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An economist warns of financial hardship and the ax of rentierism: they will fall at the head of the Iraqi economy
September 7, 2024
Baghdad / Iraq Observer
Economic affairs researcher, Ziad Al-Hashemi, warned today, Saturday, of financial hardship and the ax of rentierism, while indicating that they will soon fall at the head of the Iraqi economy.
Al-Hashemi said in a post followed by Iraq Observer,
“Global markets are surrounded by many recessionary indicators that lead to real pessimism, and oil prices are declining, and
Iraq is one of the biggest potential victims of the decline in the price of a barrel of oil,” noting that
“now is not the time to talk about diversifying sources of income, as it has been wasted.”
Successive Iraqi governments and the political system provided many opportunities and squandered hundreds of billions without taking a real step forward to get rid of the state of high dependence on oil.” He added,
“Urgent solutions are now required to save what can be saved, by developing a national emergency plan to deal with a financial situation characterized by (hardship and deficit).”
He pointed out that “this plan includes the following:
1- An urgent executive program to identify the fake employees (almost a million fake ones), cancel their salaries, and get rid of the situation of multiple salaries for each individual! The continued depletion of state finances with massive fraudulent salaries will soon bring down the government with a knockout blow as oil prices continue to deteriorate.
2- Compressing expenditures with all possible tools and means, and raising the level of control and auditing of expenditures with the aim of achieving a higher level of financial discipline.
3- Maximizing the government’s revenues from taxes and customs (fully activating the customs system) and reducing the level of laxity in the collection system.
4- Monitoring commercial markets and prices, encouraging merchants to reduce profit margins, and holding accountable those who practice commercial greed and monopoly.
5️- A massive campaign to monitor corruption funds, recover them, and annex them to public funds.
6- Re-evaluating projects and referrals to tenders and opening the door to negotiation to postpone or cancel non-essential projects or achieve price differences for the benefit of state finances or other spending sections!
7️- Establishing borrowing and debt instruments (as a last resort) that the government resorts to, to avoid increasing the amount of public debt, which is already high.” He stressed,
"These are some of the proposed quick solutions and treatments that certainly do not replace long-term solutions that focus on economic diversification.
Without implementing these and other solutions, let this government and its supporters expect all the bad possibilities very soon, and then regret will be of no use to them."
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September 7, 2024
Baghdad / Iraq Observer
Economic affairs researcher, Ziad Al-Hashemi, warned today, Saturday, of financial hardship and the ax of rentierism, while indicating that they will soon fall at the head of the Iraqi economy.
Al-Hashemi said in a post followed by Iraq Observer,
“Global markets are surrounded by many recessionary indicators that lead to real pessimism, and oil prices are declining, and
Iraq is one of the biggest potential victims of the decline in the price of a barrel of oil,” noting that
“now is not the time to talk about diversifying sources of income, as it has been wasted.”
Successive Iraqi governments and the political system provided many opportunities and squandered hundreds of billions without taking a real step forward to get rid of the state of high dependence on oil.” He added,
“Urgent solutions are now required to save what can be saved, by developing a national emergency plan to deal with a financial situation characterized by (hardship and deficit).”
He pointed out that “this plan includes the following:
1- An urgent executive program to identify the fake employees (almost a million fake ones), cancel their salaries, and get rid of the situation of multiple salaries for each individual! The continued depletion of state finances with massive fraudulent salaries will soon bring down the government with a knockout blow as oil prices continue to deteriorate.
2- Compressing expenditures with all possible tools and means, and raising the level of control and auditing of expenditures with the aim of achieving a higher level of financial discipline.
3- Maximizing the government’s revenues from taxes and customs (fully activating the customs system) and reducing the level of laxity in the collection system.
4- Monitoring commercial markets and prices, encouraging merchants to reduce profit margins, and holding accountable those who practice commercial greed and monopoly.
5️- A massive campaign to monitor corruption funds, recover them, and annex them to public funds.
6- Re-evaluating projects and referrals to tenders and opening the door to negotiation to postpone or cancel non-essential projects or achieve price differences for the benefit of state finances or other spending sections!
7️- Establishing borrowing and debt instruments (as a last resort) that the government resorts to, to avoid increasing the amount of public debt, which is already high.” He stressed,
"These are some of the proposed quick solutions and treatments that certainly do not replace long-term solutions that focus on economic diversification.
Without implementing these and other solutions, let this government and its supporters expect all the bad possibilities very soon, and then regret will be of no use to them."
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
