Government Policy To Control The State’s Public Finances.

[Luigi1]

Here's some articles of Dinarian interests...

-A Government Policy To Control The State’s Public Finances.

-Oil Prices Are Heading Towards New Gains.

-Ports Announce The Completion Of The First Phase Of Networking By 100 Percent.

-Slight Increase In Inflation Rate For Last May.

Treat as rumors.  Not verified.  Your opine.

 

 

 

FROM OTHER SOURCES:           A Government Policy To Control The State’s Public Finances.

ARTICLE:   Iraq has suffered throughout the previous years from the inability of successive governments to control spending, both operational & investment & to control expenditures in all sections of activities approved by the state’s general budget, until the current government – according to what specialists see – was able, through its policies, to control the state’s public finances through… Implementing automation & electronic governance programs, as well as moving towards balancing programs & performance & not just balancing items.

 

The PM’s Advisor for Financial & Economic Affairs, Dr. Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, said in an interview with “Al-Sabah.

 “Within the scope of implementing its financial policy, the federal government has diagnosed that building the Federal General Budget on the principle of the so-called budget items alone does not provide an adequate basis for controlling financial transactions.”  Reassurance of expenses, both operational & investment, in terms of performance & correct targeting of the activity spent on efficient”.

 

He stated,  “In this regard, the scope of financial responsibility required moving in two parallel directions to raise the efficiency of public finance and financial discipline.

The 1st is: 

Automating public finance work in revenues and expenditures, introducing digital systems & relying on electronic governance through the contents that the government program came up with.

2nd:

Focusing on directing… Public spending, especially investment spending in implementing public projects, aims to balance programs & performance in a gradual & systematic manner, to ensure efficient implementation & evaluate the performance of expenditures without disruption, delay, or waste of public money.”

 

He pointed out, “This is what the current financial policy has taken by adopting disbursement programs that provide oversight & evaluation of multi-faceted activities that concern broad sectors and activities & are currently called (special programs), without implicitly abandoning the Budget items that will be an integral part of the Budget.” Special programs or programs as a first stage.”

 

Saleh stressed “Based on the above, the country’s financial system is currently being modernized in a successive manner with two pillars (financial automation and modernization of government accounting) & in accordance with the principles of digital control & the adoption of program principles in implementing and managing public budgets in a gradual & systematic manner within the framework of the economic reform policy.” And the country’s finances.

 

 For his part, the academic researcher in financial affairs and development, Aqeel Jabr Ali Al-Muhammadawi, said in an interview with “Al-Sabah”:

“It is not possible to implement the management and control of public financial flows with high efficiency without evaluating and analyzing the financial situation & the sustainability of public finances on solid financial foundations & methodology & a financial me & procedures, which will provide legal entities & public government institutions with additional objective information that can positively impact the quality of administrative decision-making and decision-making taken by government bodies, councils & departments.”

 

He added,  “This indicates the necessary need to prepare a comprehensive financial methodology from experts in the accounting & financial specialization, more than economists, in order to develop statistics, financial indicators, national accounts, financial practices, banking supervision, financial & real estate credit, financial insurance & other according to concepts & to provide specialized & advanced financial analysis.”

 

 And more accurate & sober, taking into account differences in the areas of building, formulating & setting standards & metrics according to standard models, as well as financial practices & applications & statistical resources from various governmental & non-governmental institutions.” 

 

-Oil Prices Are Heading Towards New Gains.

Oil prices were little changed in early Asian trading on Friday, but were on track for a fourth straight weekly gain & remained near their highest since late April on hopes of strong summer fuel demand & some supply concerns.

 

Brent crude futures, which have risen 7 percent over the past four weeks, were down 2 cents at $87.41 a barrel by 0143 GMT.

 

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, which have risen 9 percent over the past four weeks, were up 9 cents at $83.97, above Wednesday’s settlement. The U.S. market was closed on Thursday for the Independence Day holiday.

 

Oil has been rising this week on expectations of higher summer demand in the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer.

“Market sentiment has been supported this week by signs of increased transportation & escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East,” analysts at ANZ Research said in a note on Friday.

 

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a massive 12.2 million barrel draw in inventories last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for a draw of 700,000 barrels.

 

On supplies, Reuters reported on Thursday that Russian oil producers Rosneft & Lukoil will sharply cut oil exports from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in July.

 

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco cut the August price of its flagship Arab Light crude to Asia by $1.80 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average, highlighting the pressure OPEC producers are facing as non-OPEC supplies grow.   

 

-Ports Announce The Completion Of The First Phase Of Networking By 100 Percent.

The consultant for the border crossings networking project, Ahmed Ezz El-Din, confirmed today, Friday, that the authority has made advanced progress in the electronic networking of the crossings, pointing out that the first phase of the networking has been completed.

 

Ezz El-Din said, “The 1st phase of the networking of the ports has been completed 100% & all border ports have been connected with optical cable & the highest-spec infrastructure of network devices & servers has been established,” stressing that “all devices are currently connected to the Border Ports Operations Center at the Ports Authority.”

 

He added that “the network connection means that digital transformation & automation of systems will be available & its implementation will be direct,” noting that “the border crossings management program has been implemented & a live image has been transferred from sonar devices directly to the operations center.”

 

He stated that “the port and the operations center were audited via live broadcast, which leads to combating corruption & reducing pressure on workers at the ports & monitoring the movement of trucks and goods from their entry to their exit.”

 

-Slight Increase In Inflation Rate For Last May.

The Ministry of Planning announced today, Friday, a slight increase in the inflation rate during the month of May, by (0.1%).

The official spokesman for the ministry, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, said that “the General Authority for Statistics and Geographic Information Systems monitored this increase in the movement of prices in the Iraqi local markets in all governorates.”

 

He explained that “the recorded increase rate came in comparison with the inflation rate recorded during the month of April that preceded the month of May,” noting that “the annual inflation rate witnessed an increase of (3.4%) during the month of May compared to the same month of last year 2023.” 

 

 

 

[Luigi1]

FROM OTHER SOURCES...HCL Explained.

ARTICLE:   Oil and Gas Law.. The Unsolvable Knot.

The Oil and Gas Law is one of the sensitive laws in the Iraqi state, as it is one of the axes of the ongoing conflict between the central and regional governments over oil imports.

 

The center of the dispute over the law is that the region wants to control the oil revenues in its lands according to its mood without the supervision of the federal government, while the political forces do not want to grant this privilege to the region because it gives it a kind of separatist independence, so to speak.

 

Since the first session of the Iraqi Parliament in 2005, the draft oil and gas law has been stuck in the drawers, as disagreements prevent its approval in its final form.

 

After 18 years, he announced the formation of a committee to draft the law and present it to the government and the House of Representatives.

 

The committee formed between Baghdad and Kurdistan to draft an oil and gas law includes the Minister of Oil, the Minister of Natural Resources in the region, the Director General of SOMO, and senior staff in the Ministry of Oil, in addition to oil-producing provinces such as Basra, Dhi Qar, Maysan, and Kirkuk.

 

-Oil and Gas Law.. The Unsolvable Knot.

Iraq exports an average of 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day, and black gold constitutes more than 90 percent of the Iraqi treasury’s resources.

 

Article 14 relates to oil revenues in the Kurdistan Region and their audit by the Federal Audit Bureau.

 

The Iraqi Oil and Gas Bill regulates this vital sector for Iraq and the management of the country’s oil fields through a single national company, with revenues deposited into a single account.

 

The financial advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, confirmed in statements that accelerating the approval of the federal oil and gas project law in the House of Representatives as soon as possible will establish a stable national roadmap for investment and production of the country’s primary sovereign resource, which is oil and gas.

 

He explained that this “natural resource contributes directly to Iraq’s gross domestic product by nearly 50 percent, and has an indirect impact on our country’s total economic activity by no less than 85 percent.”

 

Saleh said, “Adopting a unified national oil policy, and achieving optimal investment and production in Iraq’s oil area, starting from the southern fields and going up to the northern and regional fields, is an important and strategic matter in the matter of benefiting from opportunity costs in the optimal and harmonious operation of the current Iraqi oil policy.”

 

The draft of the Iraqi oil and gas law available to parliament stipulates that the responsibility for managing the country’s oil fields should be entrusted to a national oil company, supervised by a federal council specializing in this matter.

 

For its part, the Kurdistan Oil Law indicates that the Iraqi government has the right to participate in the management of fields discovered before 2005, but fields discovered after that are subject to the regional government.

 

In 2022, the Federal Court in Baghdad ordered the region to hand over the oil produced on its territory to Baghdad, and to cancel contracts signed by the region with foreign companies. The matter went so far as to invalidate contracts with many foreign companies, especially American and Canadian ones, by the judiciary in Baghdad.

 

After years of exporting oil alone via Turkey, the Kurdistan Region must, as of late 2023, abide by an international arbitration ruling that gives Baghdad the right to fully manage Kurdistan’s oil.

As a result, exports from the region stopped. An interim agreement signed between Baghdad and Erbil stipulates that Kurdistan’s oil sales will be made through the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), while revenues generated from the region’s fields will be deposited in a bank account at the Central Bank of Iraq or one of the banks approved by the Central Bank of Iraq.

 

-Oil and Gas Law.. The Unsolvable Knot. 

 

Member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, MP Dhurgham Al-Maliki, revealed that the Coordination Framework and the State Administration Coalition discussed the oil and gas law with Masoud Barzani.

Al-Maliki told Al-Maalouma Agency, “The committee discussed the draft law in a professional manner and completed most of its paragraphs, but the government requested its withdrawal to make amendments to it, indicating that the law is still in the government’s possession.”

 

He considered that “the obstruction of the approval of the annual budgets is due to the oil disputes between the center and the region, indicating that the approval of the law has become an urgent necessity due to its ability to resolve 90% of the disputes between the region and the center.”

 

He stressed that “the legislation of the law is governed by political agreement, not professional agreement,” calling on “political forces to pressure the government to send the law for the purpose of legislation.” 

 

-Parliamentary Oil Committee Reveals Details Of The Oil And Gas Law And The Reason For Not Legislating.

Member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, MP Dhurgham Al-Maliki, revealed today, Saturday, that the Coordination Framework and the State Administration Coalition discussed the oil and gas law with Masoud Barzani.

 

Al-Maliki told Al-Maalouma Agency, “The committee discussed the draft law in a professional manner and completed most of its paragraphs, but the government requested its withdrawal to make amendments to it, indicating that the law is still in the government’s possession.”

 

He considered that “the obstruction of the approval of the annual budgets is due to the oil disputes between the center and the region, indicating that the approval of the law has become an urgent necessity due to its ability to resolve 90% of the disputes between the region and the center.”

 

He stressed that “the legislation of the law is governed by political agreement, not professional agreement,” calling on “political forces to pressure the government to send the law for the purpose of legislation.”

 

-Parliamentary Oil Committee Calls For Speeding Up The Legislation Of The Oil And Gas Law.

The Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee called on political forces on Saturday to pressure the government to send the oil and gas law to parliament for legislation.

 

Committee member, MP Dhurgham Al-Maliki, said, “The committee discussed the draft law in a professional manner and completed most of its paragraphs, but the government requested its withdrawal to make amendments to it, noting that the law is still with the government.”

 

He continued, “The delay in approving the annual budgets was mostly due to oil disputes between the center and the region, noting that approving the law has become an urgent necessity due to its ability to resolve 90% of the disputes between the region and the center.”

 

He stressed that “the legislation of the law is governed by political agreement, not professionalism,” calling on “political forces to pressure the government to send the law for the purpose of legislation.”

 

-US Messages To Iraqi Leaders: Dollar Cash Flow May Stop.

Kurdish politician, Masoud Barzani, sent messages to Iraqi political leaders, stating that the entry of some factions into the Israeli-Iranian conflict may prevent the flow of cash dollars into Iraq.

 

Politician Mishaan Al-Jubouri said that Barzani informed the leaders of the Coordination Framework that the American siege will be imposed on Iraq if Washington’s interests are attacked.

 

He added that Barani also informed the leaders of the Coordination Framework that America can stop the flow of dollars to Iraq and cause harm to the country, but Iraq is unable to cause any harm to America. 

 

-Will The Exchange Rate Reach 1600 Dinars?

Baghdad  Economic expert, Munar Al-Abidi, confirmed that the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market may reach 1,600 dinars in the coming days after the Central Bank reduced the money supply.

Al-Obaidi said that the parallel exchange rate in the local market changes as a result of supply and demand, noting that it is expected that the value of the dinar will decrease against the dollar in the coming days and reach the 1,600 dinar barrier.

 

He added that the reduction in the sale of cash dollars in the local market by the Central Bank is the main factor behind the rise in the value of the dollar, and the price will depend on the provision of hard currency from sources other than the Central Bank, which are very limited and almost non-existent sources.

 

The Central Bank decided to prevent exchange companies from giving dollars to travelers at their headquarters, but rather limited them to airports only, with the aim of preventing them from being exploited by some parties.