Latest news with #IkhlasAl-Dulaimi
Shafaq News
15-03-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
US sanctions threat hangs over Iraq's Al-Rafidain Bank
Shafaq News/ Iraq's state-owned Al-Rafidain Bank faces the risk of US Treasury sanctions if it fails to address regulatory concerns, Iraqi lawmaker Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi warned on Saturday. Al-Dulaimi, deputy head of the parliamentary finance committee, told Shafaq News that Al-Rafidain operates under US Treasury regulations through agreements with Iraq's central bank and an international firm overseeing the financial sector. She said the firm had flagged violations in the bank's operations, prompting a contract with a foreign company to enhance compliance. "Failure to correct these infractions could result in US sanctions, affecting Al-Rafidain and other private banks," she cautioned. On January 30, 2025, US Republican Congressman Joe Wilson accused the bank of facilitating money laundering for Iran and its allies. In a post on X, he wrote, " Under Biden and McGurk, the US treasury and Federal Reserve allowed Rafidain Bank, the largest in Iraq, to become the money laundering machine for the Iranian regime and its puppets to obtain US$. This bank must be sanctioned." The US has since imposed sanctions on several Iraqi banks and is moving to restrict the use of electronic payment cards abroad. Experts warn that such measures could deepen Iraq's dollar shortage, drive up exchange rates, and further isolate the country from the global financial system. A worst-case scenario, they say, would see widespread disruptions affecting salary payments and key development projects.
Shafaq News
08-02-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Halted Kurdistan oil exports cost Iraq $10 billion
Shafaq News / The Iraqi Parliamentary Finance Committee has assessed the financial impact of the two-year suspension of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region, estimating losses to the state treasury at approximately 13 trillion Iraqi dinars (around $10 billion). Deputy Chair of the committee, Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, told Shafaq News that Parliament will resume oil exports from the region via the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline following the approval of an amendment to Article 12 of the Federal Budget Law. Turkiye had halted the flow of oil in compliance with an international arbitration ruling that mandated compensation to Baghdad for damages. Al-Dulaimi stressed the importance of the federal government honoring its commitment to paying salaries to employees in the Kurdistan Region. Experts estimate that since March 2023, the suspension of Kurdistan's oil exports has cost Iraq over $15 billion (approximately 20 trillion Iraqi dinars) in revenue losses. To compensate, the Ministry of Oil has redirected 400,000 barrels per day from the southern governorates to maintain the country's export ceiling within OPEC limits.
Iraqi News
05-02-2025
- Business
- Iraqi News
Iraq adopts budget bill to restart oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan
Baghdad ( – The Iraqi parliament recently approved a budget amendment that permits the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq through the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Operating oil companies in the Kurdistan region of Iraq will resume oil exports at a rate of $16 per barrel, double the previous rate, as a result of the amendment to the draft budget legislation. It is anticipated that this price structure would speed up the return of Iraqi Kurdistan's oil exports to global markets, promoting regional cooperation and economic stability. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government in Baghdad have been involved in a political dispute for several years over Iraqi Kurdistan's oil resources. Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, member of Iraq's parliamentary finance committee, revealed on Sunday that more than $14 billion was lost as a result of the suspension of oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq. According to Al-Dulaimi, the price is changeable since a consulting agency will determine the actual cost of oil extraction, which may reach $22 per barrel. Late in January, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said that the Iraqi parliament had received draft legislation pertaining to the delivery of oil produced in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Iraqi Kurdistan will supply at least 250,000 to 300,000 barrels of oil per day to be exported through the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), Abdul-Ghani told the Iraqi News Agency (INA). Crude oil flows via the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline, which once handled around 0.5 percent of the world's oil supply, have been halted since March 2023 due to legal and financial uncertainties. Flows through the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline ceased when the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris ruled in March 2023 that Ankara had violated a 1973 convention by permitting oil exports without the consent of Iraq's federal government.
