Mazhar Muhammad Salih: The Central Bank's balance is three times more than the government's external debt

 
04/24/2022

Economy News - Baghdad

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained, today, Sunday, the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Iraq, and between the contents of two basic pillars of this policy to address crises, he revealed the size of the foreign reserves of the Central Bank and the internal debt .

Saleh said, to the Iraqi News Agency, that "the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Iraq has exercised and is still playing its great role in strengthening the national economy and supporting and supporting it in liquidity, stability and the management of monetary resources, especially through two successive double crises that the national economy was exposed to between the years 2014-2021, as monetary policy confronted The Central Bank has led to the serious stagnation to which the macro-economy and its real sectors were exposed, and its use of a satisfactory monetary policy .

He added, "The two pillars of this policy are: credit easing and granting the monetary market with sufficient liquidity through the continuous initiatives of the Central Bank, and the other is quantitative easing policies to support macroeconomic liquidity in general by motivating secondary market operations with calculated, accurate and successful ranges that saved the national economy in the most contracting economic conditions and supported by one side. The last of the Iraqi financial policy to get out of the impasse of the fiscal deficit and the deterioration of the country's financial sustainability by relying on the internal liquidity levers provided by the Central Bank with its accurate, balanced and successful tools .

He pointed out that "the first crisis that our country faced in the years 2014-2017 was a serious double crisis, financial and security at the same time, as energy markets and Iraq's financial revenues from exported oil deteriorated between these years, accompanied by strict security conditions, namely the war on ISIS terrorism." The Central Bank of Iraq played its prescribed role in its monetary policy, which contributed to assigning victory in the war and economy arenas, with remarkable accuracy .”

He continued, "While the second double crisis came between 2020-2021, it represented a serious deterioration in Iraq's oil revenues, a frightening deficit in the current account of the balance of payments, and a more serious deficit in public finances as a result of the price war in the energy markets in the world, and the reduction in the quantities of our country's oil production to nearly less than Half is under the influence of the (OPEC Plus) agreements and the deterioration of global demand for oil throughout 2020 and parts of 2021, accompanied by a stifling global health crisis represented by the Corona pandemic and the closure of the global and local economy, as the country was affected by an agricultural crisis due to severe drought and the deterioration of agricultural crops, which made the output The GDP is shrinking to (minus 11%), in addition to the prevalence of poverty and unemployment at unprecedented rates in the country’s economic history .”

And he added, "Under these compelling circumstances, the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Iraq, with accuracy and with calculated and successful steps, led the process of building the foundations for maximizing the liquidity of the national economy, whether by proceeding with the Central Bank's initiative in revitalizing the real sector with soft loans in which the grant element increased," noting that "those loans approached about about 13 trillion dinars to push the activity of the national market and operate the labor market and the business of private activity forward, in addition to supporting government liquidity and attributing the effectiveness of the government economy and public finance without stopping, by deducting government treasury transfers, which constituted about 67% of the total debts of the Ministry of Internal Finance or the internal public debt borne by the bank The Central Bank of the total internal debt balance, which amounts to about 72 trillion dinars .

He continued: "Thus, the monetary policy of the Central Bank of Iraq, with high success, fulfilled the requirements to meet the needs of growth and stability of the national economy and to provide it with sufficient liquidity, with high accuracy and wisdom, and at the same time supportive of the financial policy that faced harsh conditions through the two successive double crises between 2014-2021, as well as the restoration of the Central Bank Its foreign reserves, which are the cover of the national currency, record its balance today at more than 70 billion dollars, a balance more than three times the government’s foreign debt payable during the years 2022-2028, which confirms the efficiency of the foreign reserves of the Central Bank of Iraq .

He pointed out that "the Central Bank of Iraq is an independent authority under its amended Law No. 56 of 2004, and it is the one who draws up monetary policy himself without the interference of any party, and he is the most knowledgeable and best able to manage his policy in stability and development based on the articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq ."

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