales only for real credits and through documents."
Al-Jubouri said during a televised interview, “The US Treasury followed up the issue of currency smuggling abroad and activated its office in Baghdad, and learned that the dollar is smuggling to Iran despite the sanctions it imposes on it, and in order to control This situation, the Iraqi government demanded that sales be only for real credits.” Through documents.
He pointed out that "the US Federal Reserve put a lot of Iraqi banks and companies that were found to have deals in this aspect in the black list and prevented them from buying the currency." Pointing out that “a lot of the money sold by the central bank goes to Iran through fake companies and banks, and then forged documents come in exchange for this smuggled money.”
governmentactions
Within the framework of the government's move to confront the crisis, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani, called for "activating steps to sell foreign currency at official prices to citizens," stressing the need to take the necessary measures to prevent illegal speculation, and everything that harms the local market and leads to higher prices.
In a statement, he urged the importance of “activating steps to sell foreign currency at official rates to citizens through purchasing with electronic cards, opening sales outlets for travelers, or clients outside Iraq, or financing foreign trade, in accordance with the fundamentalist contexts and international standards for opening documentary credits and remittances.”
Al-Sudani also acknowledged that “exchange rate fluctuations and their impact on the Iraqi economy made us adhere to the inevitability of economic reform, support for agriculture, industry, tourism and trade, instead of Iraq being a market for imported goods and a passage for smuggling hard currency and money laundering.”
As for the procedures of the Central Bank of Iraq, observers considered it below the level of the crisis, as the central bank decided not to collect customs duties and taxes in advance on imports, and sold dollars to patients traveling for treatment and students abroad, And pumped dollars to some banks to sell them to citizens.
The economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, considered that the rise in the exchange rate in favor of the dollar is not caused by a problem with the adequacy of foreign reserves, indicating that “Iraq's reserves of foreign currency exceeded 100 billion dollars , and the percentage of the current account surplus amounted to about 15 percent.
He added, "What happened in terms of increases is a temporary phenomenon dictated by regulatory conditions in the procedures for conducting external transfer requests (submitted by local banks) on foreign currency," noting that "work was carried out a while ago with an advanced electronic platform linking the request for transfers by local banks with correspondents." From international banks and relevant global compliance bodies at the same time.
And the economic advisor acknowledged: “During the start of the experiment a few weeks ago, it became clear that there were shortcomings and informational shortcomings that were not consistent with the governance of the flow of remittances through the global banking system, which led to some of them being returned again or rejected in order to complete the standard submission requirements and follow the standard foundations in disclosing the final beneficiary and other conditions.” Bank disclosure and compliance.
Attack on America
In an attempt to cover up the real causes of the crisis, the Shiite parties and factions launched a violent attack on the United States, blaming it for raising the price of the dollar and accusing it of meddling in Iraqi affairs.
The leader of the State of Law, Haider al-Lami, said in a statement, “America has punished the four private Iraqi banks and warned 30 other banks based on suspicion indicating that these banks are smuggling money outside the country and money laundering operations. " Claiming that “Washington does not have any evidence about these banks.
While the leader of the State of Law coalition, Ibrahim al-Sakini, accused America of creating tensions for the Sudanese government by interfering in the policy of the Central Bank and removing some banks from the currency auction, accusing America of seeing itself as a guardian of the people in imposing its own interests.
There is no doubt that the new financial crisis widened the differences between the Sudanese government, which announced the status of combating corruption and currency smuggling among its priorities, and between parties and factions that own banks and exchange shops that annually transfer billions of dollars to allied countries, through the dollar sale window in the Central Bank of Iraq, deliberately exploiting the Iraqi governments turned a blind eye and ignored advice from inside and outside the need to control this window to prevent smuggling.
It is noteworthy that all Iraqi funds received from its oil sales are deposited in the US Federal Bank, which in turn releases financial transfers to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, because Iraq is still subject to US tutelage over Iraqi funds. Therefore, specialists fear the possibility of returning Iraq to the provisions of Chapter VII, amid leaks about the tendency for American advisors to supervise and monitor the performance of the Central Bank to prevent widespread smuggling of currency.
In fact, the recent American move was expected, as it was no secret to the United States that the ruling Iraqi political forces provided huge sums of money to Iran and its allies to help it face US sanctions. And that those forces are ready to serve their allies, even at the expense of exposing the economy and the Iraqi people to dangers, crises and suffering. While observers agree that the American decision constituted a very effective blow to Iran by cutting off the most important financial resource for it and its allies in these extremely difficult circumstances for it.
Although::::::: Iran has a long history of exploiting tourism to penetrate the homelands of the Arabs and the world, and 4 Arab countries tolerated Iranian tourism, so Iran gradually took control of its capitals and decision-making positions, turned its elites into tools, terrorized the rest, drained its economy, diverted its resources to serve Iran politically, economically and militarily, it turned it into centers for recruiting terrorist militias loyal to it, centers for manufacturing and distributing drugs and weapons, money laundering for it, and it planted mercenaries from everywhere, so it became difficult to restore the situation without long wars with a suffocating international blockade of Iran and the structures and organizations that created it
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[/rtl]
In an attempt to convince the American administration to ease restrictions on the movement of the dollar that it imposed on Iraq recently to limit massive transfers of Iraqi funds to Iran and some neighboring countries, the Baghdad government sent an economic delegation to Washington that included Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, senior economists and finance experts, and representatives of some ministries, where the visit raised divergent opinions between the Iraqi delegation's claim of the success of its mission, and the indications of the failure of the visit and the US imposing its conditions on Iraq.
failure indicators
Many indicators confirmed the difficulty of the economic delegation's task in persuading Washington to ease its restrictions imposed on the movement of the Iraqi dollar to limit its flow towards Iran and its allies, as part of the United States' efforts to control the Iraqi economy by linking it to it and its allies and keeping it away from Iranian influence.
In what appears to be an acknowledgment by the Baghdad government that the US position cannot be changed, the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, described the attempt to impede the wheel of the economy and return to smuggling and violating the laws as a "losing bet." Al-Sudanese stressed that “the wheel of economic reform is moving forward” and that “whoever bets on going backwards, practicing smuggling, and violating laws and instructions, is a losing bet. ».
This statement coincided with a massive campaign launched by the security authorities against banking companies and banks that buy dollars from the market and smuggle them abroad, where it was announced that many of those involved in this matter were arrested, to limit Iraqi banking companies buying dollars from the market to smuggle it or manipulate its exchange rate. And this came in the wake of the US Federal Reserve's recent decision to place restrictions on illegal transfers of billions of dollars from Iraq to other countries, which Washington considered a breach of the international sanctions imposed on Iran and its allies.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who met in Washington with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, announced that the Iraqi delegation called on the Americans to implement the provisions of the strategic agreement signed by Iraq and the United States in 2011. The Iraqi delegation held numerous With American financial decision makers and the World Bank, in order to convince them of the safety of the Iraqi government's meetings measures to curb currency smuggling, which is not an easy task in light of the Baghdad governments' silence on the widespread smuggling of dollars to Iran since 2003. The meetings also discussed the economic situation in Iraq, the problem of banks, the exchange rate of the dollar, the production of gas, oil, electricity and others.
In order to reassure the American side of the Baghdad government's efforts to move away from dependence on Iranian oil and gas, Fuad Hussein affirmed, "We are working to achieve independence in the field of energy," claiming that "Iraq cannot be an oil and gas state and does not have electricity," stressing that the Iraqi government recently decided to activate the agreements concluded with various companies to extract gas from the fields, and that agreements will also be concluded with other companies to invest in the field of gas associated With oil, as Iraq is the second country in the world in wasting gas.
US focus on Iraq's economy
As for US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he stressed in his speech during the press conference with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, "that his country is working to strengthen the Iraqi economy and reintegrate it into the region within the framework of the strategic relations that link the two countries," explaining, "We are now focusing very intensively on the economic dimension of that agreement."
In stressing Iraq's distance from dependence on Iranian oil and gas, Blinken said: "There will be a special focus on energy and electricity in the strategic framework agreement," stressing that Iraq "can and must be independent in the field of energy." It is a reference to the American rejection of the Baghdad government's dependence on Iranian oil and gas, in conjunction with the deliberate waste of Iraqi gas and the rejection of calls for its investment by local and international companies.
It was noted that Blinken did not address in his statements the main issue related to the movement of the dollar in Iraq, which indicates that the US administration did not change its restrictions and did not respond to the Iraqi demands. Informed sources confirmed that the American position was strict on the need for Iraq to reconsider its banking system, which has large loopholes that allow the smuggling of Iraqi funds to Iran and help it break the blockade and sanctions against it. Washington also revealed that it closely monitors money laundering and currency smuggling in Iraq, and therefore warned Baghdad of the need to control the movement of its dollar, otherwise the Iraqi dinar will be doomed to collapse, as happened with the Syrian and Lebanese pounds.
The joint statement of the two countries stated that they had decided to “accelerate efforts to exploit the burning gas, modernize the infrastructure for natural gas distribution, regional connectivity to the Iraqi electricity network, modernize the electricity infrastructure in Iraq, and explore renewable energy opportunities.” .” The American delegation praised “Iraq's commitment to regional electrical interconnection projects with Jordan and Saudi Arabia.” They also urged the use of solar energy. The two delegations affirmed "the convergence of views that the pursuit of an ambitious agenda for energy independence is necessary to achieve maximum economic prosperity for Iraq and protect its sovereignty."
While the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, affirmed the bank's intention to launch the second package of measures that would enhance the stability of the dollar exchange rate, stressing that “the new electronic platform to avoid the imposition of any penalties on the parties that carry out transfer operations, whether they are banks or others, as it is a protection for the banking sector and the bank.” The Central Bank and the banks from falling into any forms related to foreign financial transfers, and this serves all parties.
Iraqi economic analysts indicated that the US Federal Bank gave Iraq a short period of time to commit to monitoring the movement of its funds, in accordance with international standards, and to avoid money laundering and informal transfers.
Samir Obaid, an academic and expert in political and strategic affairs, revealed, in a series of tweets on his personal page on Twitter, “Washington imposed a number of conditions on Iraq in order to overcome the dollar crisis and smuggle it abroad, and that Among the American conditions signed by the Iraqi delegation in Washington is the opening of a federal office in Amman.” His mission is to monitor the movement of Iraqi funds ». He revealed that "Al-Sudanese broke the barrier of hesitation and courtesy with the framework leaders (Iran's allies) and informed them of the strict American conditions signed by the Iraqi delegation in Washington, which have become binding," he said, which he considered "imposing American tutelage on the Iraqi economy by signing them in Washington."
shiite criticism
Perhaps the most prominent indicator of the failure of the Iraqi delegation to change the American position is the angry reactions of the forces of the coordination framework allied to Iran, which expressed dissatisfaction with the results of the Foreign Minister's move in Washington and pledged to send Prime Minister Minister Muhammad al-Sudani to Washington for this purpose.
The forces of the framework directed various accusations against the United States, at times of seeking to control Iraq and its economy, with calls to get rid of the American financial hegemony over Iraq. In addition to calls for the Sudanese government to sell oil to India, China and other countries, in currencies other than the dollar, away from the US financial system that controls the world economy. While some framework sources stated that Washington took the oil export agreement to Jordan through the (Basra-Aqaba) pipeline as one of the conditions for resolving the dollar crisis, others claimed that the Russian-Chinese-French move towards Iraq recently prompted Washington to impose restrictions to put pressure on the Iraqi government economically.
Away from intentions and goals, observers see that the American measures are welcomed by most Iraqis, as they are beneficial to their country and limit the draining of Iraq's funds by other countries. They also see that the decisions of the US Federal Bank are systematic and deliberate to direct the Iraqi economy and prevent its exploitation by Iran and its allies. As for the Baghdad government, which has fallen between the American rock and the Iranian anvil, it has no choice but to abide by the American restrictions, despite the pressure exerted on it by the Iraqi loyalist forces, which reflects Iran's unwillingness to abandon the Iraqi dairy cow, amid anticipation of the next Iranian steps to circumvent the American decisions.
But it could only be what the occupiers and the recipients wanted... A remarkable financial development witnessed by Iraq at the end of 2022, with the decision of the US Federal Bank to stop suspicious and fictitious financial transfers from Iraq abroad, which caused an increase in the exchange rate of the dollar and an increase in commodity prices, as well as many countries surrounding the country have been deprived of billions of Iraqi dollars.
In a strange paradox, a severe financial crisis has engulfed Iraq these days, as a result of the consequences of the decline in the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar, reaching unprecedented record levels, despite the large financial surplus available to it as a As a result of the high prices of Iraqi oil sources and the lack of a budget for the year 2022.
The rise in the exchange rate of the dollar came from 1450 dinars per dollar to reach about 1600 in the parallel market, due to the lack of supply of hard currency, followed by a significant rise in the prices of all goods and services in the Iraqi markets, which constituted additional new pressure on the purchasing power of citizens and the stagnation of the market movement. Amid the government's inability to deal with the situation and its exposure to embarrassment, as it promised to reduce the exchange rate of the dollar within the program of the government of Muhammad al-Sudanese, which has been around for two months.
The causes of the crisis
There is no doubt that the direct cause of the new financial crisis is due to the US Federal Bank preventing fake and suspicious financial transfers from Iraq abroad, especially to Iran and its allies in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, where these Iraqi financial transfers are a lifeline of support for the economies of those countries that are under pressure from international sanctions and stifling financial blockade.
The US Federal Reserve Bank had imposed amendments to the procedures for Iraqi transfers that go through the "Swift" system to include an audit of the source of funds until the final recipient, in a measure that reflects political motives, after repeated US warnings to Iraq not to breach the sanctions on Iran. On the other hand, several parties bought dollars from the market to compensate for stopping their dealings with the Central Bank of Iraq, which led to an increase in commodity prices.
Parliamentary movement
In the face of the widespread popular discontent and the stagnation of activities in the markets due to the huge rise in prices, many deputies moved to convene a session of the House of Representatives and address the problem. At the forefront of the initiators were the representatives of the Tishreen reform movement.
The "Humans Movement" took the initiative to collect parliamentary signatures to hold a parliament session, to discuss the serious repercussions of the high dollar exchange rate and to find out the government's measures towards it. While the head of the political bureau of the “Emtiad movement”, Raed Al-Saleh, criticized what he described as the “appreciated silence” by the government regarding the exchange rate of the dollar, referring to “efforts to interrogate Prime Minister Muhammad Al Sudanese over the failure to control the exchange rate of the dollar and other issues.”
In a statement, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Shakhwan Abdullah, called on the government, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to “reconsider financial policy, take measures and increase the opening of foreign currency sales outlets in banks and at the government rate, in order to prevent a rise in the exchange rate of the dollar.” He called for "not enabling those who control the black markets to benefit from the exchange rate of turmoil, and to cordon off wrong monetary practices that harm the economy and commercial activity throughout the country."
However, the former politician and deputy, Mishaan al-Jubouri, was more frank when he explained, "The US treasury revealed operations to smuggle currency out of the country and demanded that the Iraqi government make sales only for real credits and through documents."
Al-Jubouri said during a televised interview, “The US Treasury followed up the issue of currency smuggling abroad and activated its office in Baghdad, and learned that the dollar is smuggling to Iran despite the sanctions it imposes on it, and in order to control This situation, the Iraqi government demanded that sales be only for real credits.” Through documents.
He pointed out that "the US Federal Reserve put a lot of Iraqi banks and companies that were found to have deals in this aspect in the black list and prevented them from buying the currency." Pointing out that “a lot of the money sold by the central bank goes to Iran through fake companies and banks, and then forged documents come in exchange for this smuggled money.”
governmentactions
Within the framework of the government's move to confront the crisis, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia'a al-Sudani, called for "activating steps to sell foreign currency at official prices to citizens," stressing the need to take the necessary measures to prevent illegal speculation, and everything that harms the local market and leads to higher prices.
In a statement, he urged the importance of “activating steps to sell foreign currency at official rates to citizens through purchasing with electronic cards, opening sales outlets for travelers, or clients outside Iraq, or financing foreign trade, in accordance with the fundamentalist contexts and international standards for opening documentary credits and remittances.”
Al-Sudani also acknowledged that “exchange rate fluctuations and their impact on the Iraqi economy made us adhere to the inevitability of economic reform, support for agriculture, industry, tourism and trade, instead of Iraq being a market for imported goods and a passage for smuggling hard currency and money laundering.”
As for the procedures of the Central Bank of Iraq, observers considered it below the level of the crisis, as the central bank decided not to collect customs duties and taxes in advance on imports, and sold dollars to patients traveling for treatment and students abroad, And pumped dollars to some banks to sell them to citizens.
The economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, considered that the rise in the exchange rate in favor of the dollar is not caused by a problem with the adequacy of foreign reserves, indicating that “Iraq's reserves of foreign currency exceeded 100 billion dollars , and the percentage of the current account surplus amounted to about 15 percent.
He added, "What happened in terms of increases is a temporary phenomenon dictated by regulatory conditions in the procedures for conducting external transfer requests (submitted by local banks) on foreign currency," noting that "work was carried out a while ago with an advanced electronic platform linking the request for transfers by local banks with correspondents." From international banks and relevant global compliance bodies at the same time.
And the economic advisor acknowledged: “During the start of the experiment a few weeks ago, it became clear that there were shortcomings and informational shortcomings that were not consistent with the governance of the flow of remittances through the global banking system, which led to some of them being returned again or rejected in order to complete the standard submission requirements and follow the standard foundations in disclosing the final beneficiary and other conditions.” Bank disclosure and compliance.
Attack on America
In an attempt to cover up the real causes of the crisis, the Shiite parties and factions launched a violent attack on the United States, blaming it for raising the price of the dollar and accusing it of meddling in Iraqi affairs.
The leader of the State of Law, Haider al-Lami, said in a statement, “America has punished the four private Iraqi banks and warned 30 other banks based on suspicion indicating that these banks are smuggling money outside the country and money laundering operations. " Claiming that “Washington does not have any evidence about these banks.
While the leader of the State of Law coalition, Ibrahim al-Sakini, accused America of creating tensions for the Sudanese government by interfering in the policy of the Central Bank and removing some banks from the currency auction, accusing America of seeing itself as a guardian of the people in imposing its own interests.
There is no doubt that the new financial crisis widened the differences between the Sudanese government, which announced the status of combating corruption and currency smuggling among its priorities, and between parties and factions that own banks and exchange shops that annually transfer billions of dollars to allied countries, through the dollar sale window in the Central Bank of Iraq, deliberately exploiting the Iraqi governments turned a blind eye and ignored advice from inside and outside the need to control this window to prevent smuggling.
It is noteworthy that all Iraqi funds received from its oil sales are deposited in the US Federal Bank, which in turn releases financial transfers to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, because Iraq is still subject to US tutelage over Iraqi funds. Therefore, specialists fear the possibility of returning Iraq to the provisions of Chapter VII, amid leaks about the tendency for American advisors to supervise and monitor the performance of the Central Bank to prevent widespread smuggling of currency.
In fact, the recent American move was expected, as it was no secret to the United States that the ruling Iraqi political forces provided huge sums of money to Iran and its allies to help it face US sanctions. And that those forces are ready to serve their allies, even at the expense of exposing the economy and the Iraqi people to dangers, crises and suffering. While observers agree that the American decision constituted a very effective blow to Iran by cutting off the most important financial resource for it and its allies in these extremely difficult circumstances for it.
Although::::::: Iran has a long history of exploiting tourism to penetrate the homelands of the Arabs and the world, and 4 Arab countries tolerated Iranian tourism, so Iran gradually took control of its capitals and decision-making positions, turned its elites into tools, terrorized the rest, drained its economy, diverted its resources to serve Iran politically, economically and militarily, it turned it into centers for recruiting terrorist militias loyal to it, centers for manufacturing and distributing drugs and weapons, money laundering for it, and it planted mercenaries from everywhere, so it became difficult to restore the situation without long wars with a suffocating international blockade of Iran and the structures and organizations that created it
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[/rtl]
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» Parliamentary Finance: Banking reform enhances Iraq's global
» Localization.. Signs of positive development to support the national economy
» Experts call for activating the agriculture and industry sectors
» The Central Bank of Iraq directs banks to spread and expand their financial services
» Al-Sudani: British exports to Iraq exceeded $1 billion in 2024, and its companies concluded contrac
» Above $80.. New rise in oil prices
» Coordination Framework announces agreement to move forward with budget amendments to achieve "social
» I regret to inform you after 20 yrs of postings
» Central Bank of Iraq sells over $1.16 billion in foreign currency
» Iraq-China trade cooperation reaches $50 billion in 11 months
» Salih: Iraq ranks first in the world in the concentration of natural resources
» PM Advisor: The monetary enhancement mechanism will safeguard financial stability in the country
» Government Adviser: Non-Oil GDP Growth in 2024 Reaches Unprecedented Levels
» Parliament conforms to World Bank on the importance of government infrastructure in development
» PM: Restructuring government banks to ensure the availability of capabilities and openness with glob
» entral Bank: There is no financial problem threatening employees’ salaries and we have great capabil
» Basra crude achieves weekly gains amid rising oil markets
» The dollar falls against the dinar in Baghdad and Erbil with the closing at the beginning of the wee
» PM Al-Sudani eyes tourism as a cornerstone of Iraq’s non-oil economy
» PMF Chief: Iraq's armed forces at their strongest
» INA discusses exchange rates files, foreign transfers, and housing initiatives with the CBI governor
» Government Adviser: Non-Oil GDP Growth in 2024 Reaches Unprecedented Levels
» Parliament conforms to World Bank on the importance of government infrastructure in development
» Iraq exports oil worth over $5 billion to US in 11 months
» Iraq’s Ministry of Oil announces 2024 petroleum product sales
» US dollar exchange rate continues to decline in Iraq
» Iraq completes 400-kilometer security border wall with Syria
» Iraq collaborates with Ernst & Young on state-owned bank reforms
» Kurdistan records a significant increase in the number of imported cars during 2024
» The Ministry of Justice announces the implementation of the electronic payment system in all notary
» The Ministry of Justice counts the achievements and activities achieved during the past year accordi
» Central Bank: We have started working with the correspondent banking system
» Is the Ministry of Finance hiding the facts?.. An expert reveals the main reason for the shortage of
» Reconstruction: 2025 plan includes 70 external road projects
» Economist: The government is obligated to pay salaries as it is a matter of fate
» The Central Bank of Iraq opens new horizons in foreign transfers and enhances international financia
» Judge Zidane and Al-Sudani are the first to disclose their financial assets in 2025
» Oil Price: Trump's Team Considers 'Direct Sanctions' on Iraq That Will Hit Oil
» Parliamentary Integrity: The amounts recovered from the “theft of the century” do not exceed 5%, and
» Dinars entering the Ministry of Finance are 20% less than the amount it needs.. Iraqis start their n
» Mazhar Saleh: No salary crisis and financial reserves cover liquidity completely
» Central Bank announces major achievement in foreign transfers
» Confirmation that America is putting pressure on Al-Sudani to transform the Iraqi regime into "secul
» Warnings of the dangers of the Turkish-Zionist-American plan to destabilize Iraq
» Expert: Iraqi economy is stable despite changes in the dollar market
» Economist praises ASYCUDA automation system: A step towards achieving important resources
» More than $60 billion in Iraqi currency auction sales in 2024
» Is there a salary crisis in Iraq? Al-Sudani’s advisor explains
» The Central Bank decides to suspend withdrawals and deposits for four days
» Al-Sudani Office announces the implementation of the global ASYCUDA system to automate customs opera
» The leaders “reconciled” and the amendment of the electoral law is “a done deal”.. What does this da
» With the document .. MP Sand files a complaint against the Ministry of Finance .. for this reason
» Parliamentary Finance: The government is working to enhance non-oil revenues
» The 10 most indebted Arab countries in 2024.. This is Iraq's rank
» utube 12/27/24 MM&C MM&C Iraq Dinar News-Iraqs Wealth Fund-National Currency-Arab World Volume Tra
» utube 12/28/24 Iraq - CBI Governor Makes an Announcement, Digital Banking Expansion
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» utube 12/31/24 MM&C MM&C Iraq Dinar News-Commemorative Coin?-Investment Attractive-Dollar Auction
» Al-Sudani chairs expanded meeting to review Oil Ministry projects
» Prime Minister stresses importance of investing best opportunities to maximize state revenues
» Prime Minister's Office announces implementation of ASYCUDA global system for automating customs ope
» Judiciary: Recovering 12 billion dinars for financial fraud crime
» US-Iranian Tension: Iraq Between Competition and Mediation Role After Trump’s Return
» MP confirms settlement of controversy over ministerial amendments
» National Union: Time is no longer sufficient for the dialogue on the oil and gas law to mature
» Economist: Relying on oil as a source of revenue will have serious consequences
» Al-Maliki: Repeated amendments to the election law weaken voter confidence in the political process
» Parliamentary Legal: Interrogating ministers and officials is still subject to political agreements
» Due to the American veto, Iraq suffers from a weak armament in the face of regional developments
» What is holding up the passage of the oil and gas law so far?
» New Cabinet Resolutions Package
» Experts speak to {Sabah} about the most important economic events in 2024
» Al-Sudani stresses the importance of review and investing the best opportunities to maximize state r
» With more than 30 billion dollars... a leap in the projects market in Iraq
» Central Bank of Iraq sells about $290 million in currency auction
» Customs: Our revenues increased by 128% during the current year
» Our Economic and Financial Vision for 2025 in Iraq
» How much of Iraq's electrical system has been lost due to the halt of Iranian gas?
» $31.7 billion is the increase in the value of its market projects in Iraq
» Turkmen gas will cover 50% of Iraq's stations' needs.. New details about the agreement
» Basra-Haditha oil pipeline.. will go to 5 countries and this is its value
» Early talk about postponing the elections is “evidence” of Iraq’s entry into the map of change in th
» New details on the incident of the "death of a US National Guard soldier" in Iraq - Urgent
» Economist: Iraq-Jordan oil pipeline enters implementation phase
» International Report: 2025 will be the largest year for projects inside Iraq
» Monetary policy collapses in Iraq.. Investment in banks is almost non-existent and the Central Bank
» We have started preparing for next summer.. Electricity: The agreement to supply Turkmen gas will co
» Former MP: Wrong timing hinders the passage of laws