Who is Planning The Iraqi Economy?

The Iraqi economy has not taken a single step forward in the field of economic development despite the massive spending that followed the fall of the tyrant's regime; The first reason for this failure is that a large proportion of the financial allocations were distributed to a wide area of ​​projects in order to achieve comprehensive development, and the second reason is the looting of the largest proportion of these allocations by people who responded to political action for the sake of plunder and have actually plundered at least $ 460 billion. Of the fortunes of Iraqis.

And the second reason is known to everyone, and it is possible to recover this looted money and use it to rebuild the economy and make up for the lost past years if we have a clean, honest ruler. What we want to focus on is the number one reason; Because the rush to comprehensive development in a country that emerged from the siege and financial and administrative corruption at the time of the tyrant was a major sin from which failure and looting must be expected, and if we had professional plans and professional planners, the Iraqi economy would not have reached this state after 17 years of change. After the ship of Iraq reached the point of sinking, people wonder: Who is planning for the Iraqi economy so that it could not raise its feet and take one step forward for all these years?


It is known that the prime ministers of Iraq were two of them doctors and two, one of whom had a degree in Islamic sciences, another in law, a third specialist in electricity, and one who was said to be an economist. These are not, as in the West, their advisors from the elite academic economists who belong to their parties as they formulate party policy that relates to the economy. What happened to us is that a board of advisors has been formed that the prime ministers inherit one after the other, and none of them dared to bring a new team of advisors until the spirit of innovation is renewed and new visions are generated, and this is why you see that nothing has changed, but the decline for the worse is the characteristic of the Iraqi economy. 

Iraqis know of these advisers only two of them write in newspapers and websites and declare to the media. Next to these advisors are the Ministry of Planning - which includes people specializing in economics and not known in the media - and an economic department in the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, apparently independent of the advisory body, which is similar in name and function to what was present in the time of the tyrant, as the tyrant did not He had no advisors, so he was planning everything. The question is which of those aforementioned party is planning for the Iraqi economy?

 And what does the prime minister do with these various bodies on which he relies in building his opinion, especially since he has no knowledge of economic affairs? And on what does the Prime Minister rely on in drawing his vision for developing the Iraqi economy? The question is which of those aforementioned party is planning for the Iraqi economy? And what does the prime minister do with these various bodies on which he relies in building his opinion, especially since he has no knowledge of economic affairs? And on what does the Prime Minister rely on in drawing his vision for developing the Iraqi economy? The question is which of those aforementioned party is planning for the Iraqi economy? And what does the prime minister do with these various bodies on which he relies in building his opinion, especially since he has no knowledge of economic affairs? And on what does the Prime Minister rely on in drawing his vision for developing the Iraqi economy?

For example, one of these advisors (and the current Minister of Finance joined him) always calls for killing the Iraqi dinar by reducing its value, and these (and a number of academics also support them in this opinion) think that the solution is to get the Iraqi economy out of the pit of backwardness in which it dived, starting with Reducing the value of the Iraqi dinar so that locally produced goods compete with their imported counterparts (and for your information this argument for lowering the exchange rate is included in the white paper), or that reducing the value of the dinar will reduce imports; Because higher prices after the decline in real income will curb demand and increase competition for the domestic product. Although we can use other means that fulfill the same purpose, which is either the administrative ban or the raising of the customs tax on those similar goods to such limits that they cannot compete with the local without resorting to harassment by raising prices that creates turmoil in the markets and raises the level of uncertainty that will create a response Negative feedback on planning and investing. Of course, it is not possible to accept an opinion such that the devaluation of the dinar, which will lead to higher prices, will stimulate production; Because this is true if the rise resulted from increased demand and not through devaluation. 

But the reality is that the proposal to reduce the value of the Iraqi dinar is not aimed at what was mentioned above, but rather is aimed at reducing the salaries and wages of employees so that oil revenues become sufficient in the time of Corona to cover salaries without the need to borrow. If we carefully examine this proposal, we will know that those who say this opinion are delusional, and the devaluation of the dinar will not lead to its purpose in covering salaries, but rather that the outcome is zero, meaning that the reduction will be harmful and useless. Let's explain this with a simple calculation. The government says that it has 8 million individuals, among employees and retirees, who are registered in the social protection program, and that their total owed is equal to 6 billion dollars (approximately 6 trillion dinars), and that half of these - 4 million people - are employees. And because the government gets $ 3 billion in revenue from selling oil, the exchange rate must be reduced by 50% (until we get 6 trillion dinars), so that the dinar exchange rate falls to 1800 dinars per dollar. 

However, the goal will not be achieved, which is to double the oil revenues in dinars to cover the salaries of 8 million people. Because half of these people, who are retired, and social protection, are among the segments that need support, meaning that the government will support and compensate for the decline in the purchasing value of their salaries due to the devaluation of the currency to keep it with the same purchasing power before the reduction. In other words, what the government gets from reducing the exchange rate, which is 3 trillion dinars, will go to support these groups and to cover other expenses whose real value will not change in the event of a reduction in the exchange rate. 

Thus, the outcome will be zero, so the reduction is useless, and as a result, the segment of employees will be affected, and bribery and corruption will increase while the government tries to eliminate it. In other words, what the government gets from reducing the exchange rate, which is 3 trillion dinars, will go to support these groups and to cover other expenses whose real value will not change in the event of a reduction in the exchange rate. Thus, the outcome will be zero, so the reduction is useless, and as a result, the segment of employees will be affected, and bribery and corruption will increase while the government tries to eliminate it. In other words, what the government gets from reducing the exchange rate, which is 3 trillion dinars, will go to support these groups and to cover other expenses whose real value will not change in the event of a reduction in the exchange rate. Thus, the outcome will be zero, so the reduction is useless, and as a result, the segment of employees will be affected, and bribery and corruption will increase while the government tries to eliminate it.

The successive governments live in the chaos of planning to the point that the government has not been able to control even the amount of borrowing required to fill the financial deficit, and the citizen has the right to suspect that the difference between the amount requested by the Ministry of Finance and the amount that was voted on was intended to steal, and he did not disclose to us. Parliament, how did the amount diminish, and what was covering that difference? After reducing it, we were not able to know what are the chapters for its disbursement due to the absence of the budget. In the disability law, there are only numbers that refer to sections such as investment, and we do not know exactly what is this investment?

The survival of the Iraqi economy in the hands of non-specialists who plan for it according to their whims means that Iraq as a country will go to the abyss.

https://iraqakhbar.com/2768760