May 27th, 2014, 1:55 pm
Tuesday Morning News Summaries
Zubaidi: Alliance among key sides to result in forming harmonious cabinet
The Central bloc leader is saying that an alliance between key blocs will see the formation of a harmonious cabinet that will lead to the development of the country for the better.
In Baiji: not to deal in both categories [250 and 500] JD raises fuss In Baiji:
Traders in a town north of Tikrit has citizens in an uproar....this is over the 250 and 500 IQD denominations. There has been approximately 5 trillion new IQD notes printed, that will be pumped into the economy and will not come gradually. These are the notes that have enhanced security features and will aid the sight-impaired with raised lettering on them. The smaller denominations (250, 500, and 1,000) notes are similar to the old notes but do have greater security features about them to hamper counterfeiting.
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Iraqi market
Just during the last month, 31 companies have opened representative offices and 8 foreign branches within Iraq....with an emphasis in the southern parts of Iraq....the Iraqis see this as a positive with regards to foreign investors in all economic fields.
Stock trading
Article giving broad summaries of recent trading of securities within Iraq....with the Sadeer Hotel leading the gainers....the public transportation sector led the losers.
Kurdistan First Gas Deliveries to Duhok Prove Kurdistan Success in Gas Sector
The Kurds reported on Monday they have been successful in tying an Erbil natural gas pipeline into the Duhok power station providing them with natural gas to power the station, proving that Erbil has been successful in processing newly developed areas of natural gas....this indicates that the Kurds are able to harness their natural gas and make positive use of it rather than just flaring it to the atmosphere.....this will allow the people of Duhok to be self-sufficient for power by 2015.
Othman: Dialogue between Baghdad, Erbil has to be comprehensive
It is expected that any dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil to be comprehensive including the Budget law and oil exploration....though the Kurds have not begun any new negotiations at this point.
Iraq calls for international companies to invest in the province of Baghdad
The Baghdad provincial government is seeking international companies to come and invest in various projects that will aid Baghdad...they are primarily focusing upon South Korea and recently held a conference where more than 500 South Korean companies were in attendance as well as representative from another 80 countries....they were briefed on the business volume through Baghdad....they have big expectations.
Basra's governor calls for Egyptian companies to invest in the province
Basra is actively seeking Egyptian companies to become involved in projects within the province by investing in the construction boom.....the Egyptians see Basra as lucrative for their investors at this point in time.
Economist questioned allegations IMF reports on the growth of the Iraqi economy
The economy appears to be stagnating largely due to political and security issues.....well duh....they don't have a budget yet....I know another country that suffered through economic issues of major proportions without a budget too....tell me something we aren't already seeing.....this economist is claiming that IMF reports are unrealistic and delusional...saying the IMF is blackmailing the Iraqi economy....the economy is rebuilding....even the oil sector is rebuilding, raising Iraq's stature in the world of oil.
A member of the parliamentary finance: Parliament will hold its sessions and the budget will be postponed for the next session
So according to one MP on the Finance Committee....politics continue to get in the way of any effort to approve the 2014 budget....but that should not be much of a surprise to anyone....they will put off the budget discussion until the new government is seated....IMO....this has been a ploy by the Speaker of Parliament from the beginning back in January to postpone this budget as long as possible....yet he seeks to be President of Iraq....they should make him Supervisor of the dog pound....he was totally ineffective in leading Parliament.
Iraqi Kurdistan pay salaries to its arrears with money recently sold its oil By Adminsa
The KRG Finance Ministry is saying the recent sale of oil will be returned to the KRG Treasury where it will be used to pay salaries that continue to be in arrears....this will cover salaries for the month of April.
Kurdistan Regional Government announces its continued export of oil and reveal talks with European banks for loans
The Kurds continue to act on their own behalf and are still planning to export more oil through Ceyhan, Turkey to various markets....they realize they need to export 400-500 thousand barrels of oil per day to meet their needs. It is a bit anticlimactic to me that this is the very rate of oil that Baghdad is saying they need to export as well. The Kurds do admit that kind of rate may be difficult to maintain...they have been exporting 100,000 barrels of oil per day....in the meantime President Barzani on a recent trip to Europe visited with several banks in efforts to secure loans for the Kurdistan.
Economists International: continued high growth of the Iraqi economy and increase its financial strength despite the security situation
Economists are seeing growth in the Iraqi economy despite security issues....expected growth for 2014 is at 5.8%, up from 3.7% in 2013....the inflation rate was announced earlier this month to be stable at this time, rising just 1.5% in the past 12 month period.
President of Sumo discuss with the ministers of Jordan and Sudan's oil export hose laying asphalt for the oil pipeline to the obstacle
The head of the Iraqi oil company SUMO, met with ministers from Jordan and Sudan while participating in a conference in Moscow....they discussed exports to both countries....asphalt to Sudan and oil to the Jordan seaport Aqaba. The pipeline deal was inked in April 2013 and a deal with Sudan was inked in July 2013....these were followup meetings meant to discuss where things stand for the respective countries and their deals with Iraq.
Uncertainty as Iraq election results revealed
With the formulating of appeals to the election results the Electoral Commission is not expecting "final final" results until the end of June or early July.....it seems that State of Law coalition is working on other Shia blocs to form an alliance....that if they will all come together they believe they have enough to form the new government.....while Maliki is busy trying to pull together supporters his opponents are equally busy trying to insure he is unseated as PM. The next few weeks should be very interesting.
Economic Analyst is the central bank's move to ban currency trading default the action is necessary to maintain the gravity of the Iraqi economy
The CBI has made a decision to not allow trading of electronic currency (bitcoin and the like)...they feel this could lead to money laundering....
they warn of sanctions against any financial institutions, banks, or even people who attempt to trade in such...
the CBI sees electronic currency as an evil at this point in time.
Morning News Summaries
Randy