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Central Bank: We are undergoing a major transformation in regulating foreign trade

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Central Bank: We are undergoing a major transformation in regulating foreign trade
 
Expenses
 
The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, said today, Wednesday, that the
 
financial situation in Iraq is proceeding according to what he had planned, and while
 
he confirmed - in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA) - that
 
     financing foreign trade is taking place with great ease for large and medium companies, he spoke about
 
     a new mechanism to regulate Transfer operations for small merchants. He revealed an
 
     upcoming meeting in New York to discuss the file of the sanctioned banks. He pointed out at the same time that the
 
     official exchange rate covers foreign trade that meets the needs of citizens. On the other hand, he confirmed that
 
there is a government intention to increase the capital of the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund.
 
The financial situation in Iraq
 
Al-Alaq said in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA):
 
There are external and local challenges, but
 
in general the financial situation in Iraq is still proceeding within what is planned in the state’s general budget,” indicating that
 
there is high coordination between the Central Bank and And with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance in standing on the financial side for its continuity, stability and sustainability.”  He added,
 
We are currently working closely, almost daily, with the Ministry of Finance in order to implement the financial plan drawn up in the general budget, in a way that ensures coverage of its objectives, programs, and existing needs,” noting,
 
“For the first time, by virtue of the new Budget and Financial Management Law, governorate allocations have been rotated.” And the ministries, so
 
there is broad coverage of the needs of the financial side, and
 
for the first time, the size of the balances held by the ministries and governorates is large, enabling them to perform their role.”
 
 
 
Foreign trade
 
He stated,
 
The Central Bank is undergoing a major transformation process in reorganizing foreign trade in a way that secures several goals at the same time, and
 
one of these goals is the transparency of external transfer operations that
 
     begin from the transfer process and the
     transferor to the final beneficiary and
     to the exporter
 
through all the data, documents, and information that It reinforces reality and conforms to it,” explaining,
 
This process
 
     is taking place for the first time in the history of Iraq and
     involves international auditing institutions that scrutinize the information before it reaches the implementation stage, as the
 
     process met all local conditions and standards represented by the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law or international standards
 
when The transfer process will proceed,
 
but if there is any deficiency, defect, or suspicion, it will be immediately rejected and returned.”  He stated,
 
"The previous audit process was taking place, but in a subsequent process, and the audits may continue for years, but
 
now the process does not proceed unless it is sound with its aspects, parties, documentation, reinforcements, and the facts on which it is all based," explaining,
 
"Any transformation process requires time and understanding." between all parties and also to acceptance.”  He stressed that
 
"the level of acceptance of this new system has included large and medium importing companies, thus ensuring all their imports with high smoothness, and this matter is very necessary," pointing out that
 
"the problem of small merchants, some of whom have entered this process and others are still hesitant to enter or He is looking for other means to cover his foreign trade, either to escape tax or customs accountability or the procedures required by the process of opening accounts.  He stated,
 
 “What we are focusing on in the current and next stage is to make everyone involved in sound fundamentalist channels,” pointing out, “The presence of these
 
small traders outside the system puts pressure on the dollar monetary market and causes its rise.”  He pointed out,
 
 “There are solutions that we are working on with international and financial institutions in order to organize the operations of small merchants,” explaining,
 
“A meeting was held yesterday in this regard as a continuation of previous meetings, and
 
we need some time to organize this remaining process of foreign trade.”
 
Other international currencies stopped
 
Regarding other currencies, Al-Alaq confirmed,
 
“The Central Bank opened channels for the Chinese, Turkish, Indian, and Emirati currencies,
 
which are currencies that represent a large weight in foreign trade, as
 
there was a pause for a period due to a new regulation aimed at providing adequate oversight of these operations, because
 
we discovered in the previous formula the presence of some fraud in The use of these channels, whether for unreal exporters or to return sums from one country to another,” explaining,
 
A new auditing mechanism has been established, carried out by an international company, and
 
we have finished organizing this process, and
 
it is now being launched again.”  He pointed out,
 
 “External commercial transfer operations are subject to review by the competent international company that is an intermediary between the Iraqi banks and the correspondent bank, in order to reassure the correspondent bank that these operations are sound and audited,” pointing out,
 
Some banks have correspondent banks and others do not have correspondent banks.”
 
It is internationally accredited, and now it is seeking to do so, but it is long overdue, and the
 
Central Bank is constantly urging the opening of relationships with correspondent banks, because
 
the Iraqi Bank, without having external correspondents, is considered a local bank and cannot open to the world.  He stressed,
 
"After our banks got to know the banks and realized the importance of these relationships, they began to move against those banks, and the
 
Central Bank, for its part, supports and helps this trend."
 
The price difference between the market and the official price
 
Al-Alaq stressed,
 
“In light of the new organization of the external transformation process, one should look at the real price at which the Central Bank sells more than $250 million daily at the official price.
 
This means that the bank covers foreign trade, and
 
this explains the reason for the absence of inflation or rise in prices and demands.”
 
The other is legitimate for individuals with all their needs, and
 
the parallel market is a market for those who do not want to turn towards fundamentalist methods of transfer and
 
it is an illicit trade or trade escaping fundamentalist procedures or other illegitimate operations such as drug trade, human trafficking, corruption money, etc.,” he explained,
 
“The Prime Minister confirmed that
 
we do not provide the official dollar for illegal operations.”  Al-Alaq wondered,
 
Why would any party go to buy the dollar at a higher price when it has the official price?
 
Unless it has an illegal purpose or an unconstitutional matter,” noting,
 
“The view that the price of the dollar has risen or fallen is not a correct indicator.”
 
We must look at what and how much the central bank’s sales amount at the official price to satisfy various needs.”
 
Low inflation
 
He pointed out, “The
 
primary goal of the central bank is to maintain the general level of prices and reduce inflation, and
 
it is supposed to be the measure of the success of monetary policy, which has succeeded in controlling this aspect, and the level of inflation compared to other countries and even to previous years is much lower, and within the target.
 
This means that trade The Foreign Ministry, on which Iraq relies mainly to meet the needs of citizens, is covered by the official price.”
 
Cooperation with the US Treasury
 
Al-Alaq continued,
 
 “There is great praise in all meetings with international organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Bank, and the US Treasury, for the transformations, management, and organization of the external transfer process in the Central Bank of Iraq at the present time,” explaining,
 
“The Assistant Undersecretary of the US Treasury mentioned in his meeting with Prime Minister, it is necessary to celebrate the achievements achieved in the external transfer process and the stages through which the Central Bank of Iraq moved, including the electronic platform, which went through stages and difficulties and then stabilized to a situation where the rejection rate for operations at times reached 80 percent and now does not exceed 5 percent.  He stressed,
 
 “The platform’s format burdens the Central Bank and external parties, including the Federal Bank, and
 
we, as central banks, should not be preoccupied with entering into the details of transfer operations.
 
Therefore, what we have done is the gradual shift from the electronic platform to creating a direct relationship between the Iraqi bank and the correspondent without it passing through.” Executive Director of the Central or Federal Bank,” pointing out,
 
We have reached a completion rate of approximately 85% in the process of external transformations without going through the US Federal Reserve, and
 
this is what international organizations say is something that should be celebrated.”  He stated,
 
Our plan until the end of the year will reach 100%, with external transfers between Iraqi banks and correspondent banks, without going through the US Federal Reserve, and
 
then the central bank’s role will be normal, such as
 
     supervision,
     control,
     follow-up, and
     looking at the progress of operations without entering into daily detailed executive procedures.”
 
An upcoming meeting in New York
 
Al-Alaq stated that
 
there will be meetings with the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury Department at the end of August to review all aspects related to foreign transfer operations and discuss sanctions on some banks,” pointing out that “
 
the words, interpretations, and additions that appeared in what happened in the previous meeting in Washington were not, in fact, It was not the quarterly meeting, and
 
we did not meet with the Federal Reserve. Rather, we attended other meetings, and
 
there was a visit on this occasion to the Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and a normal meeting that dealt with general matters, during which he confirmed the success of the Central Bank in leading the steps it is taking, whether with regard to external transfers or the cash sale of the dollar, which It was also developed to ensure that the traveler obtains the dollar, indicating that the
 
previous operations in granting the dollar to travelers were faced with many problems, and speculators tried to enter into these operations through various means, which had a negative impact on the dollar, as well as the use of other people’s passports.  He pointed out,
 
 
 
 “The new mechanism ensures the elimination of these methods, as the
 
dollar is not given to the traveler until after the departure stamp,” explaining,
 
The process began a few days ago, but in general it is taking place very smoothly, with some observations, and
 
there are teams present at the airports to monitor the process and the obstacles.”
 
This will ensure 100% in achieving our goals, which is to reach the real traveler, as we started in Baghdad, then Basra, then Najaf Al-Ashraf, and now the procedures are based on opening ports at Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk airports.”
 
Lifting restrictions on banks
 
Al-Alaq explained,
 
Lifting restrictions on some banks is of interest to the Central Bank, which is close to resolving the problems and developing appropriate solutions to ensure stability and growth for the banking sector,” noting that
 
several meetings were held on the issue of lifting restrictions on some banks, and through them we arrived at a plan that will secure... Stable results for the future.  He continued,
 
"The plan related to reforming and lifting the restrictions on banks includes two axes: the
 
     first relates to conducting an audit of the previous operations about which suspicions were raised through an independent external audit office, and
 
some of them have been completed, while we are waiting for the completion of the audit of others so that we can understand the overall picture and classify the nature of these problems."
 
How will the procedures be taken regarding it later?  He pointed out that ‘the
 
     second axis of the plan is receiving international praise through the Central Bank contracting with an international consulting company to work on
 
     developing a strategy for the banking sector in the future,
     determining the extent of the existing problem,
     placing it in an independent framework,
     preventing its recurrence, and
     reformulating the banking sector," pointing out that
 
this plan It is based on
 
     an inventory of the size of the banking sector present in Iraq, the
     number of banks required to be in Iraq, the
     size and activity of these banks, and what are the
     rules, policies and procedures they adopt in order
 
to be stable and accepted locally and internationally.  He stated,
 
 “This plan was initiated by the Central Bank through the consulting company, and
 
it will take time to determine the scope of work and the goals that we want to reach,” indicating that in addition to this plan,
 
another plan is underway to reform the government banking sector.  Al-Alaq indicated,
 
“The Prime Minister holds monthly meetings with the international consulting company concerned with reforming the government banking sector,” noting,
 
“The continuous follow-up by the Prime Minister has given momentum to the progress of the reform processes, whether at the governmental or private levels, and the fate of these banks is decided.”
 
It will be based on clear principles and not patchwork treatments or knee-jerk reactions.”
 
Al-Alaq pledged to reach a real, stable banking sector that is consistent with what is required at the national economic level, and that
 
some banks will not remain marginal and do not represent a real addition to the Iraqi economy, and that
 
they will gain external acceptance through agreement on their application of international policies, procedures, and standards.  Al-Alaq stated,
 
 “The Central Bank did not specify a quota for external transfers for banks, and
 
they can advance whatever they are able to attract in external transfer transactions.
 
The Central Bank does not interfere with customers’ choices, and the
 
banks that carry out this process depend on their capabilities to attract their customers.”
 
He pointed out that the Central Bank
 
     seeks to strengthen and support the role of the Trade Bank of Iraq to assume a greater role in the foreign trade process,
 
denying that there is talk about reconsidering the issue of the exchange rate.
 
Housing initiative
 
The Governor of the Central Bank revealed that there is a government intention that was confirmed in the budget to increase the capital supporting this file through the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund.  Al-Alaq said:
 
 “Although the task of financing the housing sector is the responsibility of the banks or the task of the Land Bank and the Housing Fund, the initiatives of the Central Bank had an exceptional role in its attempt to fill the deficit in the housing issue.”  He added,
 
"The natural and required role that the Central Bank called for was to increase the capital of the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund, so that it can perform the task assigned to it, especially since the capital falls short of the large and broad requirements and needs in financing this aspect."  He continued,
 
"The government was expected to increase the capital of the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund to support the population sector.
 
It seems that the matter was achieved and placed in the budget,
 
but so far it has not been implemented."  He stated,
 
 “When we visited the Land Bank, we delved into the details of the situation in order to determine the real need for the required financing.
 
We found that the requests available to the Land Bank are divided into two parts, some of which relate to the purchase of housing units outside complexes in all governorates, and most of these requests are old.
 
We asked the Land Bank to give A statistic of all these requests, and
 
we will try to cover them all in order to close this file.”  He added,
 
"The second aspect relates to residential complexes, as
 
we were financing the Real Estate Bank with amounts that it would distribute to the complexes in the governorates, regardless of priorities, because
 
we do not want the central bank financing to be an alternative to the obligations of the investor himself in financing the project."  He continued,
 
“Therefore, as part of a move by the Central Bank, the Real Estate Bank was directed, and in order to encourage the investor to complete the project and deliver the units, directing it to make the completion rate the basis for financing, as we start with complexes that have ready or semi-ready units with rates ranging between 80-90% to achieve two goals: The
 
goal is to
     push investors to complete these complexes,
     provide job opportunities,
     support market movement, and
     meet citizens’ needs as quickly as possible.”
 
views 304     Added 08/07/2024 - 7:55 PM 
 
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