March 17th, 2014, 1:44 pm
Monday Morning News Summaries
Weights .. approving the budget next week
The agenda for Parliament's session today does not include the budget and they have not released the agenda for tomorrow's session at this time…..a member of the Finance Committee is reporting that the second reading it planned for Tuesday (tomorrow) and that a vote will take place next week…..they do have a session planned for Wednesday of this week as well.
Postponing the reading of the financial budget to next week
According to an underling of the President of Parliament (Speaker Najafi) the second reading of the budget will be postponed now until next week to give a tripartite committee time to discuss differences in the budget…..IMO….I'll believe this when I see that the budget is not included on the Tuesday agenda. There has been plenty of time to discuss differences, now is a time to push the agenda forward. Why you should not use Central Bank reserves (cover dinar) in the treatment of the budget deficit? D. Mohammad Reza Sinan Shabibi
Yes this is a rehash of the same article that came out last week I believe with Dr. Shabibi talking about why the GOI cannot use the CBI reserves to fund the deficit in the 2014 budget.....as usual Dr. Shabibi is on target with his assessment of the CBI reserves and how the GOI needs to keep their grubby paws off the money....seems that some people just don't understand.
Economists are expressing concern and others about raising Abddonh American protection for Iraqi funds abroad
Some economists are fearing that Iraqi funds currently held abroad may be in danger of detention or confiscation once the US relinquishes its guardianship in May of this year....so do you leave the money where it is....or do you make plans to transfer it somewhere that you deem it will be safer....I'm sure the banking entity in the US will hate to lose that kind of client....but one must consider safety of the deposit.
Iraq spends 40 billion dollars annually, monthly salaries for employees
More words pointing towards the CBI to loan money to the GOI.....they can't by law do this according to the Bank Act 56 of 2004 unless there is some amendment made to the law....somewhere.....somehow.....the Iraqi's need to get control of their spending....oh boy does that sound familiar.
Turkey: More than a million barrels of crude oil from Kurdistan pending agreement Erbil and Baghdad and the region is going through a difficult period
The Kurds have sent just over 1 million barrels of oil to the storage tanks in Ceyhan, Turkey....if memory serves me correctly there are three storage tanks and each can store 2.5 million barrels of oil, so they have a great deal of storage left....Turkey is saying that the oil will sit tight until there is some kind of agreement in place between the Kurds and Baghdad....so we wait for answers....soon we hope.
Abdul- Basit Turki said that Iraq needs more environmental awareness in the establishment of projects
From the Iraqi Audit Court it has been stated that Iraq needs more environmental awareness....that are to be kept simple when implementing environmental laws.....take a hint here...and don't look to the US as a role model.....in recent years there has been great cooperation from the Ministry of Environment.
Oil: our exports has more than eight billion dollars in February
There were 78.4 million barrels of oil exported out of Iraq in February that generated just over $8 billion dollars.
Abadi meet with deputies of state law, to discuss the crisis with the Kurds about the budget
The attorney for the State of Law coalition met with his MP's to discuss two points of contention in the budget for the Kurds....details of the meeting were not forthcoming.
Parliament to raise its tomorrow, Tuesday
After getting through the first reading of the budget Parliament ended their session and will reconvene tomorrow....the agenda for Tuesday, tomorrow, has been released now and it does NOT include the second reading of the budget.
Presidency of the parliament to defer reading the budget next week
Speaker Najafi now speaks out that the second reading of the budget will be postponed until next week to allow the tripartite committee mentioned earlier to put their heads together and try to find a rabbit in the hat.
Davutoglu: ‘We Don’t Mean to Make Agreements with One Part of Iraq’
Turkey's Foreign Minister has stated that Turkey does not want to make agreements with only one part of Iraq, meaning the Kurds....even though they have signed agreements with the Kurds from the end of 2013.....they have since that time only allowed for the storage of oil at the seaport of Ceyhan, Turkey....awaiting some agreed upon deal between the Kurds and Baghdad on how oil exports will be handled through the new Kurd pipeline.....because of the proximity of the Kurdistan to Turkey it only makes sense to export from the Kurds.
Economists assert: Iraq is now eligible to enter the World Trade Organization
Well here are three economists speaking to the press....one that claims Iraq is not ready for accession to the WTO....the other two claiming they are ready....the latter two both claiming benefits that would include opening up international markets to Iraq and continued attraction of foreign investments....from the sounds of things....Iraq is still in the need of passing certain laws that will help with the accession process.
Tayfur calls for the National Alliance to review its positions and calculations to solve budget problems
The Kurds were surprised that the Parliament would have a reading of the budget on March 16, the anniversary of the bombing of the city of Halabja with chemical weapons 26 years ago....there was also mentioned the tripartite committee formed to review budget issues this week, given a three day window to do so.
McDonald's and Pizza Hut planned to enter Iraq and Baghdad, the most prominent candidates to host commercial Alamathma
Well we have seen previously where Pizza Hut is on its way into the Kurdistan Region....now McDonalds will be picking up the pace too it seems and opening doors in Iraq in the future.....something that Iraq is hoping for....more US businesses bringing franchises to Iraq.....branding has its privileges.
UN envoy in Iraq and Kuwait to visit to discuss with officials shared files
The UN envoy of the Secretary-General of the UN met with Iraqi's and Kuwaiti's over a number of shared files.....of which included discussion of the issue surrounding Kuwaiti prisoners and those missing during the invasion of the previous regime in 1990....the UN mission in Iraq is there to serve as a mediator and to help bring an end to outstanding problems between the two countries.
Planning launches standard documents to a safe environment for local and international investors
The Ministry of Planning announced the launch of standardized document to help regulate the contractual process between public and private sectors....of note....this was done in cooperation with the World Bank...these documents are meant to be applied to both local and international investors....the World Bank has had a significant role in assisting the Ministry of Planning in the creation and implementation of these documents....a big part of these documents will include instructions and procedures that will insure there is no corruption involved in the implementation of the documents.
Saad: the delay in approving the budget, the impact of the rising prices and the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar
This MP is urging for the second reading of the budget and calling upon blocs to have their Parliament representation at the session to get the second reading of the budget accomplished.
That's the news summaries for now.....more later Randy