Customs disparity crisis.. Kurdistan leads the revenue scene and other Iraqi ports decline!

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[size=52]Customs disparity crisis.. Kurdistan leads the revenue scene and other Iraqi ports decline![/size]

[size=45]Customs revenues in Iraq witness a noticeable disparity and difference between the border crossings of the Kurdistan Region and other crossings in the rest of the country.[/size]
[size=45]Reports indicate that Kurdistan's ports generate greater revenues than other federal government border ports.[/size]
[size=45]This disparity in revenues has sparked widespread controversy over the reasons for these differences, which may be due to differences in customs policies and control and inspection mechanisms between the two sides, in addition to the impact of geographical and security factors in those areas.[/size]
[size=45]The government’s financial advisor, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, says, “75% of the regular private sector trade passes through land, sea and air ports from official ports outside the region, in addition to the central government’s imports, which are mostly concentrated in the central official ports.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “Informal cross-border trade does not exceed 6-8% of the private sector’s import trade, and falls within the category of illegal cross-border trade activities that are severely punished by law.”[/size]
[size=45]He explains that “the efficiency of customs revenues should increase to four times their current levels, which are approximately equivalent to (two billion dollars annually) with the region currently.”[/size]
[size=45]Saleh explains that “Federal General Budget Law No. 13 of 2023 (the Triennial Budget) has estimated non-oil revenues, including fees, direct and indirect taxes, profits of public companies, and others, at about 17 trillion dinars annually,” indicating that “revenues from oil exports, including products, were estimated in the aforementioned Federal General Budget Law at about 117 trillion dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the economic expert, Abdul Rahman Al-Shaikhli, says, “The annual revenues of the federal ports range between 650 billion Iraqi dinars and one trillion dinars, which sometimes constitute less than 50% of the total public revenues.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "It exceeds the percentage in the region, sometimes reaching nearly 70% of the total revenues, ranging between one trillion dinars and one trillion and 250 billion."[/size]
[size=45]As for the reasons for the decline in these revenues, Al-Shaikhli explains that “corruption in the federal ports exceeds what exists in the region’s ports due to their large number (19 in the federal government, and only 6 official ones in the region).”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The commercial movement in the region is greater than in the rest of Iraq due to its proximity to the borders (Turkey and Iran), and most of our imports pass through or from these two countries."[/size]
[size=45]According to the economic expert, “the lower fees in the region than in the federal ports prompted many traders to pass their goods through the region’s ports.”[/size]
[size=45]In addition, economic researcher Ali Karim Idhaib says, “Iraq has 11 official land ports that connect Iraq to Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, with the exception of the Kurdistan Region ports that are linked to Turkey.”[/size]
[size=45]According to official figures, “the total volume of imports through these ports during the year 2021 amounted to 5 trillion, 220 billion, 926 million, and 700 thousand dinars, as it was from Iraq’s ports with Iran, which amounted to 3 trillion, 627 billion, and 653 million dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "In 2022, the total value of imports through the ports amounted to 7 trillion, 395 billion, and 204 million dinars, of which 5 trillion, 76 billion, and 395 million dinars were from Iraq's official ports with Iran."[/size]
[size=45]He explained: “The volume of imports through Iraq’s 6 seaports during 2021 amounted to 9 trillion, 681 billion, and 407 million dinars, the highest value of which is the northern Umm Qasr port, as the volume of imports amounted to 5 trillion, 69 billion, and 92 million dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “Iraq imported in 2022 through seaports worth 15 trillion, 978 billion, and 205 million dinars, the highest of which was through the northern Umm Qasr port, amounting to 10 trillion, 330 billion, and 703 million dinars, while the value of imports through air ports during 2021 amounted to 680 billion, 122 million dinars, and in 2022, it rose to 826 billion, 520 million dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]As for Iraqi exports through land ports, “during 2022, they amounted to 94 billion and 189 million dinars, the highest of which was through the Trebil port, amounting to 42 billion and 407 million dinars, while exports through sea ports amounted to 2 trillion and 333 billion and 397 million dinars, the highest of which was through the southern Umm Qasr port, amounting to 1 trillion and 745 billion and 898 million dinars, while exports through air ports amounted to 1 billion and 910 million dinars in the same year,” according to Ali Karim.[/size]
[size=45]The economic researcher added, “During the comparison, we find that the volume of imports is greater than exports, as Iraq is a rentier economy that depends 96% on financial revenues generated from the sale of oil, as it produces more than 4 million barrels per day, and exports about 3.3 million barrels per day.” He pointed out that “Iraq has an industrial base, as the total number of factories affiliated with public sector companies in Iraq is about 227, of which only 140 workers are employed, and about 18,167 industrial projects have stopped working for various reasons.”[/size]
[size=45]“The industrial sector used to constitute about 23% of Iraq’s GDP before 2003, and today it only constitutes 2-3% of the GDP,” Idhaib continues, explaining that “if there is a political and economic will to transform Iraq from a consuming country to a producing and exporting country, that means millions of dollars will enter the country’s federal budget annually, and thus imports will decrease while the imported goods that we need will remain in Iraq only, and we cannot manufacture or produce them.”[/size]
[size=45]According to the General Authority of Customs, it achieved revenues during the first quarter of this year that it had not achieved for (10) ten years, amounting to more than (471) billion dinars, an increase of (257,470,313,524) dinars (two hundred and fifty-seven billion, four hundred and seventy million, three hundred and thirteen thousand, five hundred and twenty-four dinars) for the same period of the previous year (2023), as a growth rate in revenues of (120%) was achieved.[/size]
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