Some "Iraqi News" posted by Clare at KTFA 5-18-2023
KTFA:
Clare: The Central Bank disables all
electronic payment cards.. and a source of {Euphrates News} explains
5/18/2023
An informed source revealed that the Central Bank of Iraq suspended most of the electronic payment cards, including the Master Card, due to a regulatory process.
The source told {Euphrates News} agency that:
"All banks and banks to which cards were issued by electronic payment
companies, including {Soj}, Ishtar Gate and Qi Card, are currently suspended
according to the decision of the Central Bank since last Thursday."
He
added, "Maybe there are three banks that are still working with their
electronic cards, since they are the ones issuing them, and they are also
awaiting settlement."
The source pointed out that "MasterCard's entry into Iraq was delayed due
to the Central Bank auction, and it is paid in dollars, which are issued
exclusively to companies by the Central Bank."
He explained that "Master Card and [Suge] have been
suspended, including palm cards, pending instructions from the Central
Bank," noting that "most of the cards issued in Iraq are suspended
due to a change in the central bank's system and may return to work in the next
two days." LINK
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Clare: Economist: The government is
moving towards eliminating the parallel market for dollars
Baghdad...
The researcher in economic affairs, Muhammad Attia
Al-Saadi, considered the security and control campaigns to deter dollar dealers
in the commercial markets as the right step towards reducing the gap between
the official and parallel price.
Al-Saadi told Al-Maalooma, "The problem of the
dollar's high price did not end with merchants and company owners entering the
electronic platform to buy dollars from the Central Bank."
He added, "Many car and electrical companies and merchants were dealing in
the process of buying and selling in dollars with citizens, which prompted the
government to impose dealings in dinars by force by taking legal
pledges."
Al-Saadi expected that "the exchange rate will witness a decrease in
prices in the coming days," pointing to "the importance of
intensifying government measures, monitoring manipulators, and blocking the
path towards any speculators who constantly update their methods to speculate
in dollars and exhaust citizens with high prices." LINK
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Clare: Finance announces the settlement of
most articles of the 2023 budget law, in preparation for its approval
Baghdad
On Thursday, the Parliamentary Finance Committee held its
forty-sixth meeting within a series of important meetings to complete the
federal general budget law for the fiscal years 2023-2024-2025, as it finished
voting on most of the budget items and paragraphs in preparation for submitting
it to the Presidency of the House of Representatives.
The head of the committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, said in a
statement that "the fate of large segments of citizens is related to
voting on the budget law," adding that "the committee is keen to
expedite its completion, to proceed in an appropriate manner that meets the
aspirations of the people."
The committee completed "reading the items of the
budget that include determining a percentage for the payment of arrears dues to
the provinces as due due to the increase achieved from the difference in the
price of selling oil, and the disbursement of dues for project implementation
according to completion rates, as well as the mechanism for listing projects
according to the investment plan for the development of regions, and the
ripening of ideas regarding them."
The committee also continued "discussing articles
related to the provision of municipal services to neighborhoods adjacent to the
basic design based on specific procedures, as well as subsidizing electric
power and installing generating stations for all regions, and projects
consistent with the government's priorities according to the government
program, and voting on them in a way that meets the public interest."
And the Parliamentary Finance Committee ended
"voting on many provisions of the Federal General Budget Law after the
ripening of visions and ideas in line with the requirements of implementing the
government program." LINK
Clare:
The European Bank for "Reconstruction and Development" is expanding
in Iraq
5/18/2023
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
announced, on Thursday, the shareholders' approval of the bank's expansion in
Iraq and Africa, while confirming a study of a proposal to increase the capital
by between three and five billion euros.
"A detailed proposal for increasing the paid-up
capital will be prepared by the end of this year," the bank said, in a
statement, pledging at the same time to "more support for war-torn
Ukraine."
The loan, which focuses on emerging markets, has already
allocated 3 billion euros to Ukraine and is to be invested in 2022-23.
The bank's president, Odile Reno Basso, said during the
bank's annual meeting that the assistance would continue, and that the increase
in paid-up capital would give the bank the way to maintain this level of investment.
Last March, the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development announced the allocation of $1.6 billion over the next two years to
support reconstruction and recovery in areas hit by the earthquake in Turkey
three months ago. LINK
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Clare: The Kurdistan Region is building
the "largest" solar power plant in Iraq
5/18/2023
Today, Thursday, the Kurdistan Regional Government will
start laying the foundation stone for a new solar power plant, the largest in
Iraq.
The Ministry of Electricity in the Kurdistan Regional
Government said in a statement received by Shafaq News agency; "It
will be the largest solar power plant in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq."
The statement indicated; He pointed out that the
capacity of the station is 25 megawatts of electricity and contains a large
number of panels, and it is environmentally friendly and the electricity it
generates is connected to the national electricity grid.
He pointed out that currently, "20% to 30% of the
electricity in the Kurdistan Region will be generated from solar energy, and
the Kurdistan Regional Government wants to increase this amount and is
implementing similar projects for this purpose."
And that "the project costs 100 million dollars, on
an area of 590 dunums, and it will be completed within a year."
There are two solar power stations in the
Kurdistan Region with a capacity of 3 megawatts, while the government decided
to build a power station "at a cost of 235 billion dinars with a capacity
of 100 megawatts" in the Soran region. LINK
