Newspapers issued in Baghdad today, Thursday, September 14th, followed the visit of the President of the Kurdistan Region and its Prime Minister to Baghdad and Iraq’s efforts to raise the level of its oil production and other issues, including financial inflation.

Regarding the visit of the President of the Kurdistan Region and its Prime Minister, Al-Zaman newspaper said: “Doubt prevails over the understandings of Baghdad and Erbil regarding the Kurdistan region’s share of the tripartite budget that employees are waiting to release to receive their late salaries, at a time when the president of the region, Nechirvan Barzani, and its prime minister, Masrour Barzani, decided to visit Baghdad to meet with the Prime Minister Muhammad Al-Sudani, in order to reach a joint settlement regarding the entitlement to the region.”

The newspaper noted that Nechirvan Barzani said: “The issue of salaries must not be mixed with any other issue.”

He added: "The region is trying to solve the problems with Baghdad," stressing that he will visit Baghdad with the prime minister of the region's government and his deputy to discuss the issue of the region's share of the budget.

He continued: "The region has a written agreement to participate in the federal government," noting: "The problem with Baghdad is not only related to salaries, but rather to the way of dealing."

The newspaper continued: “The Parliamentary Finance Committee intends to host the Ministers of Federal Oil and Natural Resources in the Regional Government to clarify the reasons for the interruption of funds from the Kurdistan Region.”

In this regard, it quoted the head of the committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, as saying: “The committee hosted the government negotiating team with the region, which is the first step regarding the task assigned to the House of Representatives to reach appropriate solutions regarding the region’s amounts in accordance with the constitution and the budget law.”

He added: "The committee will host during the current week the ministers of federal oil and natural resources in the region, to complete the meetings and gather the information provided by the government team to find out where the defect lies."

He pointed out: "The committee will present its report to the House of Representatives, and what solutions could be taken to guarantee the rights of citizens in the Kurdistan region."

While a member of the same committee, Moin Al-Kadhimi, revealed an upcoming round of negotiations between Baghdad and Erbil regarding the oil and gas law.

Al-Zaman quoted him as saying: “There is an upcoming round of negotiations on the oil and gas law from the joint committees in Baghdad, Erbil, and the oil-producing governorates, to agree on the final draft of the law.”

Al-Sabah newspaper, issued by the Iraqi Media Network, followed the issue of raising the level of Iraq's oil production.

The newspaper said: “With the development of oil depots and ports, the Ministry of Oil is moving during the next stage to negotiate with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to raise the level of Iraqi production of crude oil.”

Alaa Al-Haidari, a member of the Oil, Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the House of Representatives, told Al-Sabah: “Iraq is currently committed to what was approved by the recent OPEC agreement in Vienna by reducing voluntary production by 211 thousand barrels per day,” indicating that Iraq is now able to negotiate with the organization to restore or increase the previous production quantity, especially after developing the transport lines to the third, fourth and fifth ports and rehabilitating Al-Faw oil depot to bring its production from 4.5 million to 6 million barrels per day.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Oil is planning to renegotiate with the organization, and the possibility of changing the oil agreement with it and raising production to approximately 5-6 million barrels per day, pointing out that his committee is awaiting the Ministry’s actions in this regard and monitoring them continuously.

The newspaper indicated that, on a parallel level, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs, Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani met yesterday, Wednesday, with a delegation from the Total Energy company and discussed with them the company’s plans to implement the projects recently concluded with Iraq.

It added: “During the meeting, the prospects for relations and joint cooperation in the oil and energy sector were discussed, and Total Energy’s plans and programs in implementing contracts recently concluded with national oil companies, for gas investment and field development, seawater transportation and treatment, and a solar energy investment project to generate electricity.”

As for Al-Zawraa newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, it followed the annual inflation rate in Iraq.

The newspaper said: “The Ministry of Planning announced that the annual rate of inflation is 3.5 %, and while it confirmed that inflation in Iraq is low compared to countries in the world, it revealed a government approach to support vulnerable groups in society.”

The Ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, said in an interview with Al-Zawraa: “With regard to inflation, there is great support that may not appear clearly in the picture from the government for many basic goods and commodities that are direct human consumption and the food aspect specifically.” Pointing out: “The ration card file, which is very important, clearly maintained the stability of prices and even led to their decline in many cases.”

He added: “The price index for foodstuffs and non-alcoholic beverages is more influenced by inflation, as it decreased by 0.6 % for foodstuffs during July,” stressing that: “If it were not for the existing government support, we would have found prices three times higher due to the rise in global food prices as a result of the Ukrainian war and other global crises.

He pointed out: “The rise in prices in Iraq is very slight compared to countries of the world, noting that the ration card file has a decisive role in stabilizing prices, in addition to the financial coverage of the state’s official exchange rate for all imports related to the food aspect, as it had a major role in the process of stabilization and reduction of prices for some materials stabilized or increased slightly.

He stated: “The measures taken by the government or within the Ministry’s plans for the next five years will focus on activating sectors that have a direct impact on the economic reality, such as the agricultural sector, and this is very important in securing the food basket and reducing imports because the greater the volume of imports, the higher the inflation rate will be.” Considering that there is hard currency going abroad,” noting that: “A solid plan has been developed to advance the agricultural sector, and this plan will be turned into measures on the ground.”

He explained: “The most affected by the rise in inflation are the vulnerable groups in society, so the focus, through the ration card and through the social protection network, was to support these groups and empower them economically, financially and health-wise,” stressing the need to achieve a state of balance between commodity inflation and monetary inflation.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency