Iraqi News Highlights Monday Evening 5-15-23
Tlm724 Administrator Bondlady’s Corner
By 2025, A Qualitative Leap In Performance
Awaits The Central Bank
Economical 2023/05/16 Baghdad: Hussein Thaghb Al-Tamimi A qualitative leap awaits the performance of the Central Bank by the year 2025 with the move to the new building,
which was designed to be a new breakthrough in the
performance of the Iraqi financial sector, as it works to take into account the
technical developments witnessed by the global financial sector, and
the design that leads to raising levels of
performance, which necessitates the use of advanced systems Which saves effort
and time in accurate financial transactions.
Director
of the Central Bank of Iraq building project, Eng. Ikhlas Jawad Nazim, told
Al-Sabah:
“The new Central Bank of Iraq building project represents
a quantum leap in performance, construction form, sobriety, and its synchronization
with transformations towards clean energy,” pointing out that
“the reality of the building gives high flexibility to the
process of Transferring and fulfilling the country's cash liquidity
requirements, as it will be done in accordance with the latest international
technologies in this field. She added,
"The bank's management realized the importance of
building a new building that keeps pace with global developments in the field
of banking work, "automation" systems, and modern technologies in the
world, so
the office of the Iraqi designer Zaha Hadid was chosen for
this regard, as
it is a landmark in the field of architecture in the
world, and it is of Iraqi origin, and
it was chosen to be It was designed for this new building,
and approvals were obtained from the Council of Ministers to send a direct
invitation to Hadid in order to develop a distinctive design for the new
building, as bank buildings give an indication of the country's financial
stability. Nazim pointed out that
"the project has an independent budget, i.e. from the
Central Bank and not from the state's general budget, and the amount allocated
is about (885) million dollars, but upon referral it became about (772) million
dollars after negotiating with the executing company, as we obtained during the
process of preparing the tender With international companies, there are
exceptions in this regard, so the bank was excluded from the instructions for
implementing government contracts, regarding this project, and
we contracted according to international terms and
contracts. And it showed that "
Regarding the completion of the building, Nazem said:
"We have not set a date yet because there are several
existing belongings that need to be resolved, but
there is a work program in this regard in which we are
trying to reduce the time period for the opening process as much as possible.
We can say that we need about a year and a half to open
it, and perhaps It will be early 2025."
She pointed out that
"the new building of the bank will include, for the
first time, a museum that chronicles the history of the Iraqi currency, and
there will be educational activities in it that university
and school students can visit. Displays on screens that talk about the stages
of currency development, and
there will also be cultural activities that
talk about the history of Iraqi civilization, and the design of the museum will
be in a modern and unconventional style, and the company that implements the
museum is among the companies that worked with Zaha Hadid and is specialized in
museums.
Nazim
continued,
"The engineering specifications are the most
important characteristic of the building.
For example, the currency counting and cash center will be
a fully automatic system (automation).
Currently, a leading international company specializing in
this type of system is designing the building system, where a robot will be
used, and
we do not need manual labor, so the issue of currency
transfer. "By carts”, and the traditional methods, as we used to see on
Al-Rashid Street, will be completely finished.
The currency will be transferred to the “currency conveyor
belt comp.”
It will be in the form of boxes that move smoothly,
approved by all banks, and there will be a barcode on each box until it passes
through a belt and is read by the device or a computer It directs these boxes
according to the system and transfers them to the safe or to the counting and
sorting center.
This is an integrated automation system that will save
time and speed in the process of receiving and delivering currency to banks, as
well as currency exchange between the bank and banks or the currency counting
and sorting process inside the bank that adopts advanced technology that is
consistent with the development of the building. https://alsabaah.iq/76988-.html
Al-Sudani: We Are Determined To Create A Safe
Investment Environment
second and third 2023/05/16 Baghdad:
morning Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, during his meeting with
the President of the American-Iraqi Business Council, Steve Lotus, Vice
President of the American Chamber of Commerce for Middle East Affairs,
reaffirmed the government's determination to prepare
everything that would provide a safe investment environment for international
companies, including: through laws and regulations.
The Prime Minister added, in a statement to his media
office, that
"Iraq today has many important investment
opportunities awaiting the arrival of major companies."
During the meeting, according to the statement, they
discussed prospects for cooperation in the economic, financial and health
fields, as well as
consolidating this cooperation in the field of
energy and the environment, in addition to the partnership between the Iraqi
private sector and American companies, based on the strategic framework
agreement between Iraq and the United States of America, in order to achieve
the requirements Advancement of these files, which are a priority in the
government curriculum.
During
his meeting with a delegation that included a number of heads and
representatives of German companies and businessmen, in the presence of the
German Ambassador to Iraq Martin Jaeger,
he stressed that the relationship between Iraq and Germany
is witnessing a growing development, and indicated that the Iraqi arena is open
to all kinds of economic partnerships with friends and partners, indicating
that
security stability The economy that Iraq enjoys is an
encouraging factor, supported by an official and popular desire on all sides
towards the success of the Iraqi economic reality.
Al-Sudani discussed the available investment opportunities
and joint work with German companies in Iraq, stressing that
the government's clear program and its vision for the
sectors enabled the movement of projects that had been suspended for more than
fifteen years, which created a favorable opportunity for international
companies to be present in Iraq and contribute to the reconstruction of
infrastructure.
https://alsabaah.iq/77004-.html
Specialists: The Knowledge Economy Is Capable
Of Moving Production And Increasing Development
Economical 2023/05/13 Baghdad: The Emad of the
Emirate Those concerned with the economic affairs stressed the need to
give the technological aspect the utmost importance in the work of all
government joints, and
actively strive to use the latest developments of the
information revolution,
especially in the field of modern communications, while
they praised the government's efforts to use electronic
payment methods in all aspects of life.
They emphasized that the knowledge economy has become the
starting point for many
productive,
investment,
agricultural,
industrial,
banking and
transportation sectors.
The digital transformation process, according to the
spokesman for the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Haider
Majeed, “is of utmost government importance, and
the e-governance file receives direct
attention from the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’a al-Sudani, who stressed the
need to include it in the ministerial program.”
In
the midst of this, the Rafidain Bank yesterday implemented the electronic
collection system in customs, ports and taxes, in
a step that enhances the process of transformation towards
the "electronic economy" and leads to the elimination of corruption,
while
those concerned with the economic affairs see the
"digital transformation" of currency circulation, which the Prime
Minister stressed To actually start it early next month, it
represents an important starting point for the national
economy, stressing that
this step will basically eliminate corruption and bribery,
and facilitate commodity exchanges and money transfers.
According to the specialist in economic affairs, Dr. Ahmed
Al-Rawi,
“the modern economy relies mainly on
information,
digitalization, and
software, and
this transformation has been called many names, including
the
digital economy and the
information and knowledge economy,” noting that
the digital economy indicates that “the creation of wealth
has moved From materials, buildings and machines
to digital knowledge and software information.
Al-Rawi pointed out that
"the principles of this type of modern economy are
taking root with the progress made in the knowledge levels to confront the
traditional economy,
and lead to the adjustment of the international economic
system," stressing
"the need to implement the mechanisms of
transformation towards this type of economy in Iraq, and work to lay the
foundations on which In light of it, an economic system based on knowledge and
technology can be built,”
praising at the same time government moves aimed at
eliminating paper circulation, and adopting technology in the buying and
selling movement and government reviews, noting that
“this step will eliminate many negative phenomena,
especially corruption and delay.”
What is achieved in government audits, as well as the
elimination of counterfeit currency.
Member of the Iraqi Economists Association, Dr. Ikram
Abdel Aziz, showed that the
knowledge economy includes the communications and
information technology sector in addition to digital activities in the rest of
the commodity and service production sectors, and is
mainly rooted in businesses related to
tourism, insurance, transportation and communications.
Abdulaziz
confirmed that the size of the knowledge sector is witnessing a clear growth in
recent times,
despite the existence of some difficulties in the process
of estimating the size of these sectors,
calling for intensifying digital transformation efforts in
Iraq, and working to abolish the paper circulation system in all governmental
and private institutions.
Dean of the College of Business Economics, Dr. Nagham
Hussein, explained that the
acquisition of knowledge in all fields in general and in
the field of information and communication technology in particular plays a
prominent role in improving the process of human development and in building a
knowledge society from which a knowledge economy emerges with encouraging
economic growth rates. Dr. Hussein continued that
acquiring knowledge is not limited to building a national
knowledge base, but
also requires reaping and adapting existing knowledge in
other places through
wide openness to the developed world,
encouraging the free flow of knowledge,
establishing links with global markets, and
attracting foreign investment.
https://alsabaah.iq/76760-.html
An Economic Welcome To The Directions Of
Establishing A Loan Guarantee Company
Economical 2023/05/14 Baghdad: Haider Fleeh
Al-Rubaie Specialists in economic and financial affairs welcomed the
Central Bank's move towards establishing a loan guarantee company in
cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, aimed at stimulating
the lending process and reducing default rates, stressing that this step
represents a "solid legal guarantor for lending."
The “loan default” process constitutes a real obstacle
that many private and government banks suffer from, which cost them huge
financial losses, which,
according to the financial advisor to the Prime Minister,
Dr. Mazhar Muhammad Salih, amounted to about 28 percent of the volume of loans
granted after 2003,
which is "Very dangerous" against the accepted
global average of 3-6 percent maximum.
In order to eliminate this financial phenomenon that
confused the work of many banks, the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Mohsen
Al-Alaq, discussed with a delegation of experts from the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) affiliated with the World Bank, financial market projects in
the Levant region, and during the meeting, according to a statement he issued.
The Central Bank has drawn up a plan to establish a (loan
guarantee company), which was proposed by the governor earlier as part of a
comprehensive study he presented regarding building the bases for a national
strategy for bank lending, while the staff of the Central Bank undertakes to
build the national strategy for lending according to the rules stated therein.
The establishment of a loan guarantee company,
according to the Central Bank statement, represents an important factor in
stimulating lending, by reducing the rates of loan defaults that the banking
sector in Iraq suffers from.
In
turn, Counselor Saleh believes, during his interview with Al-Sabah, that
“defaulting in loan recovery varies in our country between
the years and the stages through which economic activity passed, in a period of
banking turmoil for years after 2003, which involved expansion policies in
granting loans or cash credits.” With weak guarantees, during which the
government banking system was exposed to defaults in recovering cash loans
granted,
its defaults amounted to 28 percent, which is a very
dangerous percentage compared to the acceptable global rate between 3-6 percent
as a maximum,
which is the rate that is accepted to face the risk of
default in recovering cash loans in order for banks to hedge Reserves around
capital, which is called the provision for non-performing loans.
Although bank collection mechanisms have mostly improved,
Saleh believes that cases of failure to collect loans are still more than
double the acceptable global rate of default within the scope of accepting
emergency and rare cases.
Despite the foregoing, the government financial advisor
confirms that
"loan or credit guarantee institutions in the world
are considered today among the most effective means to help small and
medium-sized companies access financial facilities, and
this is what we are looking forward to today in providing
flexible financing levers that help their flows to move effectively development
activity that is directly linked to the labor market and addressing employment
problems and the dilemma of unemployment.
For his part, the financial and banking expert, Dr.
Mahmoud Dagher, pointed out during his interview with “Al-Sabah” that
“the Central Bank’s initiative represents a step towards
stimulating banks to grant soft loans to citizens in a larger and wider manner,
which prompted the establishment of a guarantee company that bears an important
part of the risks of those loans.” Which usually falls on the banks when the
borrower fails to pay it. Dagher explained,
"Iraq owns a company to guarantee loans, but it has a
low capital, so the
Central Bank established a large guarantee company that is
no less important than the Deposit Guarantee Company, which was established
with a high capital and contributed by all Iraqi banks that guarantee an
important part of citizens' deposits, in When the company to be established
guarantees the risks of loans that banks pay to the public (companies and
individuals), so that it makes the bank more able to grant additional loans.
Contrary to the previous opinion, the
financial and banking expert, Abd al-Hussein al-Mandhari, expressed in his
interview with "Al-Sabah" his surprise at the establishment of that
company, indicating the existence of a Kafalat loan company that belongs to a
number of banks that established it several years ago.
Most
of the banks contracted with government companies to insure their loans, and
among them there were contracts several years ago, including loans from the
Central Bank’s initiative.
The financial and banking expert, Abd al-Rahman
al-Sheikhli, did not stray far from the previous opinion, when he explained to
“Al-Sabah” that
“there is a loan guarantee company that is working in real
time at the present time, but in a less than required manner, and
works to guarantee loans in return for a simple commission
(not binding on the customer).”
Considering the trend towards establishing a company for
the same purpose as an "additional administrative circle".
In addition, a member of the Iraqi Economists Association,
economic researcher Moqdam Al-Shaibani, counted the
Central Bank of Iraq's move to establish a loan guarantee
company in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation as a
"step in the right direction," stressing that
it will contribute to opening the door to the Iraqi
economy and Iraqi banks by bringing more international investments.
Especially the investments directed towards the
sustainable development goals and implemented by the sector. Al-Shaibani
stated that
one of the IFC's missions is to advance economic
development and improve people's lives by encouraging the growth of the private
sector in developing countries. The researcher Al-Shaibani stressed that
"the presence of a loan guarantee company, with the
help of the International Finance Corporation, encourages many investors and
international banks to finance projects inside Iraq, especially by the private
sector." https://alsabaah.iq/76829-.html