CBI Governor stresses the importance of automating the customs and tax sectors

Baghdad-INA
 
The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq -CBI, Mustafa Ghaleb Makhaif, confirmed on Saturday, that CBI decided to postpone the collection of loans granted to industrial and agricultural projects until the end of 2024.
 
Makhaif, said in a speech during the celebration of the (75th) anniversary of CBI founding, which was attended by the correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The Central Bank has worked to establish balanced relations with international banking and financial institutions."
 
 
He added, "In such days, seven and a half decades ago, this institution that you are proud of today, the Central Bank of Iraq, was established under the name (The National Bank of Iraq in 1947), and it was not established without roots as in 1931, the Currency Affairs Committee was established .this committee was the core of the monetary authority and the efforts of the patriots who believed that the country needed a monetary entity to complete the requirements of building the state, "
 
"since then, a long journey began for this institution to establish a solid monetary system in Iraq, and it contributed to strengthening the economic system and walked side by side with the financial authority to assign it as an advisor to the government, and to stand behind it in times of adversity," 
 
He affirmed," The performance of the Central Bank of Iraq for more than seven decades has been distinguished by the fact that it is always at a sufficient distance from politics and its repercussions, powers and fluctuations, so we established authentic work traditions that were completely politically neutral about the well-known fluctuations and circumstances that our country went through.”
Makhaif explained: "The financial administration of the state was, and still is, believing that the Central Bank of Iraq is the support for it and for other state institutions," noting that "the consultations provided by CBI, led to important results, especially those that were adopted by the authorities that requested it. "
 
CBI governor stated, “After 2003, the new Central Bank Law was issued, as its independence was clearly established, its powers and position in the hierarchy of the economic system in Iraq were consolidated, and its observatory powers were also manifested, and its roles and tasks became more clear, Thus, foreign exchange reserves were built to support our national currency, and to secure the requirements of foreign trade. These reserves were also diversified in terms of their quality, investment locations, or deposits. Our banknotes were issued with the highest quality and the most reliable security features available in the techniques of printing banknotes globally through contracting with the best international printing companies. A solid banking system despite the technical and security challenges surrounding this complex environment.”
 
He stressed: "Since 2004, we started planning to establish advanced payment systems and gradually shift to digitization, and we established rules to achieve financial inclusion as one of our strategic goals, by working with the banking sector, which has become more confident that development, financial inclusion, and payment tools are obvious choices that must be addressed, and we worked to establish balanced relations with international banking and financial institutions. And when the Corona pandemic came with its challenges and effects on life and economic activity, the Central Bank was the first to donate to support the effort of the Ministry of Health, and other sums for affected families, in addition to what was allocated by the public finances.”
 
Makhaif continued: "When the Ministry of Environment launched its appeals regarding the risks of climate and environmental change and the transition to clean energy, we launched a large initiative with an amount of (1) trillion dinars to lend to the family and economic sector to acquire means of generating electricity from renewable energy, hoping that this initiative will contribute to transforming society's behavior towards Clean energy and taking into account the economics of its use,” explaining: “Central banks represent the largest repositories of financial and banking expertise, and consulting centers for their governments. In this regard, we hope that the concerned authorities will focus on several matters, which we see as a priority in implementing their development goals instead of dispersing efforts and resources.”
He stressed that "the economic recovery in the state begins with the private sector, and that experimenting with bringing about recovery through the public sector has proven ineffective, and some public sector institutions have become a burden on the state."
 
Makhaif emphasized "the importance of enhancing non-oil resources through automating the customs and tax sectors, and drawing on the experiences of other countries that have introduced the private sector in these areas."