American contr*ctor 9 April 2011

nointel · April 10, 2011

This week has been a good week. The Iraqi Parliament has begun collecting their 100 million Iraqi dinar loans, this also comes at the same time Parliament employees protest the reduction of salaries.

The Ministry of Defense position still remains vacant. A total of six names have been sent to Prime Minister Maliki with the hopes of having and selecting one qualified candidate. We can only hope that this will be accomplished very soon.

The Iraqi Parliament recently held its 50th session. The Deputy Prime Minister for energy affairs and the minister of electricity were in attendance. Both faced with many questions, mostly in regards to why many tasks have yet to be accomplished as well as where the funding is going. Good questions! The recent final report from the Parliaments Integrity Committee has been released and it described quote: "The Oil Ministry as the most corrupt". Of course, the Oil Ministry denies the report. Who wants to have that title?! But all too true.

The Central Bank of Iraq recently held a meeting at the Baghdad University in regards to the dropping of the three zero's from the Iraqi dinar currency. I was an attendee at this meeting and can say that the meeting went fairly well. It appeared to me that some progress was being made as various economists discussed the different aspects of removing those zero's off the notes. More of that discussion will be disclosed at a later date as as they get closer to having definite decisions being made. I don't want to throw out all those options discussed just yet as nothing was set in stone. The Central Bank of Iraq stated that they will soon be opening up more currency exchange markets.

I recently noticed that a circulating Al-Warka Bank article caused quite a stir. Made a lot of people wonder what was going on with the Al-Warka Bank. The headline in the Iraq Business News web site stated AsiaCell mobile company filing a lawsuit against Al-Warka Bank. Here's the facts; AsiaCell deposited 25 million dollars inside Al-Warka Bank and now wants the money returned and the bank is refusing to do so. The reason the law suit was brought forth begins like this; a few months back, Asiacell advised its customers that it would not be able to connect to anyone outside the Asiacell network and would need to piggyback with other networks. But, here's the deal, when a mobile company is using each other's networks there are usage fee's involved and Asiacell has not paying their fee's to the company Zain (whom's network they were using) when Asiacell customers were calling Zain customers. The reason they were unable to provide payment to Zain and others is due to Al-Warka Bank refusing to return the funds they hold rightfully belonging to AsiaCell. No money, can't pay bills. Currently, Al-Warka Bank cannot leverage anything and is unable to make any loans. It is possible they are in bankruptcy like many other private Iraqi banks. The bank is having a difficult time of returning customers deposits even in the smallest amounts.

Iraq's private banking remains fragile, as I've previously mentioned. Unfortunately, they are not as strong as they government would like them to be. The Iraqi government is aware of the problems & downfalls of the private banks however, can not engage them because it would create havoc on the local economy. In the future, the GOI plans to take corrective actions against those banks that have fallen outside the Central Bank of Iraq banking regulations. Several private banks have over extended themselves by as much as 20-25% and are basically real estate bank brokers. Interesting fact, more loans are being underwritten by banks from Lebanon than any other bank in Iraq. There is an important reason for this that I'll explain in an upcoming newsletter.

The ration card, ah yes, an ongoing topic. The items associated still have yet to be distributed and it doesn't look like it will not be anytime soon. The problem here is, the government warehouses are empty. I see nothing to be distributed! When that's not the case it's that rotten and expired food fill the warehouses. The result being that the GOI does not have the best logistics when it comes to a timely distribution and re-supply of those items. The GOI just recently announced they bought one shipload of wheat to feed approximately 4 million people. For those that weren't aware, the ration card is not to be brought to a market, it is to be brought to the GOI approved distribution centers located in around Iraq.

The Development Fund for Iraq is on track for the new mechanism, will still have that name change and continue to remain in the New York Federal Reserve. The GOI has made the decision to continue to protect the funds against all liens and creditors.

On a different note. Yes, it has been well over a month since my last email newsletter. I have had several dozens of emails asking me for various updates on many topics. Unfortunately, I have been busier than usual with the daily happenings and meetings here in Baghdad and the surrounding areas. The latest dealings being the protests, which I might add were uneventful and were surprisingly contained. In the upcoming weeks I'm hoping to have some free time that will allow me to pick up the publication a little more frequently. another site brings you a different prospective on the issues/happenings of Iraq and doesn't charge you to be apart of his special club/association. My information is free to the public and has been for well over six years.

As always, thank you for being a loyal reader and joining the another site mailing list.

Edited April 10, 2011 by nointel

emmet · April 10, 2011

Thanks for the post. It's a nice read.

Dogma · April 10, 2011

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!

R2d2dc · April 10, 2011

Great post nointel, love it

the-doctor · April 10, 2011

Great Post

jla956 · April 10, 2011

another site

9 April 2011

This week has been a good week. The Iraqi Parliament has begun

collecting their 100 million Iraqi dinar loans, this also comes at

the same time Parliament employees protest the reduction of

salaries.

The Ministry of Defense position still remains vacant. A total of

six names have been sent to Prime Minister Maliki with the hopes of

having and selecting one qualified candidate. We can only hope

that this will be accomplished very soon.

The Iraqi Parliament recently held its 50th session. The Deputy

Prime Minister for energy affairs and the minister of electricity

were in attendance. Both faced with many questions, mostly in

regards to why many tasks have yet to be accomplished as well as

where the funding is going. Good questions! The recent final report

from the Parliaments Integrity Committee has been released and it

described quote: "The Oil Ministry as the most corrupt". Of

course, the Oil Ministry denies the report. Who wants to have that

title?! But all too true.

The Central Bank of Iraq recently held a meeting at the Baghdad

University in regards to the dropping of the three zero's from the

Iraqi dinar currency. I was an attendee at this meeting and can

say that the meeting went fairly well. It appeared to me that some

progress was being made as various economists discussed the

different aspects of removing those zero's off the notes. More of

that discussion will be disclosed at a later date as as they get

closer to having definite decisions being made. I don't want to

throw out all those options discussed just yet as nothing was set

in stone. The Central Bank of Iraq stated that they will soon be

opening up more currency exchange markets.

I recently noticed that a circulating Al-Warka Bank article caused

quite a stir. Made a lot of people wonder what was going on with

the Al-Warka Bank. The headline in the Iraq Business News web site

stated AsiaCell mobile company filing a lawsuit against Al-Warka

Bank. Here's the facts; AsiaCell deposited 25 million dollars

inside Al-Warka Bank and now wants the money returned and the bank

is refusing to do so. The reason the law suit was brought forth

begins like this; a few months back, Asiacell advised its customers

that it would not be able to connect to anyone outside the Asiacell

network and would need to piggyback with other networks. But,

here's the deal, when a mobile company is using each other's

networks there are usage fee's involved and Asiacell has not paying

their fee's to the company Zain (whom's network they were using)

when Asiacell customers were calling Zain customers. The reason

they were unable to provide payment to Zain and others is due to

Al-Warka Bank refusing to return the funds they hold rightfully

belonging to AsiaCell. No money, can't pay bills. Currently,

Al-Warka Bank cannot leverage anything and is unable to make any

loans. It is possible they are in bankruptcy like many other

private Iraqi banks. The bank is having a difficult time of

returning customers deposits even in the smallest amounts.

Iraq's private banking remains fragile, as I've previously

mentioned. Unfortunately, they are not as strong as they government

would like them to be. The Iraqi government is aware of the

problems & downfalls of the private banks however, can not engage

them because it would create havoc on the local economy. In the

future, the GOI plans to take corrective actions against those

banks that have fallen outside the Central Bank of Iraq banking

regulations. Several private banks have over extended themselves

by as much as 20-25% and are basically real estate bank brokers.

Interesting fact, more loans are being underwritten by banks from

Lebanon than any other bank in Iraq. There is an important reason

for this that I'll explain in an upcoming newsletter.

The ration card, ah yes, an ongoing topic. The items associated

still have yet to be distributed and it doesn't look like it will

not be anytime soon. The problem here is, the government

warehouses are empty. I see nothing to be distributed! When that's

not the case it's that rotten and expired food fill the warehouses.

The result being that the GOI does not have the best logistics

when it comes to a timely distribution and re-supply of those

items. The GOI just recently announced they bought one shipload of

wheat to feed approximately 4 million people. For those that

weren't aware, the ration card is not to be brought to a market, it

is to be brought to the GOI approved distribution centers located

in around Iraq.

The Development Fund for Iraq is on track for the new mechanism,

will still have that name change and continue to remain in the New

York Federal Reserve. The GOI has made the decision to continue to

protect the funds against all liens and creditors.

On a different note. Yes, it has been well over a month since my

last email newsletter. I have had several dozens of emails asking

me for various updates on many topics. Unfortunately, I have been

busier than usual with the daily happenings and meetings here in

Baghdad and the surrounding areas. The latest dealings being the

protests, which I might add were uneventful and were surprisingly

contained. In the upcoming weeks I'm hoping to have some free time

that will allow me to pick up the publication a little more

frequently. another site brings you a different prospective

on the issues/happenings of Iraq and doesn't charge you to be apart

of his special club/association. My information is free to the

public and has been for well over six years.

Carrello · April 10, 2011

Thank you for the information. It would be nice to know who this person is and their position. The information sounds good and solid, but who is to know without the bonafides.

One item does bother me:

"The Central Bank of Iraq recently held a meeting at the Baghdad University in regards to the dropping of the three zero's from the Iraqi dinar currency. I was an attendee at this meeting and can say that the meeting went fairly well. It appeared to me that some progress was being made as various economists discussed the different aspects of removing those zero's off the notes. More of that discussion will be disclosed at a later date as as they get closer to having definite decisions being made".

Decisions? If a LOP was going to happen and an RV is around the corner, this week supposedly, this information does not sound very encouraging as far as anything happening very soon.

emmet · April 10, 2011

Thank you for the information. It would be nice to know who this person is and their position. The information sounds good and solid, but who is to know without the bonafides.

One item does bother me:

"The Central Bank of Iraq recently held a meeting at the Baghdad University in regards to the dropping of the three zero's from the Iraqi dinar currency. I was an attendee at this meeting and can say that the meeting went fairly well. It appeared to me that some progress was being made as various economists discussed the different aspects of removing those zero's off the notes. More of that discussion will be disclosed at a later date as as they get closer to having definite decisions being made".

Decisions? If a LOP was going to happen and an RV is around the corner, this week supposedly, this information does not sound very encouraging as far as anything happening very soon.

I believe if you look back in last weeks news you will find a long article about the University meeting. They were simply tossing around ideas, as I remember.

Bumper64 · April 10, 2011