26 Feb 2010
26 February 2010
Iraq Important Dates
5 March 2010 Early Special voting (security/military)
4-8 March 2010 Iraq Government declares a public holiday
5,6,7, March 2010 Voting takes place for Iraqi citizens living abroad (16 countries)
7 March 2010 Iraq Election Day
1 April 2010 U.N. Report Secretary-General Iraq report to UNSC
15 April 2010 Iraq Investment Conference Istanbul, Turkey
24 April 2010 IAMB meeting DFI mechanism
21 June 2010 U.N. Tarsov mandate extended
24 October 2010 Iraq national census
As we move closer to the Iraq elections on the 7th of March just
days away, Prime Minister (PM) Maliki has issued an order.
Apparently PM Maliki is getting nervous that his political party,
the State of Law Coalition is failing in sustaining the votes
needed in the next election. PM Maliki just issued an order to
reinstate former Iraqi Army officers and has instructed them
to never use the words "the former Iraqi Army."
The new order would bring back 20,000 former Iraqi Army officers
who wanted to join the Iraqi Army and were denied due to
past affiliations. Now all is forgiven and PM Maliki needs the
votes from the former Iraqi Army officers.
The former Prime Minister Dr. Iyad Allawi, appears to be making
gains in the political arena against PM Maliki State of Law
Coalition list.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a stand-by-agreement
(SBA) loan to Iraq for 3.6 billion usd. This is the third SBA
loan to Iraq. It is a credit line of 3.6 billion dollars
for the Iraqi government to use to cover any shortfalls in
the current 2010 federal budget.
Just because the IMF issued a loan does not mean the Iraqi
government has to spend the money. I do not believe that Iraq
will spend any of the money from the SBA loan. It is my beliefs
that the Iraqi government will hold the SBA funds and not spend
a single cent just like they did with the other two SBA loans.
The 2010 federal budget was based on $62.50 a barrel of oil and the
Iraq federal budget does have a deficit of 19.6 billion dollars.
If the price of oil is hovering around $80 and analysts have
stated the price of oil could go up in 2010 then the deficit is
not a problem for Iraq. Meaning, the Iraqi government would not
need to spend any money of the third SBA loan from the IMF.
By the way, the IMF loan has nothing to do with a reval or the
changing of the Iraqi dinar currency.
The Iraqi governments previous two SBA loans both of them less
than 1 billion dollars were never used. You can verify this by
logging onto the IMF web site and look at the withdrawn column
and it says zero for both loans. When you look at the IMF web
site I'm referring to the withdrawn column.
The rookie, would have you all believe that the Iraqi government
needs an internationally traded currency to pay back an IMF loan.
The IMF article IV states no such thing and really you have to
look at article V of the IMF member laws. When making a payment
to the IMF the member pays in the currency that is agreed upon
between the members states before hand. The Iraqi government
converts the Iraqi dinar to U.S. Dollars and if a payment were
to be made it would be in U.S. dollars.
The Iraqi dinar currency is freely tradable with no restrictions
inside Iraq according to the Central Banking laws.
The IMF has scheduled payments for Iraq in 2010 and 2011 and that
is only if Iraq spends any of the SBA loan. I predict that
they will not spend any money due to the increase in oil prices
this year.
The country of Libya is a IMF member state. Do you think the
country of Libya has an international tradable currency? The
answer is no, they do not and they manage to pay their loans to
the IMF just fine.
Another example, the Iraqi government in Dec 2007, paid off an
IMF loan two years ahead of schedule and are paving their way to
theSBA IMF loans they currently receive. How did Iraq pay the IMF
loan if they did not have an international tradable currency in
Dec 2007? Well, I guess you all know the answer now.
On 26th February, the World Bank approved a loan for $250 million
to help with any projects that would need funding in the likely
hood that the oil price drops.
Web links for your reference:
1. Iraq renews $744 million loan from the IMF
http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3671.aspx
2. World Bank approves $250 million loan for Iraq
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN259611720100226
3. Iraq: Financial Position in the Fund as of January 31, 2010
http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/tad/exfin2.aspx?memberKey1=460&date1key=2010-02-25
4. Iraq: IMF Credit Outstanding as of January 31, 2010
http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/tad/exportal.aspx?memberKey1=460&date1key=2010-01-31&category=EXC
5. Iraq clears $470m IMF debt
http://www.ameinfo.com/141958.html
6. Article IV - Obligations Regarding Exchange Arrangements
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/aa04.htm
7. Article V - Operations and Transactions of the Fund
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/aa05.htm#1
8. Iraqi parliament endorses $72.4 bn 2010 budget
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=ODc1MTA2OTQ1
9. IMF Agrees to $3.6 Billion Standby Loan for Iraq
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9lBME.GFRk8&pos=6
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