The white paper ... on the experts' table

[yota691]

The white paper ... on the experts' table

Wednesday 18th November 2020 7

 

 Baghdad: Shukran Al-Fatlawi 

 

The Iraqi Economic Council held an economic symposium to discuss the White Paper presented by the government under the auspices of the Parliamentary Finance Committee and the Parliamentary Economic and Investment Committee and in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance Dr. Ali Allawi, the President of the National Investment Commission Mrs. Soha Al-Najjar, the President of the Iraqi Trade Bank Mr. Salem Chalabi, and an advisor The Prime Minister, Mr. Muhammad Al-Hakim, and a large group of economic organizations and unions.

Chairman of the Economic Council Ibrahim Al-Masoudi Al-Baghdadi welcomed the attendees and said: "The topic of the symposium dealt with the importance of the White Paper and its preparation, and ways to advance the national economy, drawing on the opinions of economists and specialists on it from the attendees, in order to find the necessary solutions to change the paths of the national economy towards a better stage commensurate with Iraq's economic capabilities." 

 

Employee productivity

As for the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ali Allaweef, he said: “In the first cabinet meetings, we agreed to form a committee to deal with the financial crisis consisting of five people. The committee began working on the white paper in cooperation with five other Iraqi experts. The core of the White Paper Preparation Committee was 10 people, and then it expanded to include 40 people. After the historical narration of the reasons for the deterioration of the economic situation, we started by analyzing the causes of the problem of low productivity of the Iraqi employee and indicating cases of continuous decline in the Iraqi economy until the state became lacking in control of its finances, and we reached in the result the approval of more than 450 measures that must be taken to achieve the goals and treatments of the white paper, As well as there are annexes that will be issued for the white paper. "

 

Software policy

In turn, a member of the Iraqi Economic Council, Ghadeer Al-Attar, suggested adopting the program policy for the ministries, and the achievement of each institution is reviewed monthly and quarterly. Thus, the Council of Ministers evaluates the ministries ’work in an accurate manner, which contributes to rationalizing government spending and achieves the goals that have set the programs. Cars through ZSCO for the production of cars such as Volvo and Isuzu, as well as production of sedans. Al-Attar pointed to "the severe damage caused by the introduction of damaged cars to the safety of citizens and the need to encourage the manufacture of new cars because of their positive impact on the national economy and their operation for thousands of workers. A detailed study on the subject will be submitted to the Minister of Finance for review."

 

Implement reforms

Advisor to the Prime Minister Muhammad al-Hakim stated that "the philosophical framework of the white paper includes a time space estimated at five years, and in our estimation, the White Paper is a road map for Iraq's economic problems and is not a radical solution to all problems and obstacles in the Iraqi economy, and that there must be a real will and consensus to implement reforms and measures." Mentioned in the paper.

[yota691]

The Iraqi economy between inevitable bankruptcy and the required rescue

Sunday 22nd November 2020 32

 

 Muhammad Sahib Al-Daraji
Nations and peoples are used to studying their conditions as a matter of consulting in the matter and working to come up with the best solutions that do not fall within partisan accounts or regional international pressures, and also not within the framework of adhering to throwing the ball of accusations in the range of others, as everyone is responsible and everyone is responsible for his flock.

From this standpoint, a more realistic understanding of what our dear Iraq went through after 2003 until today and what threatens the existence of the entire current political process in the next few months,

Also, it is not about tampering with numbers or economic facts, as everyone witnessed the state of non-payment of salaries to employees except through the repetition of the borrowing model that has become today on the banks of the edge of the abyss. The central question that we must all ask in this frank dialogue is what are the best expected solutions and what is their societal price Before the expected political price?

I believe that the responsibility is firmly on the people of the solution and the contract in the country's higher political leaderships to reach these solutions. This paper is nothing but a proposed roadmap to reach those supposed and desired solutions, and I may begin by analyzing the opportunities and challenges that are frequently talked about by many specialists and non-specialists who challenge the power of political decision and among the elites and academic and cultural competencies

 

Reality data

The white paper for economic reform presented by the government appears to be Noah’s compound for the survival of the Iraqi economy, while any reading by a non-specialist discovers that this paper in its high academic language did not rise to the ranks of urgent and prospective administrative, financial and monetary solutions, and then solutions in the long term as if it deals with a wanted patient Provide first aid to him with a long treatment plan!

The other matter, the government program of the Prime Minister is defined by a transitional plan towards holding early, fair and fair elections that respond to the will of popular protest and the positions of the rational authority in the desired change of the political process and its removal from the administration context by quoting components to the administration by virtue of citizenship.

This requires the government and its Economic Council to work on analyzing the crisis and come up with solutions to aid the budget with productive and investment development terms that can be harvested in months, if not in weeks or days.

The third thing, the white paper did not carry, even in its future solutions, any projects for fundamental changes in the Iraqi laws in force, but rather complements to implement such laws or activate inactive governmental instructions and regulations. Perhaps the most prominent example of it is "automating government outlets", which everyone heard about years ago. !!.

 

Analyzing opportunities and challenges

As a parliamentary legislative body, it is not possible to constitutionally replace the positions with the executive authority, but because advice is very much needed in managing the crisis of risks of the likely collapse of the national economy and its dangerous repercussions on the entire political process, I find it useful to confirm the following points:

One of the priorities of administrative work is a foresight to identify the opportunities and challenges of what may happen today, tomorrow and beyond, and any economic crisis cell must know that the global economy is going through a serious downturn due to the effects of the Corona pandemic, and this is expected and published in the literature of the International Monetary Fund and publications of the United Nations program Development, and I saturated research on social media sites of Iraqi elites and competencies and made recommendations on how to get out of this crisis that was the subject of attention in dealing with the 2020 budget that was not presented and also with the borrowing law, which stipulated the submission of a reform paper for such solutions and also these forward-looking ideas The subject of extensive discussions between the relevant committees in the House of Representatives, including the Finance Committee and government agencies before and after the formation of Mr. Al-Kazemi's government. What was the result of this forward-looking effort? The share remained in issuing the White Paper without immediate and foreseeable solutions, and only future solutions were satisfied, and this

Second: The second challenge is to throw the ball of accusation of not distributing salaries between the government and the House of Representatives in official statements, then other statements appear different, then other contradictions and so forth until the citizen who is waiting for his monthly salary is found in the cycle of borrowing and the approval of the House of Representatives or not, as if the government does not want to bear The constitutional and corporate responsibility as the executive authority and there are financial legal procedures required to act according to what it stipulated, not to use the media and conflicting statements to search for these solutions in front of the citizen who is awaiting his monthly salary.

The most dangerous thing is that there is still the possibility of borrowing in 2021, and here we must be very frank, as internal borrowing is an unreal metaphor for the fact that funds from the Central Bank of Iraq are used, as Iraqi banks are unable to lend to the government because it suffers from a lack of liquidity Basically. On this basis, the central bank issues treasury transfers to government banks to give them to the government to fill the deficit. The important question here is where does the central bank get this money? The answer is that the bank has two solutions, the best of which is bitter, the first is to use reserve storage from hard currency and convert it into dinars by increasing sales of the window selling currency, and the second is to print Iraqi currency without a cover in exchange for gold or hard currency.

Third: Without going into other details, let us stand on the best opportunities that the government can implement according to the forward-looking view of what things could be in 2021, and in this field it is possible to establish a reality that appears clear to many international and regional economists and financial experts represented in That the international economic downturn will show its results in the first half of this next year, which requires countries that depend on the rentier economy, such as Iraq with one economic type, which is oil, to work to reduce import resources and maximize the productivity of income to fill the shortfall from the importer and to cancel luxury goods to maintain the best exchange rate Required.

In this context, the following can be proposed to implement this forward-looking methodology in the following points:

1- Asking OPEC to exempt Iraq from reducing the quantities of exported oil and abiding by the original quota. 

2 - Converting the state’s assets and assets into cash, selling overlooked lands and selling agricultural lands to contracting parties.

3 - Government control of retirement, insurance, and insurance investment funds and their operation in order to bring appropriate returns.

4 - Stopping consumer expenditures in state departments and closing embassies and missions in countries that do not have diplomatic representation in Iraq.

5 - Freezing allocations for presidencies and some ministries, and achieving the principle of equal salary and allocations for all state employees. 

6 - Compulsory collection of services such as electricity, water and sewage, and collection of all state debts by modernizing collection mechanisms and encouraging the taxpayer to pay the tax to pay it on time.

7 - Imposing compulsory insurance on all commercial activities.

8 - Stop all cuts in oil prices, internally and externally.

9 - Changing the exchange rate on imported goods, provided that it is accompanied by a series of measures to control prices and protect the poor and middle income classes.

10 - Imposing a sales tax and increasing customs on some luxury items and increasing the tax base, not taxes.

11 - Declaring all government factories as investment opportunities, protecting the local product, and preventing some imports.

12 - Work on granting bank guarantees to withdraw cash present in the community and re-employ it in productive projects. This is done in various ways, although previously explained in previous articles.

13 - Imposing electronic payment, minimizing the use of cash payment, and encouraging e-commerce.

14 - Adopting the biometric card or the unified job number when distributing the salary.

15 - Giving concessions and facilities to investors who pay flat sums to the state.

16 - Opening the door to competition in the telecommunications and Internet sector and ending the commercial monopoly of some companies.

17 - Opening the door for investment in mineral resources such as phosphates, sulfur and others.

18 - The Ministry of Finance sells hard currency directly to those wishing to buy.

19 - Pumping loans to operate the private sector and granting sovereign guarantees to international companies equipped for the production lines of factories in the event that the private sector imports these production lines.

20 - Restructuring the ration card or converting it to cash sums delivered to the unemployed, retired, and junior employees, and those who prove that their monthly income is less than one million dinars.

Fourth: Whenever it is submitted it does not need to legislate a new law or amend any law in force, only that the methodology of preparing the 2021 budget needs to be explicit austerity in a way that preserves the content of the disciplined societal economy that preserves the rights of the vulnerable and poor classes without taking the recommendations of the transition to an open market economy that It breaks down the fragile bones of a wide range of citizens, and the opportunities available to implement progress from points that can be in front of the House of Representatives' responsibility actually and not just in words when the government applies to activate economic, financial and monetary measures that enhance the state's general budget resources, and the House of Representatives must ratify them in the 2021 Budget Law And it is not the opposite to ask the House of Representatives to approve a white economic reform paper that looks into the long future with a plan that may actually be correct, but without taking urgent and effective steps to reduce damage to the Iraqi economy.

Yes, we are going through a stifling crisis and we are not the only country facing such an economic disaster, but realizing what can reduce the risks of this crisis requires real awareness of it and not touching its cilia, so whoever saves from the flood of water begins to breathe in order to restore the foundations of life for him, and this is the basic step to save the Iraqi economy It begins to generate job opportunities in the private sector by attracting Iraqi funds for real investment opportunities, as well as the most prominent conditions for good attraction for regional and international companies in generating these opportunities that provide a renewed lung for the Iraqi economy to breathe in the air of non-rent production .. Then it is possible to think about the resources of the plans that have been developed. In the white paper for a future based on a methodology other than the rentier approach, and the white ideas mentioned in it may be correct or not and need new development.

[trident]

9 hours ago, yota691 said:

the transition to an open market economy

 

9 hours ago, yota691 said:

attraction for regional and international companies

 

[yota691]

Customs automation and the challenges of globalization

Monday 23rd November 2020 83

 

Muhammad Sharif Abu Maysam

 

The requirement to automate the customs system has been urgent since the enactment of the Customs Tariff Law No. 22 of 2010, but the state of confusion that the country has witnessed over the past years has made this requirement secondary to the inability of successive governments to implement this law, due to the tensions and interference of the beneficiaries of the market chaos. Until the requirement to automate the customs system disappeared behind the requirement to implement the law.

When the Al-Abadi government sought to implement the law in 2016-2017, it faced many difficulties due to the exit of many border crossings from the control of the central government, until customs controls were implemented outside the borders of the governorates, which were marred by a lot of confusion, which made customs revenues no more than 10 Percent on the volume of daily financial flows financed by the Central Bank in the currency auction, according to a previous statement by the head of the Parliament's Finance Committee. 

But with the current government’s insistence on organizing the work of the border crossings and placing them under the authority of the central government, the demand for the automation of the system is at the forefront of this file, especially since the financial and economic reform program, which was included in the white paper, referred to this important detail in managing the financial situation, while it came Parliament's demand, coupled with a vote on the borrowing law, to reinforce this government approach, which resulted in the initiation of negotiations with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development or what is known as (UNCTAD) to automate the customs system, which will limit customs evasion and enable the government to increase its financial revenues and support the local product from Through the reduction of commodity dumping, as well as the possibility of implementing the reform program and achieving its economic and political goals.

This shift coincides with a series of measures mentioned in the reform paper, in line with the directions and goals of UNCTAD, which aim to create an appropriate environment that allows the integration of the Iraqi economy with the globalized economy by creating stability, reducing financial fluctuations and amending regulations that limit competition.

In this direction, it is important to activate the national energies and capabilities and give priority to local capital, in order to enhance the spirit of initiative and innovation in order to face development challenges, and to reduce the domination of foreign capital over the business environment, without controls in light of the urgent need for foreign investment, especially that (UNCTAD) Raise the slogan of confronting the challenges arising from globalization and helping to integrate into the global economy on a more equitable basis.

[yota691]

Proposals that reinforce the white paper's orientation

Tuesday 24th November 2020 17

 

  Baghdad: Morning

 

Industrial development consultant Amer Al-Jawahiri put forward a set of proposals, which represent a consolidation of the white paper in light of the country's declining financial resources. Al-Jawahiri said, "The reality of the situation in the country requires everyone to present what they have in their pocket to save the country, and to reinforce the white paper. What we need is the cover of the rule of law and serving Iraq, to ensure its future stability and implementation of actions, instead of repeating words through a set of measures, the most important of which is the immediate deduction, for all companies' dues. A mobile phone that is reluctant to pay and collect the direct collection of the subsequent receivables, according to a professional mechanism far from human judgment, there is no problem of difficult accounting.
Exclusions canceled

He pointed out, "the importance of dealing with clean collection and by using mechanization of taxes, customs, municipal funds, traffic, electricity, etc., and the gradual exclusion of the human factor in dealing, and the abolition of all customs exceptions, for all countries and regions. The Iraqi people are first in their revenues and this will enhance development aspirations and support current and future local production, as well as Abolishing the price concessions for oil exports, for any party where the difference in the sums granted to others is worth exploiting, to address the bottlenecks by providing employees ’salaries, regardless of the difference in those amounts, and why the preference.

 

Oil Marketing

He stressed, "The need for strict control of all oil exports from the Kurdistan region, to be part of the oil marketing company’s activity and to enter its revenues into the federal budget, in any way that strengthens the budget, instead of withdrawing from it in order to achieve justice, and serious and immediate treatment of space employees in all parts of Iraq, Instead of discussion, implementation must be carried out, just as the pluralism of salaries must be stopped, as justice must be done, and every employee or retiree must receive one salary, the beneficiary is given the choice and for everyone without exception, and it is preferable that all government institutions undertake the process of checking and reducing unnecessary expenses In all sectors and economic activities, so that this becomes a context, procedure and education that continues for life, as the dinar must be spent in a feasible way.

 

State real estate

Al-Jawahiri demanded "to move to retrieve state property and real estate in stages, starting with those whose data are available, then the removal of those who occupied them by the force of law and in the event that they are not used for the public interest can be sold or rented according to the law and at the market price, without favoritism or exceptions, as these properties are owned by Iraqis. Its occupants can participate in the sale or lease auction, provided that it is through a team with utmost patriotism and concern for public money and transparency. ”He continued that“ through coordination with endowments, all religions and sects, the services and rents of the endowment properties are re-evaluated to match the prices. And directing it to cover administrative obligations, which will reduce the burden on the budget and improve its revenues.

 

Partnership principle

He stressed "the adoption of the principle of partnership between the public and private sectors in the implementation of new service, infrastructure and medium and large industrial projects and for the establishment of new joint-stock companies or the transformation of public companies into joint-stock companies, whose shares are to be put on the Iraq Stock Exchange, based on the laws of public companies and companies No. (21) and (22) for the year 1997, emphasizing the methodology for selecting trained national work teams and following good governance and transparency.

[yota691]

Al-Jubouri: The government's reform plan is continuing to improve the situation financially and economically, with the suppor t of political blocs

 

November 25, 2020

 

 

And brother of Baghdad

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Ahmed Mazhar al-Jubouri, affirmed that the success of any government plan for reform cannot be guaranteed without political and popular support.

He said in a press statement, a copy of which was received by "Khabar Press", that "everyone is calling on the government to immediately work on financial and economic reforms, rejecting most of them what it is asking for help to overcome the crisis."

Al-Jubouri added that it must be dealt positively with the mutual observations about the financial and economic reform plans and not to blame the failure and failure on one side only.

He pointed out that what the country possesses in terms of large resources requires positive and fruitful cooperation from all, legislative and executive, to make great use of them and not rely on one party to bring in money without assistance.

He stressed the need to positively deal with any legislative and governmental plans and reforms on both sides, and not to express negative opinions and positions towards any reform step whose results are awaiting the people to overcome their ordeal.

[yota691]

White paper under an expert microscope

Tuesday 01 December 2020 9

 

 Baghdad: Morning

 

The Council of War and Peace organized an economic dialogue session, which dealt with the reality of the White Paper being a governmental economic project to address the accumulations of confusion that the various sectors witnessed during the past decades.
Professor of Economics at the University of Baghdad, Dr. Asaad Al-Saeedi addressed some of the paragraphs of the paper and said: “The paper, as a government project, which was prepared by public and private institutions, reviewed economic problems, which need 3-5 years to be addressed and others that need 10-15 years, in addition to the availability of a strong will to implement Their terms. "

 

Economic performance

"One of the causes of failure in economic performance may not be the public sector, as it was stated in the paper that there are global experiences in which the public sector has achieved great success, as is the case in Russia and China," he added.

He added, "The paper referred to the great port of Faw and its importance, which is of utmost importance to the role of this economic edifice in the regional and international economy and before it local, as efforts must be combined to establish this economic milestone as soon as possible and within the referral periods."

 

Energy sector

He cautioned that "the paper was concerned with oil and gas production, and here it must focus and chart a path to develop the performance of the energy sector by developing transformational industries that deal with raw products and raise their value in the local and international market."

He pointed out that "the trend towards reducing salaries leads to a decrease in purchasing power, which in turn leaves negative effects on the reality of local production, as well as the local market, which needs to be prosperous and interacts with national production. He also demanded that the appropriate atmosphere be created so that the local product can compete." Imported from neighboring countries at least. "

 

The import platform

Economist Basem Jamil Antoine stressed in his intervention during the session the importance of the paper standing with the activation of national production, and the paper must work to organize the import approach, and he also stressed work towards attracting the cash mass hoarded in homes to the banking system, to be invested in the sustainable development process. ".

[horsesoldier]

Too bad they can't find a " microscope " for the currency auctions.

[DWS112]

1 hour ago, yota691 said:

He also demanded

He's a little late to demand anything! He should have given his expert assessment 3-5 years ago!

[yota691]

Economists: Did the "white paper" ignore the productive sectors?

Thursday 03 December 2020 19

 

 Baghdad / Haider Al-Rubaie

 

Some economic circles have called for the necessity of making new amendments to the paragraphs of the white reform paper, ensuring the revitalization of the productive sector and enabling it to contribute to enhancing the country's financial revenues and meeting the needs of the local market. The expert in industrial development and investment, Amer Issa Al-Jawahry, told Al-Sabah that "the government provides the highest levels of interest to the industrial sector in the white paper, which must be in harmony with the 2030 industrial strategy and the national development plan," 

noting that "the white paper focused on The sectors driving the economy focused on activating and developing the sectors of "agriculture, oil and gas," but it overlooked other very important sectors, including industry, as there was a shy reference to "resolving the Al-Nebras Petrochemical Project," indicating a lack of interest in this sector.

Al-Jawahiri recommended that "the White Paper adopts a comprehensive methodology in the methods of managing state-owned enterprises to turn into profitable ones, including providing the best services and the participation of representatives of private sector institutions and civil society in their boards of directors and selecting a number of factories to convert them into profitable joint-stock companies." The industrial private sector, facilitating all its needs, protecting its products, and seeking to achieve a continuous mechanism for dialogue between the public and private sectors.

Al-Jawahiri expressed his surprise at the White Paper’s orientation towards working on restructuring public companies from the start, describing it as a "waste of time and effort," urging the importance of returning to the recommendations made in the years 2011 and 2012, including the restructuring and activation of the Supreme Committee for Restructuring and the formation of Specialized units in each ministry and the adoption of transparency and disclosure.

In turn, the researcher in economic affairs, Ali Karim Daheeb, called for providing all the requirements for the advancement of the industrial sector, especially "financial loans, the sustainability of energy provision, and the issuance of legislation that guarantees moving the wheel of industry."

In a statement to Al-Sabah, Karim said, "The government is now obligated to provide a database of locally produced materials, to prevent them from being imported completely, pointing out that imposing taxes on imported goods is a factor that could develop the capabilities of the Iraqi industry."