Eco
The political and economic scene witnessed prominent movement represented by an expanded meeting that brought together the presidency of the House of Representatives and heads of parliamentary blocs with the Prime Minister on Thursday evening, to discuss a number of vital files and issues raised on the arena, foremost of which are the repercussions of the exchange rate after the central banks recent decision to adopt a new selling rate of 1520 dinars. In a related context, Finance Minister Faleh Sari announced during a meeting held in parliament on Thursday that his ministry faces a binding commitment to secure and pay salaries amounting to about 7.7 trillion dinars on a monthly basis. Sari explained that the government has begun taking a set of precautionary measures and procedures, including allocating one trillion Iraqi dinars through the central bank in order to support and revitalize the housing sector, as well as touching on the revenue side as he pointed out the increase in the percentage of non-oil revenues within the upcoming budget to reach 19 percent compared to only 11 percent in the previous budget. For his part, Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi revealed critical options that were presented to the government to deal with the financial crisis, explaining that among them was the option of distributing salaries every forty-five days. Al-Zaidi indicated that the financial difference resulting from the previous US dollar exchange rate used to go to speculators who monopolized it, while stressing at the same time that Iraq is going through an exceptional and harsh circumstance and is practicing an undeclared blockade that requires concerted efforts and overcoming current obstacles through practical and studied steps.
