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Electronic collection Sunday 04 October 2020 7 Yasser Al-Metwally While the world is moving towards using the foundations of the digital economy, one of the most important components of which is the electronic payment system. The world has made great strides in this important trend, with the disappearance of the use of paper currency, which has become a burden on economies, due to the many faults, difficulties and challenges of their dealings. We find that Iraq is still indifferent to this project despite its methods largely through the initiatives of the Central Bank of Iraq and the private banking sector, which literally applied the decisions, legislation and instructions of the Central Bank in this regard. Now private banks have the full requirements for operating the electronic payment project, but? What is remarkable about the tourist trips of Iraqis around the world is that you monitor most of the youth and some families use electronic cards smoothly and maintain their flow, shopping and other travel matters, while not being exposed to fraud, fraud and thefts in a number of money exchange outlets abroad. But you do not find this phenomenon prominent in Iraq, either because of the weak promotion of this mechanism, the weak culture of dealing with electronic cards, or the lack of payment centers. What concerns us here is the digital economy, that is, at the level of use of ministries and government institutions, especially in the fields of electronic collection, taxes and other transactions, is still weak and does not rise to the level of the development that took place at the global level What are the reasons and motives? Or let's call it what are the challenges so that no one will be angry with us? Therefore, you find a number of ministries trying to impede the project with flimsy arguments that do not deceive anyone, so they fabricate excuses and arguments and impede contracts with sober companies by imposing commissions on them that exude the bulk of their profits or their reluctance to deal. Accordingly, the state as a whole is required to issue immediate and binding decisions to apply electronic collection and initiate the use of electronic payment tools according to a specific and binding time limit, thus we dry up the sources of corruption completely and achieve large and pure revenues to support the budget without the need for external and internal borrowing. And as I mentioned, the banking sector is ready and qualified to implement the project with ease and ease, and electronic payment methods have been published in most of the sites, especially private banks, but most government banks still lack the expansion of the use of these technologies at a time when the need for electronic collection requires that government banks be qualified for that. What is required is a governmental will to implement this project in an attempt to catch up with the global ranks, in the applications of the high-end economy, and thus we salute the project focused on the shelves and the time has come to activate it, especially Iraq is preparing to receive giant global and local investments. This, God willing, and the promised agreements have been implemented.

World experts discuss the development of the Iraqi economy Wednesday, June 24, 2020 145 Baghdad / Hussein Thagab For two days, international, regional and local experiences meet to discuss the reality of the Iraqi economy and ways to work to advance all of its joints, and mechanisms for the advancement of the financial, investment, energy and information systems sectors, in the "Virtual Iraq Finance" conference, as Frontier oxygen invited the organization to the conference economists from different parts of the world and representatives For major companies, to take the means of economic advancement seriously, and to have a positive role for the digital economy in the transformation phase. The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Dr. Ali Al-Alaq, thanked in his speech the invitation to Frontier Exchange Company, as the conference includes discussion and analysis of important economic axes, most notably the financial sector, energy, investment and credit assessment for the Republic of Iraq, as well as environmental reform, the development of the information sector, electronic payment systems and the capital market. He referred to "the central efforts in reforming the economic environment at the macro and micro levels based on its tasks mentioned in its law, which aim to achieve stability in local prices, and work towards maintaining a stable financial system to promote sustainable development, create jobs and achieve prosperity in the country." He pointed out that "the central plans resulted in the stability of the Iraqi dinar exchange in the local market and the fall of inflation to low levels of less than 1 percent." Comprehensive platform The head of the Iraqi Private Banking Association, Wadih Al-Handal, demanded "to stand at the primary goal in the strategies of digital transformation, which is to serve customers mainly and reduce friction and enhance financial inclusion, which required the development of a comprehensive integrated platform that includes interconnection with different government departments to enable the banking sector to achieve a program ( Know your customer electronically (e-kyc) to enable customers to open accounts remotely and benefit from all financial and banking services automatically and digitally, with the ability of customers to sign their transactions digitally without reviewing the bank’s branches, as well as the need to amend the bank’s legislation, which will enhance the position The banking and financial system is competitive at the regional and international level. " Cash box As for the member of the Board of Directors of the Union of Arab Banks, Ziad Khalaf, he said: “The world and our Arab region live in an exceptional situation in light of the spread of the Coronavirus and its wide-ranging effects in most of the economic sectors. 5.2 percent and the Iraqi economy by 4.7 percent during the year 2020. It is expected that this deflation will represent the most severe recession since the Second World War, and one of the main reasons for this deflation is the drop in oil prices by about 50 percent to reach the lowest level in 20 years as a result of low oil production, restrictions on travel and the movement of individuals Because of the stone and the closure, in addition to the decline in interest rates to zero and negative levels in some of the global central banks, as well as the decline of the main stock indexes to more than 35 percent and their reflection on the performance of global financial markets. " He pointed out that "the role of the banking sector in both its public and private sectors in Iraq requires coordination with the national units for public-private partnership so that our first goal is to proactively provide support to the Iraqi economy through three main axes represented in the transition to the digital economy with Iraqi leadership in light of the Iraqi government's tendency to play a role A pioneer in creating regional economic integration, which leads to a reduction in the commercial cost and the creation of new jobs by 2 percent and an increase in the volume of commodity trade, and this can only be achieved through the creation of strong infrastructure that includes 4 main networks: electronic commercial companies, banking and financing institutions, companies Insurance and technology companies - these four pillars together form the basis of the true digital economy. " Real partnerships He stressed "working towards real partnerships between the public and private sectors aimed at managing crises and recovering from their effects to support projects, especially faltering and prevent stumbling, what requires the support of the Iraqi banking sector as the nerve and the main driver in activating the economic wheel, and here it is necessary to adopt urgent priorities after Corona pandemic and that the Iraqi agricultural and industrial sector be restructured to establish local production industries that secure the minimum needs of citizens for food and basic commodities, as it turns out that the annual import bill for these materials and goods exceeds $ 40 billion, which constitutes about 80 percent of the total operating budget. He pointed out, "The importance of supporting the health sector, its development and supporting the pharmaceutical industry. The truth is that Covid-19 revealed the major gaps in the health system not only at the level of Iraq but also at the level of the whole world, and we became certain that our health sector must be prepared to face any health disaster that could threaten The country because the losses will not be limited to our human resources, but also to all our economic resources. " Energy system A representative of General Electric Company CEO of the Middle East and North Africa for gas and energy Joy Anis said: "Iraq is an important workstation for us and we have important partnerships and we are working to develop the energy system in the country, as the company is one of the companies that have major business in the world, and can To have a lot of positives for the energy sector in Iraq. " Representative of Frontier Exchange Ahmed Al-Jadir between that "the conference comes in light of the need to create economic flexibility through a serious approach towards achieving an effective multiplication of financial resources in a country like Iraq that has the ingredients to achieve success, relying on its own capabilities and wealth and bilateral partnerships with the various countries of the world that possess Quality companies classified on the international labor list and possessing experience in the field of business implementation. He pointed out that "the presence of the elite from various countries of the world in such a conference via an electronic circuit leads us to confirm the international interest in the Iraqi labor market, which we must invest properly and in a manner that achieves the highest degrees of benefit."