Wednesday, August 31, 2011

New Iraqi Dinar to be Harder to Counterfeit

According to reports from Al-Sabaah, the Central Bank of Iraq is planning to make its new currency forgery-proof.
Central Bank Governor Sinan al-Shabibi claims that the new currency’s attributes will make it ‘difficult’ to falsify, and says that the project to delete the three zeros, if implemented, will enhance the value of the Iraqi dinar against other currencies.
The Central Bank and the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives agreed to hold further meetings to finalize discussions on the project.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

23/08/2011- Iraq.. Lifting three zeros from the currency the end of the year

Khandan-Dr. Fadel Prophet Iraqi Finance Ministry Undersecretary, told "khandan" site that the budget for 2012 is much more than the budget unveiled in the recent period, noting that more than 115 trillion dinars.
The Financial Secretary stressed that the Central Bank of Iraq intensify its efforts to raise the zeroes of Iraqi currency, and it is hoped that the work is to lift the three zeros from the currency of Iraq later this year, pointing out that Exchange requires the consent of the Council of Ministers and the Iraqi Parliament.
Dr. Fadel Prophet referred to the Finance Ministry have completed stages of the preparation of the budget, leaving only the final figure will be guessed and then sent to the Cabinet for approval.

Monday, August 22, 2011

SECURITY MINISTRIES

Maliki to submit security ministries candidates to parliament next month

Maliki to submit security ministries candidates to parliament next month
21/08/2011 12:59

Baghdad, Aug. 21 (AKnews) – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will send the names of candidates for the Interior and Defense ministries after Eid al Fitr - the three-day holiday that marks the end of Ramadan – said a State of Law Coalition (SLC) MP today.maliki

Salam al-Maliki told AKnews that the prime minister is “serious” about resolving the issue of the security ministries that have remained unallocated since the inauguration of the ncurrent government in December last year due to disputes between the political blocs.

The names that Maliki will submit to the parliament have been studied and were chosen according to professional rules agreed upon between the political blocs,” Maliki said.

The Ahrar bloc – under the umbrella of the Sadrist Current – has criticized the PM for postponing the parliamentary vote without conferring with the deputies in the house.

MP Uday Awwad told AKnews: “The Ahrar bloc has always insisted on the need to speed up the adoption and legislation of important laws. We have collected signatures and asked parliament to cancel holidays in order to approve the legislation of laws that concern the public interest, especially those pertaining to the Iraqi citizen.”

“It would have been better to announce the holiday after getting the consent of all political blocs,” Awwad said.

Reported by Yazn al-Shemmari

RN/KA/AKnews

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Much more dangerous places on earth then Iraq investors are flocking!

* Investors Look for Opportunities in Iraqi Recovery

Investors Look for Opportunities in Iraqi Recovery
CNBC - [8/17/2011]
The thought of investing in Iraq may make some investors cringe, but others argue the situation is changing on the ground. Given the euro zone debt jitters, a weaker outlook for the US economy and fears of some emerging markets overheating, it may be worth a consideration.

As the debate rages on as to whether some US troops should remain after a planned withdrawal at the end of the year, the security situation is still volatile. A top US official earlier said that Iraq “is less safe than a year ago”. Figures released by the health ministry showed that the number of civilians killed by violence in the country rose to 159 in July, marking one of the worst months of the year.

But Shwan Taha, owner of Rabee Securities, believes it is now “much better” in comparison to 2005-2007.

“There are much more dangerous places on earth that investors are flocking to and where the rewards are less than those in Iraq,” he told CNBC.

Here are some numbers to ruminate on. The 10-year sovereign bond yields for Iraq, at 6.65 percent, are roughly on par with Italy and Spain, and lower than Ireland and Portugal. Similar patterns can be found in Iraq’s credit default swaps (CDS), or the cost of insuring the country’s debt against default for five years.

And the violence “does not seem to be having any effect on foreign direct investment (FDI), which is increasing, substantially,” Hussain Qaragholi, managing partner at Phoenix Capital and vice president of the US Business Council in Iraq (USBCI), told CNBC in an interview.

FDI into Iraq increased by 175 percent in 2010, data from fDiIntelligence showed. The country took 7 percent of FDI flows into the Middle East region in 2010, up from 2 percent in 2009, becoming the fourth leading destination in the region.

Dunia Frontier Consultants, a financial services company, estimates some $45.6 billion in investments flowed into Iraq in the first half of 2011, already surpassing the total for 2010.

You can see the impact everywhere. The Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) is up more than 40 percent so far this year, making it one of the best performing markets in the world - compared to the Egyptian Stock Exchange, down 35 percent year-to-date. Trading is often thin, but greater prospects may be around the corner.

Qaragholi looks forward to the listing of Iraq’s telecom initial public offerings, possibly doubling or tripling the market value of the stock exchange, currently just above $4 billion. It is a modest number, even by regional standards.

A substantial amount of investment goes into the oil and gas sector. Iraq is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, not bound by quotas, and currently exports 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd). The plan is to expand output to 3 million bpd by the end of the year, and 12 million bpd by 2017.

A final draft agreement was signed earlier in July by the government with Royal Dutch Shell [RDSA-GB 1993.00 -12.50 (-0.62%) ] and Mitsubishi, paving the way for a $12 billion deal to capture flared gas in the south.

Aside from oil and gas, what else is out there? Taha said he is very interested in the services sectors. “Personally I try to stay away from the flavor of the month and look a bit more long term,” he said.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

WE ARE ON THE DOOR STEP !

Iraq announces the names of ten candidates for the Ministry of Defence

Iraq announces the names of ten candidates for the Ministry of Defense !


16-08-2011 | ( (Voice of Iraq) - Iraq Forums
Raised the Iraqi List led by Iyad Allawi, the names of ten candidates for the position of the Ministry of Defense, half of them military.
A member of the Iraqi bloc white Kazem Shammari that the ten candidates are:
Maj. Gen. Medhat al-Obeidi and the Major General Major General Tbakjla Loay Khaled Bakr Khader al-Hamdani and Brigadier Sakban Turkish Mutlaq and Alexander, berry and Jawad al-Abdullah al-Jubouri and electrodes and Salah Ahmed and Abdul-Karim al-Jubouri Alabtan.
و The Shammari belief in the potential approval of al-Maliki on the candidate, Major General Ali Medhat al-Obeidi, an army officer present to take over as defense minister. The parliamentary community to the possibility of resolving the selection of candidates for defense and interior ministries within the next few days.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

CENTRAL BANK OF IRAQ -

Central Bank: the law of the deletion of zeros we sent to the government and parliament this week

Central Bank: the law of the deletion of zeros we sent to the government and parliament this week
Tuesday, August 16 - August 2011 12:14
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a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, on Monday, said the central bank raise the bill to delete the zeros of the Iraqi currency to the Iraqi government and parliament to Darcth and discussion and approval in the event has been approved. He explained the appearance of Dr. Mohammed Saleh, said that "the draft law, which was submitted this week to both the government and Parliament, Includes all the details of the legislative and executive on a subject to delete the zeros and the positive economic effects as inevitable, if passed. " Salih noted that "the bill included proposals for a new currency and the groups that carried and details of technical and economic." Saleh stressed that "this law, if approved, will have a positive impact on the Iraqi currency in several aspects of the need during the next phase."


Monday, August 15, 2011

BIG NEWS ONE STEP CLOSER

Central Bank: the new currency that will be after you delete the zeros will carry printed in three languages

Central Bank: the new currency that will be after you delete the zeros will carry printed in three languages
14 August, 2011 10:23:00

Central Bank confirmed that the new currency that will be the trading
After deleting three zeros will carry them printed in three languages: Arabic, Kurdish and English.
The deputy governor of the Central Bank of the appearance of Dr. Mohammed Saleh in a press statement that the financial value of money after the cancellation of three zeros will not be affected and the process of dispensing with the old currency would be gradual in order to prevent fluctuations in price can affect the exchange rate or the fact SPV, as it will be trading currencies at the same time until the absorption of the old currency.
He said the benefit to the existence of long-term plan for the implementation of the project, in order to avoid any disruption can be reflected in the cash arena, expected to lead the move, which promised, according to studies minutes to solve all the problems in the trading committed a result of the large mass of bulging cash in the Iraqi market.