Forest allocations exceed 6,000,000,000 iraqi dinar

An authorized ministry source statement said it prepared an integrated plan last year to compensate for trees in forests subject to indiscriminate cutting over the past two decades, especially in man-made forests covering 6000 hectares at the time of the fall of the regime. Forest improvement last year used allocations exceeding 810,000,000 iraqi dinar for development of existing forests and establishment of others, both man-made and natural.

The source stressed the importance of the project, which will introduce new species and varieties of international origin in order to improve the environment, provide economic return from timber production, protect the soil from erosion and runoff, maintain river basins, moderate climate, minimize damage from dust storms, and stop sand encroachment or desertification in governorates in southern and central Iraq.

Meanwhile, 180 farming divisions in all provinces began tree farming on 50,000 sq. m for a total area of over nine thousand dunums.

An official source at the Department of Planning and Follow-up claimed agricultural divisions began operations on their allocated areas starting from scratch. He expressed confidence that the completion of the mini-forest projects in each division will be valuable “seed” experiences for wide future implementation.(Source)Brian Hall

Guarantor requirement for Industrial loans dropped

An official source in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals said on Monday that the ministry has decided to amend regulations for granting industrialists facilitated loans through the industrial development department. The requirement for guarantors and the actual presence of a project’s owner have been canceled, giving necessary flexibility to the loan granting mechanism.

Special requests will be studied by a legal and technical committee, examining such indicators concerning industrial projects as type, energy requirements, and products, as well as ownership of land for the project and the number of workers registered in the computer database. "

Among the conditions to be met by the industrialist are: to be identified in the current year, 2007, the amount of the loan required (depending on the nature of the project), and estimates of the special grants committee of three categories or their equivalent in dollars; the loan to be repaid within a period of four years, including the approval period of one year, with calculated benefits, and the amount of interest on the loan is set at 2% annually.(Source)AlSabah

Iraq currency reserve is $21 billion

He considered that this "breakthrough comes in the framework of the agreement signed between the Iraqi government and the International Monetary Fund," praising the role of Saudi Arabia which promised to write off 80% of its claims on Iraq, as well as of China, which declared its commitment to the rules of the Paris Club. Al-Zubaidi stressed that the 2007 budget, "differs from last year's budget." He pointed out that "the proportion of the budget implementation by some ministries was good while others were unable to do so," emphasizing that the funds "will be removed from the ministries that have been unable to implement the budget and give them to other ministries." He pointed out that this year "has been relatively stable in inflation which ranged between 40 and 45%," pointing out the success of the Iraqi Central Bank in the collection of hard currency reserves, which reached $21 billion, a good amount that can provide reassurance of stability.(Source)Brian Hall

Iraqi dinar demand and exchange rate with dollar rise in Central Bank auction

The bulletin issued by the Bank on the status of the auction showed that 17 million, 380 thousand dollars were cash purchase orders, while 51 million, 610 thousand dollars were in the form of remittances outside the country. They were fully covered by the Bank at an exchange rate of 1260 iraqi dinar, one point above yesterday's rate of 1259 iraqi dinars; this is the first exchange rate increase in more than two months.

None of the 15 banks participating in the auction made any offers to sell dollars to the Bank.

Ali Al-Yasiri, a dealer with the bank, explained that dealers waited for depreciation of the exchange rate to make remittances and buy quantities of foreign currency, but the opposite development led to increased late transactions yesterday once they knew the rate would not fall throughout today and tomorrow.(Source)Brian Hall