The Ministry of Finance: completes the reform paper and finalizes the budget (2021-2023).

[dinarham]

   I would bet the new currency will be $10 ,$20. $50. and $100

[screwball]

People need to remember the budget was originally 2, general and reconstruction....they have combined the two now! Supposedly...it will be huge..base on two rates no doubt

[screwball]

38 minutes ago, dinarham said:

   I would bet the new currency will be $10 ,$20. $50. and $100

Possibly...the coins were in same amounts or similar...20, 50 and 100

[dinarham]

4 minutes ago, screwball said:

Possibly...the coins were in same amounts or similar...20, 50 and 100

I'm guessing coins will be used for anything under $5 , which I should have added to my list

[Longtimelurker]

1 hour ago, dinarham said:

   I would bet the new currency will be $10 ,$20. $50. and $100

Didn't they tell us what the bills would be? I recall 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and coins. 

[dinarham]

43 minutes ago, Longtimelurker said:

Didn't they tell us what the bills would be? I recall 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and coins. 

        Not that I recall . People were speculating that the new notes will be large , $100,000 ,$50000 ,and $25000. In my opinion , they will not be printing any more large notes.

[Longtimelurker]

2 hours ago, dinarham said:

        Not that I recall . People were speculating that the new notes will be large , $100,000 ,$50000 ,and $25000. In my opinion , they will not be printing any more large notes.

Hmmm... I remember thinking the only bill different than ours is the 25.. 🤷‍♂️

[dinarham]

1 hour ago, Longtimelurker said:

Hmmm... I remember thinking the only bill different than ours is the 25.. 🤷‍♂️

           I always think about the notes that are likely to be dispensed in an ATM.

[justchecking123]

On 10/30/2020 at 10:42 AM, 6ly410 said:

 

One has to like this. 

 

They're trying to branch out from oil, and broaden their economic base with this plan, which is obviously a well thought out one from the video content. 

 

And trying to sell their citizens on it from the tweet. 

 

 

[Longtimelurker]

4 hours ago, justchecking123 said:

One has to like this. 

 

They're trying to branch out from oil, and broaden their economic base with this plan, which is obviously a well thought out one from the video content. 

 

And trying to sell their citizens on it from the tweet. 

 

 

They're determined to turn it around over there. It has been a long road and i hope the citizens recognize this and feel some sense of excitement. Have we heard from the Iraqi friends lately? I forgot who had them.

[Pepperina]

26 minutes ago, Longtimelurker said:

They're determined to turn it around over there. It has been a long road and i hope the citizens recognize this and feel some sense of excitement. Have we heard from the Iraqi friends lately? I forgot who had them.

Hi Longtimelurker, I believe ( GregHi ) has a Friend in Iraq.

[GregHi]

10 minutes ago, Pepperina said:

Hi Longtimelurker, I believe ( GregHi ) has a Friend in Iraq.

Hey Guys.. I have 2 Iraqi friends ( One Kurdish from Erbil and the other one I currently work with a Shia from Najaf) they are both originally from Iraq, but both have lived here in the US for many years now. I texted my Shia friend yesterday about the upcoming US elections and how it might effect the Middle East and his response was, he sees lots of changes coming, but didn’t elaborate.. (Sorry if that sounds like guru talk, but it is what he said and it probably doesn’t mean much) 😂 

[Pepperina]

17 minutes ago, GregHi said:

Hey Guys.. I have 2 Iraqi friends ( One Kurdish from Erbil and the other one I currently work with a Shia from Najaf) they are both originally from Iraq, but both have lived here in the US for many years now. I texted my Shia friend yesterday about the upcoming US elections and how it might effect the Middle East and his response was, he sees lots of changes coming, but didn’t elaborate.. (Sorry if that sounds like guru talk, but it is what he said and it probably doesn’t mean much) 😂 

Hi GregHi !  Thanks for The ‘Comeback’ !   I miss You And Your Post !

 

 

 

[Wheelman]

1 hour ago, GregHi said:

Hey Guys.. I have 2 Iraqi friends ( One Kurdish from Erbil and the other one I currently work with a Shia from Najaf) they are both originally from Iraq, but both have lived here in the US for many years now. I texted my Shia friend yesterday about the upcoming US elections and how it might effect the Middle East and his response was, he sees lots of changes coming, but didn’t elaborate.. (Sorry if that sounds like guru talk, but it is what he said and it probably doesn’t mean much) 😂 

Good evening, is this the Greg that use to say aaaaaaaaaaaaany day nooooow?

[Longtimelurker]

6 hours ago, GregHi said:

Hey Guys.. I have 2 Iraqi friends ( One Kurdish from Erbil and the other one I currently work with a Shia from Najaf) they are both originally from Iraq, but both have lived here in the US for many years now. I texted my Shia friend yesterday about the upcoming US elections and how it might effect the Middle East and his response was, he sees lots of changes coming, but didn’t elaborate.. (Sorry if that sounds like guru talk, but it is what he said and it probably doesn’t mean much) 😂 

Hey Greg! Thanks for responding👍 

 

After talking to your friends for a while, do you have any desire to go there after all this is done? Or have you ever been there and what is it like? 

 

Part of me wants to go just because I feel connected after watching them for so long but there's nothing specific that I want to see or do there.

[GregHi]

7 hours ago, Wheelman said:

Good evening, is this the Greg that use to say aaaaaaaaaaaaany day nooooow?

Hey Wheelman.. No, you may be thinking of GregP.. sometimes I used to end with “we shall sea..” I kinda stole that phrase from a lady in the dinar community about 10 years ago..  

[GregHi]

8 hours ago, Pepperina said:

Hi GregHi !  Thanks for The ‘Comeback’ !   I miss You And Your Post !

 

 

 

Thanks Pepperina! I used to post more when I was talking to my Iraqi friends daily but I haven’t talked to my Kurdish friend in a long time and we used to be close, so I need to call him and my Shia friend that I work with is on another shift, so I don’t see him much anymore either.  If they ever have something important that they hear, I will either add it to the “Shia Friend” thread or make a whole new thread all together. I have a feeling this RV will surprise us all including them.. 

[GregHi]

2 hours ago, Longtimelurker said:

Hey Greg! Thanks for responding👍 

 

After talking to your friends for a while, do you have any desire to go there after all this is done? Or have you ever been there and what is it like? 

 

Part of me wants to go just because I feel connected after watching them for so long but there's nothing specific that I want to see or do there.

Hey Longtimelurker,

 

I feel the same way you do, kinda connected after 16 years on this ride. I have never been to Iraq although I feel like I kinda know how they live hearing so many stories from my 2 Iraqi friends. I have spoken to my Shia friend about going there and he said is it does RV, that we should go and he would show me around.. I want to do that but I don’t know if it would be safe for a white American to go to Najaf or Baghdad now.. I think if I did go see Iraq, I think a safer place would be the Kurdish region. I would get in touch with my Kurdish friend and maybe go with him to see Erbil. But we will see. Hopefully  Baghdad will be safe again soon, I’d really like to see the places I have seen on TV and know the US military was walking those same streets.. how about you? Want to go to Iraq?

[DoD]

GregHi, you would love Iraq. Not a place you want to live but a place to visit. The Iraqis I worked with loved Americans an were very friendly. The American media only covers the terrorist an bombings but a lot of Iraq is quite nice. I’m sure it’s even better now since I left in 2009. I would go back after the RV to see the changes....

[GregHi]

1 hour ago, DoD said:

GregHi, you would love Iraq. Not a place you want to live but a place to visit. The Iraqis I worked with loved Americans an were very friendly. The American media only covers the terrorist an bombings but a lot of Iraq is quite nice. I’m sure it’s even better now since I left in 2009. I would go back after the RV to see the changes....

Thanks DoD.. I have heard that.. I subscribe to a channel on YouTube of a couple that have travelled to 100 Countries, 1 of them was Iraq.. it even shows them getting 4, 25k dinar notes out of an ATM there in Erbil.. lol Anyway, they talk about how nice everyone is and how they just give everyone food to eat, etc.. I think it’s a 3 part video, but it is cool.. If anyone is interested here is a link to the 1st video...

 

 

[GregHi]

1 hour ago, DoD said:

GregHi, you would love Iraq. Not a place you want to live but a place to visit. The Iraqis I worked with loved Americans an were very friendly. The American media only covers the terrorist an bombings but a lot of Iraq is quite nice. I’m sure it’s even better now since I left in 2009. I would go back after the RV to see the changes....

DoD maybe once it RVs if Adam keeps the site going, we may can get a group together to go over there. I know my Shia friend would definitely go and he could take us to all the sites and show us around.. just a thought..

["Fred"]

16 minutes ago, GregHi said:

Thanks DoD.. I have heard that.. I subscribe to a channel on YouTube of a couple that have travelled to 100 Countries, 1 of them was Iraq.. it even shows them getting 4, 25k dinar notes out of an ATM there in Erbil.. lol Anyway, they talk about how nice everyone is and how they just give everyone food to eat, etc.. I think it’s a 3 part video, but it is cool.. If anyone is interested here is a link to the 1st video...

 

 

Cool video Greg,thanks for sharing 

[yota691]

Report: The White Paper Affirms That Iraq Needs A Change In Its Economic Policy

The Iraqi economy is floundering in an actual bind

On November 1, 2020

The Independent / - The Iraqi economy is floundering in an actual deadlock, amid warnings of facing bankruptcy, while taking any reform measures means imposing a harsh reality on the majority of citizens.

A press report titled "The White Paper: When Structural Adjustment Knocks the Door of Iraq," and the Independent continued on Sunday, reviewed the possible results of some of the measures recommended by the White Paper, including reducing the salaries of employees and reducing the value of the national currency.

The report, published by the "Washington" Institute for Studies, is likely that the options proposed by the White Paper will face "political resistance" and "popular discontent."

Next is the text of the report

The Iraqi government recently issued a white paper detailing economic and financial reforms aimed at pulling the country out of its current economic woes. The Economic Reform White Paper - developed by the Emergency Cell for Financial and Economic Reform, set up in May to manage the country's economic reforms - generally proposes reforms that are in line with the requirements of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for developing countries. While experts agree that these draconian measures are necessary, they will be difficult to implement and will likely encounter objection from the Iraqi people.

By issuing the White Paper, the current Iraqi government took a new and unusual step in the country's political history. Half of the detailed 96-page document is a diagnosis of Iraq's economic problems and their roots. As the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ali Allawi tweeted on October 18, “The reform paper diagnosed with a scientific and objective vision the economic and financial problems that pose real challenges that can be overcome by a strategic planning method based on an objective analysis of reality and extracting strategic goals as urgent priorities.”

By detailing the roots of these economic and financial crises, the White Paper brings the current crisis gripping the country back to the 1970s. The report describes how for half a century the state has relied on the country's growing oil revenues only to "expand the public sector" and "directly and indirectly control the economy." During this period, Iraq witnessed the emergence of a rentier state. These problems continued during the 21st century due to the CPA's failure to implement “shock therapy” programs, leaving the country vulnerable to economic and financial systems characterized by a controlled economy, a rentier state, a ruling sectarian system, and a high degree of state intervention in the joints of the country.

In response to the country's turbulent economic past, the White Paper aims to establish a balance in the Iraqi economy by allowing the state to diversify it while creating economic opportunities for citizens. The necessity for diversification is justified by relying on the International Monetary Fund's report for the year 2019, which warned that “in the absence of any changes to the policy, the growing budget deficit will neutralize resources from essential investments to rebuild the country and improve public services, while undermining reserves and posing risks Threatening sustainability in the medium term. ” However, the objectives outlined in the paper cannot be easily achieved since implementing reforms will require drastic measures.

In 2003, Ali Allawi, who was then the Minister of Trade in the Provisional Government and who is considered the architect of the current White Paper, stated that “We suffered because of socialist and Marxist economic theories and then cronyism. Now we are faced with the possibility of applying free market fundamentalism. ” This type of fundamentalism is clearly evident in the white paper. Its recommendations are very similar to the structural adjustment programs that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank impose on low and middle income countries. These programs often force governments to reduce government expenditures on basic needs such as education, health care, the environment and subsidize the prices of basic commodities such as food grains. In addition, these programs oblige governments to devalue their national currencies and increase exports, which leads to a decline in actual wages and support for export-oriented foreign investments. It is assumed that all these changes will take place in a free and open financial market.

However, implementing such policy changes will likely be difficult in Iraq. In this case, halving the wage rate, cessation of subsidies, devaluation and borrowing are the main pillars of the white paper. But none of these missions will be simple and many will not gain popular support.

With regard to borrowing, the Iraqi government is seeking to borrow $ 35 billion to finance its operations. But the Iraqi parliament does not allow the government to borrow from abroad, so domestic borrowing is the only option. But in a country torn apart by war, domestic sources of funding are scant.

 

Likewise, improving efficiency and spending in Iraq's public sectors - particularly through devaluation and cutting subsidies - will not be easy. For example, electricity, one of the most prominent areas of public spending in Iraq, is a complex economic, technical and geopolitical problem in the country. The IMF report 19/248 had “recommended that priority spending measures should be given to contain the growth in wages and reduce subsidies given to the electricity sector.”

However, these measures are inconsistent with existing practices. In Iraq, there is a presumption that the state will provide and support energy resources.

As former Iraqi Electricity Minister Luay Al-Khatib said: “The electricity sector in Iraq suffers from a set of problems. The country's complex bureaucracy often impedes progress by focusing on ineffective, short-term, technical solutions rather than longer-term macro-institutional reforms. There is also a chronic deficit in managing fuel raw materials, coinciding with a deficit in managing other energy portfolios and the broader business value chain. The sector is vulnerable to the conflicting agendas of a large group of Iraqi political actors that prevent the development of a unified national vision for its management, which plunges the sector into mismanagement and renders corruption rampant in it.

Given the complex nature of these problems in Iraq, these reforms are likely to encounter political resistance. The White Paper was released at a time when Iraqis are discussing the process and results of next year’s general elections in June 2021. At such a time, it is difficult to expect any political bloc to publicly adhere to similar harsh measures suggested by the White Paper. Critics also point out that it is not the caretaker government's duty to institute medium-term economic reforms that will continue until 2023, that is, during the years of the next government's term.

Most of these measures will likely not be supported by the Iraqi people. Focusing on wage cuts is a double-edged sword, as public sector salaries are the only part of government expenditures that end up in the local market and are traded among small and medium-sized companies. Thus, it is an important benefit to the common people. The Iraqi government should proceed with a gradual and cautious reduction of public sector wages; Cutting wages by half and devaluing the Iraqi currency will be the cause of widespread poverty, a problem that basically paralyzes the country.

Moreover, devaluation of the Iraqi currency may be difficult in the current global economy. From the point of view of the state, it is logical to suggest a devaluation of the Iraqi dinar. Allawi had hinted that a weaker dinar might enhance the competitiveness of Iraqi goods, thus providing support for sectors such as agriculture and industry. In this context, Allawi pointed out that “all countries that export to Iraq, such as Turkey, Iran, China and Saudi Arabia, have devalued their currencies. We cannot compete if we keep the value of the dinar constant and stable.

However, the devaluation of the dinar will help improve Iraqi exports only if it falls to a level even lower than the currencies of trading partners, which are already low. The Iranian rial fell against the dollar, and the Turkish lira is following a similar descending path. A devaluation of the dinar below these currencies would be bad and possibly dangerous.

Accordingly, the Iraqi economy is in real trouble: Experts have warned that Iraq will face bankruptcy in the absence of any drastic steps, but similar steps are likely to result in great suffering for the majority of the Iraqi people. Critics stressed that the country should focus on cutting its large security and defense budget.

The security problems in Iraq also represent a dilemma. In regions experiencing unrest, the Iraqi government is employing young people in the security sectors as a way to secure jobs for them, which further inflates the security budget. Those working in the security sector do not contribute to the economy, while the enormous jobs in this sector constitute an incubating environment for corruption, "ghost" employees, and double wages. In the case of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which are allocated $ 2 billion in the annual budget, their security contribution is conditional.

In light of allocating a total annual budget of $ 8 billion to the Ministry of Defense, critics considered that this sector also needs reform, especially since the injection of funds to overcome the country's security challenges - a method favored by politicians around the world - did not contribute to solving security problems. Iraqi.

Finally, the White Paper is an indication that Iraq needs a radical change not only in its economic policy but also in other areas of governance. While all Iraqis theoretically agree on the need for change, very few agree on the practical nature of what change should be. Despite this, the country has no easy choice, even if its various parties can agree on a way to achieve this. It is unlikely that the price of oil will increase anytime soon, and thus the budget problems are unlikely to be solved. Since the current bleak outlooks have convinced the Iraqi political class of the need to support the White Paper, much will depend on the government's decisions in managing its implementation.

 

[Wheelman]

4 hours ago, GregHi said:

Thanks DoD.. I have heard that.. I subscribe to a channel on YouTube of a couple that have travelled to 100 Countries, 1 of them was Iraq.. it even shows them getting 4, 25k dinar notes out of an ATM there in Erbil.. lol Anyway, they talk about how nice everyone is and how they just give everyone food to eat, etc.. I think it’s a 3 part video, but it is cool.. If anyone is interested here is a link to the 1st video...

 

 

Beautiful Video.

Thanks For Sharing.

[dinarham]

  I had to skimmed over Yota's last post . It basically says that if Iraq doesn't make almost a paradigm shift in their economics , their ass will be grass.