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Stressing "the need to support the dinar in this economic phase that Iraq is going through, in order to alleviate those with low incomes and poor segments of society."

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Iraqi PM to Visit Erbil on Saturday BasNews 10/01/2020 - 23:53 Published inKurdistan http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/kurdistan/573316 ERBIL - Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi will pay an official visit to the Kurdistan Region's capital Erbil on Saturday. According to Iraqi reports, Abdul Mahdi will lead a high-level delegation to discuss the current situation in the country with the top Kurdish officials. The two sides will also shed light on the relations between Erbil and Baghdad. The situation in Iraq has started to deteriorate since the beginning of the anti-government protests in early October, while tensions between the US and Iran have lately escalated.

Washington rejects Baghdad’s request to plan US troop withdrawal 2 minutes ago Rudaw https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/100120202 A US soldier guards the US Embassy in Baghdad. Photo: AFP ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The US State Department released a statement on Friday bluntly refusing requests from the Iraqi Parliament and Prime Minister to withdraw troops from the country. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus stated that delegations from Washington to Baghdad would not discuss troop withdrawal with Iraqi officials. “At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East,” stated Ortagus. She added that a NATO delegation has visited the US to discuss “increasing NATO’s role in Iraq, in line with the President’s desire for burden sharing in all of our collective defense efforts.” US President Trump stated in a press conference on Wednesday that NATO needed to become more involved in the Middle East. He also spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the phone on Wednesday, who “agreed that NATO could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism.” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the current prime minister of Iraq’s caretaker government, on Thursday. The PM told Pompeo to send a delegation to Baghdad to put in place mechanisms for withdrawal of US forces following a non-binding parliamentary resolution by Shiite lawmakers on Sunday to expel foreign troops. “His Excellency asked the US Secretary of State to send delegates to Iraq to put in place mechanisms to implement the parliament’s decision for troops to safely depart Iraq,” read a statement from the Prime Minister’s media office about the Thursday phone call. Pompeo’s office also issued a readout of their phone call, but there was no mention of Abdul-Mahdi’s demand for a plan of action to see US troops depart Iraq. “Secretary Pompeo reiterated the United States’ condemnation of the Iranian regime’s January 7 launch of ballistic missiles into two sites in Iraq that host Iraqi, American, and Coalition forces working together to defeat ISIS. The Secretary underscored that, as President Trump has said, the United States will do whatever it takes to protect the American and Iraqi people and defend our collective interests,” read the American statement. On January 3, the US assassinated General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militias. The drone strike assassination outside the Baghdad airport was the culmination of steadily rising tension between the US and Iran-backed forces in Iraq. In response to the killings of Soleimani and al-Muhandis, slightly more than half of the Iraqi parliament convened on Sunday to vote in favor of a non-binding resolution calling on Abdul-Mahdi to remove all foreign troops from Iraq and revoke Iraq’s request for assistance from the international coalition fighting Islamic State. The legislative body’s Kurdish blocs and most Sunni MPs boycotted the session. US officials, including President Donald Trump, have stressed that Washington is not planning to withdraw troops from the country it invaded from 2003 until 2011 and re-entered in 2014 to lead the fight against ISIS. The US-led coalition of 81 countries has “provided enhanced training, advise, and assistance and contributed approximately $4 billion in military equipment for the defeat of ISIS,” according to a Coalition press release disseminated on Friday. Contrary to claims in the Parliament resolution that foreign troops are no longer needed to secure the country “due to the end of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory," the Coalition press release detailed ten successful operations against ISIS in the past week, including an Iraqi air strike against ISIS tunnels in Kirkuk province that was conducted “under the supervision of the joint Operations Command.” Trump has warned that he will impose sanctions on Iraq if they insist on the withdrawal of US forces from the country. Iraq also relies on Iran sanctions waivers from the US in order to import Iranian gas needed to supply electricity. The current waiver is due to expire in February, at which point they will have to ask the US government to renew it in order to avoid financial penalties. The US imposed a new wave of sanctions against Iran this week after the country retaliated for the assassination of their top general by firing ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases hosting US troops and equipment. Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the new sanctions on Friday, explaining that they will target eight senior Iranian officials involved in “destabilizing” activities in the Middle East. They stated that President Trump will also issue an executive order to impose sanctions on sectors of the Iranian economy including metals, construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining.

Barzani discusses with the US Secretary of Energy more investment in Kurdistan Economy 08:52 - 10/01/2020 https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=81183 Baghdad- Mawazine News The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masroor Barzani, discussed with the US Secretary of Energy Dan Brolett, by phone, on Friday, the bilateral relations between the two sides. Masrour Al-Barzani said in a tweet on Twitter: "A fruitful contact with the US Secretary of Energy, during which we talked about the relations between the Kurdistan Region and the United States in the field of energy." He added: "We will remain in constant contact and we will work together to enhance economic relations and increase American investment in Kurdistan's energy field." End / 29 BC

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani speaks with US Energy Secretary https://gov.krd/english/government/the-prime-minister/activities/posts/2020/january/prime-minister-masrour-barzani-speaks-with-us-energy-secretary/ Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (GOV.KRD) – Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette spoke by telephone today. Secretary Brouillette conveyed the US Energy Department’s support for expanding the role of US energy companies in the Kurdistan Region. Prime Minister Barzani and Secretary Brouillette were aligned on the need to prioritise coordination on actions that boost the region’s energy security. They agreed to stay in close contact as they work together to strengthen ties in the energy sector. 10 Jan 2020

Iyad Allawi announces his resignation from the membership of the House of Representatives Political 08:12 - 10/01/2020 https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=81176 Baghdad- Mawazine News On Friday, the leader of the National Coalition, Iyad Allawi, announced his resignation from the membership of the Iraqi parliament. Allawi’s office said in a brief statement received by Mawazine News that “the leader of the National Coalition announced his resignation from the membership of the Iraqi parliament.” The office added, "The resignation came as a result of the council's failure to fulfill its legislative and supervisory role and not dealing seriously and positively with the demands of the popular and mass movement", according to the statement. End / 29 BC

Iraq Files Complaint to UN over Iran Missile Attack BasNews 10/01/2020 - 19:08 Published in Iraq http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/iraq/573275 ERBIL - Iraq on Friday filed a complaint to the UN Security Council over Iran's recent missile attack on the US bases in the country. The Iraqi government argued that attacking the Iraqi territory under any pretexts is a violation on the country's sovereignty. The complaint came after Iran launched a missile attack on two US bases in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq earlier on Wednesday morning. Tehran later explained that the attack was in retaliation to the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of its Quds Force.

US not discussing withdrawal from Iraq with Baghdad, says State Department US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus attends a press briefing by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department in Washington, US, December 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas 22 minutes ago http://www.nrttv.com/En/News.aspx?id=18995&MapID=2 SULAIMANI — State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement on Friday (January 10) that the United States is committed to continuing the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and that any discussions with Baghdad about the presence of US troops would be focused on that mission. Earlier in the day, caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said that he had asked the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to send representatives “to choose a mechanism for US troop withdrawal” from Iraq. Declaring the US to be “a force for good in the Middle East,” Ortagus said that the US has been “unambiguous regarding how crucial our [defeat] ISIS mission is in Iraq.” “At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East,” she said. “There does, however, need to be a conversation between the US and Iraqi governments not just regarding security, but about our financial, economic, and diplomatic partnership,” she added. “We want to be a friend and partner to a sovereign, prosperous, and stable Iraq.” The back and forth between the State Department and the caretaker prime minister’s office capped a week during which the US killed Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike near Baghdad international airport, claiming self-defense against an imminent attack. Since then the administration has struggled to justify that explanation to Congressional leaders, allies, and Iraqi officials. In response to the killing, Iran launched a barrage of nearly two-dozen ballistic missiles at bases in Anbar and Erbil hosting US and coalition troops, many of whom work as trainers for local forces as part of the fight against Islamic State. According to the statement, a NATO delegation was visiting Washington to explore US President Trump’s “desire for burden sharing.” While Canada and European allies condemned the Iranian missile attack, they have been lukewarm about the Trump administration’s idea that they commit additional resources to the mission in the way that Washington has envisioned. (NRT Digital Media)

Monday 07 January 2020 An overview of the history of Iraq's sovereign debt https://annabaa.org/arabic/economicarticles/21780 Dr.. The appearance of Muhammad Salih The history of Iraqi debt in general and external to it in particular is a sad and dark fact in the modern economic history of Iraq. For the past four decades, government debt has remained far from its philosophy of borrowing in order to invest in development and achieve economic prosperity by virtue of the exceptional circumstances and political factors. In the last decade of the 1980s, during the war with Iran, external borrowing was used to finance the deadly war machine, which is a fatal and odious consumer debt, accompanied by internal borrowing for the same consumer spending purpose. In the year 2004, the Paris Club Secretariat estimated the external debt of Iraq for the pre-1990 stage at about $ 128 billion, at which time it was decided to write off 80% of it under the Paris Club Agreement. That agreement was based on Security Council Resolution 1483 in May 2003 regarding the settlement of Iraq's external debt to its creditors. As debts accumulated before the year 1990 due to interruption of payments and the inability to pay and the application of the terms of the debt agreements formally signed with the various creditors, whether sovereign ones that belong to the group of the Paris Club nineteen or to the official creditors from the group of 54 countries creditor to Iraq from outside the Paris Club group, as well From thousands of commercial creditors. What the bilateral debt agreements have shown with the creditor parties has indicated decisions to pay the accumulated interest, whether on the level of the principal or accepting the delay in interest (PDI) and according to the provisions of the contract on the debt, most of which are formally signed with the creditor parties in the eighties of the last century. During the 1990s siege and the international sanctions imposed on Iraq resulting from the Kuwait war and the consequences of its invasion, the issue of debt and its burdens took two different paths. First, domestic borrowing has been going heavily for the sake of public spending within monetary tools and playing the budget deficit financing game with inflationary financing, or the debt monetization game that provides sustainability to the fragile reality in the budgets of the economic blockade and its time to run the machine of the economic system. The real income of the Iraqi individual has been confiscated through the use of the so-called (the principle of automatic confiscation of individuals ’savings and their potential surpluses and their absorption in advance of waves of inflation and inflationary expectations generated by public spending funded by the cash issue or by inflation). It is an automatic alienation mechanism based on the permanence of replacing government debt instruments (annual treasury transfers) issued by the Ministry of Finance with cash issued to be automatically accepted in the balance sheet of the Central Bank of Iraq. Hence, it was adopted as bad assets that are not subject to extinguishing at that time in the formation of the monetary base. As for the second track, which is the implementation of the agreement with the United Nations, after the international organization has harnessed a third of the Iraqi oil revenues exported through the Memorandum of Understanding or the "Oil for Food and Medicine" program. Work was started on that rescue note in the year 1996, in order to pay (external compensation) to Victims of the war in Kuwait through the United Nations Compensation Fund UNCC and their various stripes and their countries and institutions that have been countless and with a compensation amount in excess of $ 52 billion. Note that compensation is not debt, but sanctions imposed by UN resolutions, including covering the costs of inspection teams and collecting them from the revenues of the oil memorandum of understanding. The international organization has kept Iraqi oil revenues in an account in the name of the Secretary-General of the United Nations within the arrangements for Chapter Seven of the Charter of the International Organization. Currently, only $ 3 billion of the amounts of these Kuwaiti awards are left. As the other new stage in the economic life of Iraq and the development of its debts started from the beginning of the third millennium, and specifically the stage of the great political transformation in the year 2003 until the present time, Iraq has not resorted to any borrowings of little importance. However, after the end of a decade of political transition, our country suddenly was exposed to two suffocating crises (security and financial) in the year 2014 that extended until the year 2017, which launched the wheel of operational loans to take their ranges again. Most of the internal and external borrowing went this time to support the operational budget in a way that secures the sustainability of current budget payments, especially of salaries, wages and other obligations, as well as reassuring the war front against terrorism after the price of crude oil fell from $ 80 a barrel to less than $ 30 a barrel. If we take the cost of producing the crude oil that is serviced by the international oil companies, IOCs, then the net return of the barrel from the exported crude oil will be 20 dollars at that time, and that salaries, wages and pensions are designed on a barrel of oil whose revenue is not less than 80 dollars. Thus the external debt came this time, mainly related to arms purchases, equipping, and rebuilding the armed forces to counter ISIS terrorism, a trend at the end of which has a highly consuming nature in operating the war machine and tools, which were required by the priorities of liberating the land. It is noted that half of the foreign debts generated by the aforementioned (financial and security) crises after 2014 (especially foreign loans from the seven major countries that were based on the pledges made by those countries in the May 2016 statement in Tokyo to support Iraq in its war against terrorism, as well as Credits provided by the international multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which totaled up to about $ 12 billion over today) have spent more than half or perhaps most of them in support of the operational budget between the years 2017-2015. Based on the foregoing, the history of Iraqi indebtedness and through multiple and different decades of time has been closely linked to government consumer spending due to wars, conflicts, blockades, crises and corruption at a rate of 90%, and the burden of consumer debt may have been offset on the other side of the debt, albeit in a limited way, by correlation Some are funded by income-generating development projects. However, loan-executed projects have also remained marginal in impacting the country's economic growth and significant economic transformation. Thus, over four decades of the economic life of Iraq, the development debts associated with the state investment projects did not constitute only 10% of the total Iraqi sovereign debt. As Iraqi oil resources continued to operate as a sustainable financial leverage in the service of unproductive consumer debt, after which the country also recorded four consecutive decades of lost development. For example, the expenditures of grants, international aid, and soft loans (or where the grant element represents a high percentage) that were spent on the Iraqi investment and infrastructure sector between the years 2013-2003 are about $ 94 billion. On its part, Iraq participated in the disbursement of $ 126 billion, meaning that the total actual expenditures on the government investment sector during the past ten years amounted to $ 220 billion! The result is that the country still has more than 8,000 school buildings and that 3.5 million people live in slums around unscathed cities (and lack sanitation, water, and law enforcement services) until all of us have shabby parts of infrastructure. In spite of the foregoing, the macroeconomic situation of Iraq, whether visible or latent, still shows sustainability in the country's financial and economic strength, backed by adequate foreign cash flows to pay and the ability to maintain and sustain the debt service, which made the total current debts of Iraq (internal and external) as a percentage of The gross domestic product does not exceed 49.7%, at $ 115 billion, according to what is indicated in the indebtedness tables in 2019, and this percentage will decrease to 48.6% in the year 2020, despite the rise of those debts slightly (in absolute value) and according to expectations due to conditions Financing the federal budget 2020 and the Where shear is expected, it will help if high GDP (from $ 235 billion in 2019 to $ 254 billion in 2020) to provide an effective weight will stand behind the decline in the standard ratio of the Iraqi debt in 2020. Accordingly, the indebtedness rates will go downward towards or towards the safe limits of debt sustainability or less risky debt sustainability, so Iraqi debt is still safe and far from even the maximum circle of the international standard in determining acceptable ends of debt as a percentage of GDP and in a manner not exceeding 60% ؜. In conclusion, Iraq will have, from today, an appropriate fiscal space space that touches with its reference the expectations of international creditors and capital markets in a positive way so that public debt management and fulfill its service obligations at a more reassuring level can be fulfilled. * Researcher, academic economist and former deputy governor of the Central Bank

A deputy confirms that the (Iraqi - Chinese) agreement will enter into force By ahad5 10/01/2020 05:55 PM https://alahadnews.net/index.php/permalink/197340.html Al-Ahed News- Baghdad Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Representative Kazem Al-Sayyadi, confirmed today, Friday, that the (Iraqi - Chinese) agreement has entered into force. And the fisherman said in his tweet to him on Twitter, followed by "Al-Ahed News", that " the (Iraqi-Chinese) agreement entered into force." He added, "The Iraqi government has started exporting oil to Beijing for the purpose of launching the reconstruction campaign." End / 5

Washington: Any American delegation visiting Iraq will not discuss the troop withdrawal 2020-01-10 | 10:48 https://www.alsumaria.tv/news/دوليات/331224/واشنطن-أي-وفد-أمريكي-يزور-العراق-لن-يناقش-سحب-القو The US State Department announced today, Friday, that any delegation from Washington will visit Iraq will discuss there a re-commitment to the strategic partnership between the two countries, not the withdrawal of American forces from the country. The ministry's spokesperson, Morgan Ortagos, said in a statement, Washington was convinced that the American security presence in Iraq was "appropriate." She added: "There is an urgent need for discussion between the US and Iraqi governments not only regarding security, but also about our financial, economic and diplomatic partnership." On January 5, 2020, the Iraqi Council of Representatives approved the government's mandate to end the presence of foreign forces in the country’s territory, in response to the assassination of the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, in an American bombing near Baghdad airport.

http://almasalah.com/ar/news/185859/الكشف-عن-اتفاق-العراق-والصين-يدخل-حيز-التنفيذ-بعد-تصدير-100-ألف-برميل-نفط-لبكين 01/10/2020 13:32 Disclosure of the Iraq-China agreement comes into effect after the export of 100 thousand barrels of oil to Beijing Baghdad / Obelisk: On January 10, 2020, the deputy of the Al-Fateh Hanin Al-Qadu Coalition announced the start of implementation of the Iraqi-Chinese agreement concluded by the Adel Abdul-Mahdi government before its resignation. Al-Kiddo said in a press statement, followed by "Al-Masala", that "against the background of the start of the implementation of the Iraqi-Chinese agreement, the Iraqi government exported 100,000 barrels of oil to Beijing for the start of construction." He added, "Parliament does not oppose the beginning of the implementation of the government agreement with China, although it was not submitted before implementation to parliament for review and voting on it." Follow the obelisk

The US State Department: America and Iraq need to discuss security, financial, economic, and diplomatic partnerships http://www.ikhnews.com/index.php?page=article&id=206756 10-01-2020 05:56 PM Baghdad / news The US State Department stressed the necessity to discuss Baghdad and Washington partnership between them in various fields. The State Department said in a statement that "America and Iraq need to discuss security, financial, economic and diplomatic partnership." She added that "a delegation from NATO will discuss with us today the increased role of NATO in Iraq," noting that "any American delegation sent to Iraq will discuss deepening the partnership between the two countries and not withdrawing our forces from there."

10-01-2020 06:02 PM Iraq complains of Iran to the Security Council http://www.ikhnews.com/index.php?page=article&id=206760 Baghdad / news Iraq submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council on Iran, after it struck the Ain al-Assad military base in Anbar, in response to the US air raid in which it targeted the Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on the road to Baghdad International Airport. In his complaint to the Security Council, Iraq said: "We deplore the country's involvement in regional or international conflicts." She added that "the bombing of Iraqi territory under the pretext of Iran's self-defense is unacceptable."