February 4, 2012

News About Iraqi Dinar

Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rate

Currency Exchange News

* Smorgasbord (Abundance/Plethora/Many) of Rumors: Found on 1D 7/7/10

Rumor thru Sandi at CC: Small Denom’s

[sandi771969] Date: Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 2:17 PM From DV Hi, I work at one of the largest bases here in Iraq …… I was in the warka bank here on base yesterday and the bank manager told me that he has all the smaller dinar bills (1’s 5’s 10’s 20’s 50’s 100’s and 500’s) in his bank right now but he can’t release them until the RV. I hope that news will keep you all smiling Keep the faith it coming soon.

Info from Minigranvan about Citibank 7/7

From Minigranvan

I called my guy at Citi bank today to talk to him about my dinar and dong investment. Before I could even finish talking he said “WOW-that stuff is going soon and high” “Where are you depositing your funds?” I nearly fell out of my chair. This is a true story.

Next post from Minigranvan

OK here go’s—this is a true story. I spoke with him yesterday. It was a branch of Citibank. He did not give rate-I did not ask. It is MY banker, at MY bank and it was ME that made the call. I will not now, or ever give out, phone, address or name of this person, he has been too good to us to compramise his situation at the bank.
Hope this makes all of you happy.

RV consensus and forcast as promised Today at 10:51 am

I promised I would speak with everyone and post sometime today. The people I have spoken to (except 3) were currency investors as well. This is a summary of what I was told by what I would called educated, and very familiar with the Iraqi people. Only one is from Iraq.

The take on Iraqi electoral issues. This can go a number of ways. It would appear that Talabani will be the president again. This seems to please almost everyone. Well he has done a good job. The speaker seems to be easy to fill but is a tossup. Some of the political eggheads seem to believe that Madhi may be the new speaker. (I personally don’t know whether or not this would happen or not.)
We have all been waiting on the prime minister role to be chosen and this of course is the big focus know. I few actually feared that the same thing would happen in an alliance with Iraqiya and State of Law (SOL… Haha) whereas the State of Law would continue to say Maliki is the only choice for PM. Then we miss the deadlines again. Others believe that very soon Maliki will concede to a lesser position that would include powers in other ministry. There reason for belief of Maliki’s fight for PM is because of protection and that the position may provide him just that. (I really don’t believe that is the case) But whatever. Most of the people I have spoken with agree that there will be an agreement at the very last minute and the composition would be Allawi – PM, Talibani – President, Madhi or Jafaari, – Speaker (Which for some reason in my mind that is absurd but I relaying opinions received. I believe speaker will be someone we haven’t really been hearing about) Maliki will have some role of power but it’s doubtable over anything to do with the military or money. (It is possible though!)
July 14th is a comfortable date for most I’ve spoke with relating to the seating. This is solely based on past history of Iraqi individuals and organizations doing things at the very last minute. We have to understand that their culture is not the same as ours. Much like Vietnam, there is not necessarily a win-win outcome in everyone’s mind as in western cultures. Its, “I out-performed the other or received more of a benefit. Some may disagree with this statement. Biden IMO did not scare anyone. They will do what they are going to do and we will let them implement democratic process even if it takes a bit longer because of diplomacy.
This doesn’t mean that the RV will happen the second when they are seated. Everyone I spoke with laughed and said wishful thinking. They said: “The Speaker is going to call and say. Its’ all good now. You can lift the 7, and we will be on about our business.” Yeah right. There are still things that need to get lined up prior to the release. Reporting sucks, they are not very accurate, and do not necessarily prove to anyone that they can provide sufficient financial oversight for their own country. There are companies lined up to get into Iraq and the country is a very attractive candidate for foreign direct investment for a number of reasons (which could also imply that the RV may not get over a dollar but it depends)
The month of August has been said to be an optimal time to RV. July, no way. One professor explains that during the period of religious fast would be the perfect time for them to RV due to reduced activity levels and that anytime during July would be absolute chaos for them. Another contends an in-country rate of 3+ dollars would be out of control and hyperinflation. (This I can see but this one is not an investor and doesn’t believe that it will happen for a while.) I explained that contractors are waiting for payments in better currency and that the country is in hideous shape and this is one of the reasons many believe it will RV soon. The responses I received were: “Why, so they have a bill collector that tells them pay me now. And? GE hasn’t moved yet to flip the switch so they will just not… flip the switch. The country has been poor for and the people have been without water and electricity for some time. So, What is the rush now?
Lastly I was told that there are consultants there know getting them in order to have an organized playing field before October.
So with all said. June 14th…. The seating…… July 26th, GE yawns and says we’ll just wait. August… They don’t eat and pray that in a few weeks they will wake up and have electricity and can drink water with their meals. Mid-August, their paperwork will be acceptable and chapter 7 will be gone. Shortly afterwards… RV Oh. As for the rate, the most they believe is 1.75 and said that was pushing it.

No one really made any mention of VIetnam other than the currency will appreciate but they will not see a overly dramatic change in the next 6 months but it is an awesome investment choice and we should buy.

Apoloo Chat at DS

apolloo says to (08:48:16):
I have a friend who lives in HILLA Iraq and we email back and forth sometimes,
I wass going to email him this morning and ask him how things were and whats up on the street
and when I went to my email, there was a letter there from him
this guy is a professor and is not very active on the streets so when stuff gets to him, it has really pilfered down through the crowds a bit
the info we are seeing about the articles on Maliki being hated and thought of as a crook are true
here is a bit of his email that pertains to this
Maliki lost all popularity in the street (along with Dawa, SCIRI and almost the rest of the religious parties). People are accusing him of all sorts of things and I would never be surprised to know for certain he is a thief. (You must have heard about the Rafidian Bank robbery lately.
People say that it is done by a special force under Maliki’s command.) Gradually, he is proving to be another Sadam. Sad as it is, this is how most o the politicians in the front are. As for peaceful exchange of power to take place soothly, it needs a lot of time.
It is all about political rivalary and dominance. Corruption is everywhere and the country is like a wooden shack infested with termites (bad ones, not like our friend Mighty Mite!!). WE need a terminator, and I wouldn’t mind one in the style of Schwarzenegger. He will prove very handy!!
lol he referred to Terminator as Mighty Mouse (mighty mite)
they are ready for a new govt
and people are sick of M
thats all just wanted to share

yw, this guys is super nice and if he is saying this then you can bet your booty its all over IRaq like this
he is Iraq, not American
born and raised there
guardian says to (08:53:37):
sure does confirm what we know
apolloo says to (08:54:01):
yep, I never trust the articles 100% until I get people from there confirming
so when you see the articles that are negative towards Maliki, those are the ones you can believe

also pay attention to the NEWS SOURCE that is putting out those articles b/c those are probably the ones that are most accurately reporting the truth

Apolloo, Mighty Mite was cartoon way back. I think he was in fact a termite.
apolloo says to (08:55:23):
yes, you are correct
he is a professor of literature, so that would make better sense
pretty funny that he has probably studied early American cartoons in literature
all???

we studed Moby Dick he studied Mighty Mite

The problem the US has had when helping place both Saddam and the Maliki, is that when you’re pulling from a snake pit, you’re most likely to pull out a snake

all it would take is a few like our founding fathers to rise above it all
and get some great things done

tmac096 says to (09:00:15):
Allawi is the best we have over there and I pray to God he is kept alive long enough to lead the people out of this mess.
apolloo says to (09:00:57):
yea, but Allawi is just a start. He is not a saint either, but he is the most consistent with our goals

Allawi said some rather disturbing things concerning Israel the other day in an interview I watched
apolloo says to (09:01:54):
ok, I have to go also, just wanted to give you guys a perspective from someone who lives, eats and breaths Iraq everyday.

* Biden calls to divide power between Alawi and Maliki

Wednesday, July 07, 2010 10:11 GMT

US Vice President Joseph Biden supports power partition between State of Law Coalition and Al Iraqiya Coalition, an informed source told Alsumaria News reporting about Biden’s meetings with Iraqi political leaders.

The US Administration put forth an Arab supported alternative plan to opt for Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi as a compromise candidate if head of Al Iraqiya List Iyad Allawi and Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki refuse the political proposal, the source noted.

Biden’s proposal stipulates to name Iyad Allawi as President while introducing some amendments that allow him to attend ministerial council meetings, yet, without amending the President’s authorities by virtue of the Constitution. Biden’s proposal calls to keep Nuri Al Maliki as Prime Minister since his list rallied the majority of Shiite votes in Iraq.

LINK

* Invitations to reconsider the management of financial resources

07/08/2010

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ar&tl=en&u=http://alforattv.net/index.php%3Fshow%3Dnews%26action%3Darticle%26id%3D46622&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhgOpJ9oAfhpeqZIjUPiijytYt65Rg

Saw the Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation of the former Iraqi Mahdi Al-Hafiz, the best solution he sees to the dilemma of the Iraqi economy growing is «to reconsider in the pattern of management of financial resources to be distributed in a scientific and fair, taking into account the basic needs of citizens and protect the interests of the country».

He said in a statement to «life» that the nature of the Iraqi economy is transformative in nature, pointing out the absence of any fixed formula for the economy in the pattern of production and forms of ownership and attributed this situation to the transition of political power and total dependence on oil revenues.  He said that «the mismanagement of financial resources and lack of economic vision set out in Iraq is very important, we must seriously address the full».

The identification of the economic vision is an important element to reveal the future and ways to address the constraints, and considered the issue of financial mismanagement fateful steadily worsening, especially in light of touch everyone from the spread of the phenomenon of corruption.

He said: «is not reasonable that Iraq shall have the balance of the large oil resources in excess of 70 billion dollars and hear every day about the theft and financial breakthroughs as a precedent», calling to address this phenomenon.

On the nature of the activity of the Iraqi private sector and the challenges it faces, pointed to a lack of focus required to determine the nature of the sector and the priorities of development, because it is operating a free and far from official obstacles, and called for the need for coordination with companies and foreign institutions and to encourage production companies in an active manner

He added that the loans have had an important role and is still in the development of the private sector, there is also a need to take full advantage of external financial assistance, that the form of loans or grants or aid.

He concluded that the keeper the solution lies in forging a new economic and review the management of financial resources, and peace of salaries and taxation, and restriction of import to restore the social balance and ensure the rights of the country.

He pointed out that a great weakness of the economic policy in Iraq is the «not touch the strategic directions of economic policy of the State, which must be redressed everyone».

* Perspective of Investment, author unknown, Currency Chatter, 7/7/10 (good read)

Comment – I thought it might be appropriate to talk about our investment at this time while the political mess unwinds itself. I know there are some of you out there that do not understand nor do you believe in the potential of what is happening to this investment. How is it that a currency can go from no value (no international value) to all of a sudden have a value worth many times our initial investment that is recognized worldwide. I ask you to consider the following:

 First lets examine the down side of this investment as all investments have a down side. What we are invested in is the future democracy of Iraq through it’s currency. The reason we have been allowed to invest in this currency is because Geo. Bush gave us this right through legislation passed in 2003 that “allowed US citizens to invest in the future of Iraq”. At the time (2003) Geo. Bush also stated to the American people that “this is a war that will pay for itself”. Up until December 2008 any US bank that dealt in foreign currencies and wanted to participate could freely buy or sell Iraqi dinar to the public. Chase, Bank of America, Regents, Wachovia and Wells Fargo were just some of the banks that were dealing in Iraqi dinars. On the 20th of December 2008 almost all banks discontinued the sale of dinar at the same time under the interpretation of the US Treasury OFAC laws which states that any State or any organization, or individual deemed a hostile to the United States or any civilized western government, through money laundering or terrorism, or other activities deemed illegal, that the US government would not allow any business or any organization or bank to do business with. The OFAC list is universal and honored by almost all civilized western governments. Iraq remains on this list even today. This list is produced by the US Treasury and enforced by the US government. The muscle in Ofac is that if a country violates this law that the US will retaliate by not doing business with it and potentially exclude that country from the international banking system. The US has recently used this muscle with the Swiss bankers and as a result they are for the first time in their history releasing lists of US tax evaders to our IRS and Treasury departments. This same law still applies today and also applies to countries like Iran and North Korea. If you were to walk into a western bank today any where in the world, you could not purchase or sell these currencies under the OFAC law. This leaves only currency dealers like Dinar Trade, Safe Dinar and a handfull of other registered currency dealers with the ability to buy and sell dinars. Somehow they are able to operate outside of OFAC when dealing with Iraqi dinars. Today I bought another 1,250,000 dinars at a cost of $1349.00. The buy back is $880 per million dinars. This means my downside risk is 17%. My biggest risk is that Iraq will disintigrate from where it is to anarchy or there will be a secular civil war. I believe that the international community will not let this happen and I don’t believe Iraq will let this happen either. IMO there is just too much at stake as the future energy supplies are needed desperately because resources from countries such as Saudia Arabia and other oil producing nations are now and in the future going to be going down as the “easy” oil is depleted. What I bought today is the currency of a country sitting on an ocean of oil. A country that is economically on the rise. What I bought was currency from a country that is predicted by all to be the biggest producer of the most in demand product both now and for the next 20 years and again my downside risk IMO is only 17%. My personal belief is that this is a no brainer investment. I have made many investments in my life in stocks, land (most of which I’m still sitting on) and businesses. Many of which turned out to be bad with no bottom. All of you who have known me for a long time have heard me say at different times of my life, ” I would rather have the money I’ve invested and lost rather than the money I have. I would be better off”. With Iraqi dinars I feel that my investment is known, safe, and has a bottom while the upside potential is unlimited. So to me this is a once in a lifetime opportunity as an investment goes. In my lifetime I will never see this kind of investment opportunity again and I can assure you nether will you. If you are following this investment closely then you will agree with me. Iraqi dinars are not going down from here.

 Since March 7th when Iraq held its’ elections all of us have been on hold. The elections were suppose to be held in January 2010 so it goes back even before March. The political mess has been less than interesting to me. I would just like to see them get settled. We are in month seven if you figure they should have held the elections in January and still do not have a clear resolution to this political mess. Seven months seems like a lifetime as we sit and wait. By now anybody following this closely has been brought to the point of utter frustration as each day of new meaningless meetings seem to drag one month into the next. I am hopeful that this process is coming to a close so that we can all move on from here. The UN is finally involved in a hands on way so there may be a light at the end of this tunnel and there is a backstop to this madness on July 14th, the constitutional deadline. Also the US is also now stepped in as Joe Biden and 4 congressmen are in Iraq as I write this on Sunday July 3rd, trying to urge the process along. Beyond July 14th Iraq runs the risk of the international community stepping in taking control again and solving this problem. If this scenario comes to pass that the UN has to take control of this situation then the outcome will once again be unknown to us as to the effect on our investment. Probably it will delay the change in monetary policy once again but for how long I don’t know. It will just have to play itself out. My belief is and has been that the outcome to this is a foregone conclusion and that the Iraqi’s will not and can ill afford to let it get to this point. They will form a government with assistance and without international interference, albiet last minute and very late.

I believe that the Iraq’s first attempt to revalue their currency was in Nov of 2009. Whatever shut this process down is and probably always will be unknown to us but the facts of November are what they are. The MOF in documents provided to us by Scooter stated that their intention was to have this done by the end of 2009. Then we have both the CBI and the MOF recently saying that they intended to do this on the last big holiday, Oct, Nov 2009. In Nov 2009 Forex’s starting in France and going across Europe showed one Iraqi dinar at $1.49 USD. This was the value as predicted by all at the time to come in at on about the value of the Euro. I have said on many occasions that yes the start date might have been an accident (somebody pushed the button to soon) as witnessed by the fact that the RV was shut down after 4 hours and reverted back to 1170 dinars per 1 USD. A total of 7 – 8 European sites came up showing this rate, $1.49. The fact is the rate was already loaded on the Forex systems. Forex does not make up the rate they trend it. It was scheduled to come out at $1.49, on or near the Euro value as predicted in Nov 2009. Today, 8 months later it is a different time and I believe now a different rate. One, the oil contracts are already in place to take Iraq to over 10 million barrels a day. If they never let anymore contracts out the 10 million barrels will still be there with the contracts that have already been let assuming no catastrophe. Two, the CBI has removed at least 70% of the liquidity in Iraq and surrounding countries or so they have stated. This was just confirmed in IMF documents in the last couple of days. Three, at the end of the year (2009) Iraq was producing approximately 1.5 million barrels per day and today they are producing 2.5 million. All of these facts mean if Iraq so decides to do it they can bring their currency out at a much higher level than last November. That is yet to be seen obviously but if the IMF allows Iraq to monetize the oil in the ground, and that is an IMF call, they are instantly a wealthy country. Iraq literarily is sitting on trillions and trillions of dollars in oil and gas with what conservatively today is called the second largest oil reserves in the world and at present the 10th largest gas reserves. When all is said and done IMO, Iraq will be first in both categories as they are just now starting to explore their oil potential. Remember Iraq has not done any true exploration since Saddam came to power. Also Iraq at present is burning off most of the gas due to lack of delivery systems. There are many who are now agreeing with Frank26 that Iraq will ultimately surprise us all with a higher rate than expected when they become international.

Why are currencies being adjusted all across the globe? When the G-20 met in 2008 one component on the agenda was to decide whether or not the IMF (a part of the UN) still had any capacity to play a useful role in monetary policy in the world given the current financial circumstances. Geo Bush was still in office at the time. It was decided during this meeting that yes, the IMF was important and was potentially the only organization who could make a difference in what was becoming an imbalanced world trade situation. The IMF needed to continue it’s mission but the mission would have to be refocused, strengthened and given teeth. It was obvious to the G-20 that the IMF would have to be reinforced with trillions in new money infused by all G-20 members and given broad new powers in order to readjust world currencies to level the playing field. China and a handful of other countries were and still are interfering with the global balance of payments system that had been in effect since just after World War II. China in particular is taking advantage of the system by keeping their currency at a rate that is far less than what is true value and is therefore placing themselves in an uncompetitive/unfair trade advantage over the rest of world. In essence China was and is sucking up all the money from Europe, the US and many parts of Asia with artificially low cost labor. This is precisely why we have become a debtor nation to China owing 800+ billion in USD that they are holding and 1.2 trillion in US Treasuries Notes they have purchased. If something is not done about raising the value of their currency and soon, you can bet either we will go broke as a nation or there will be a major trade war between the west and east. Europe is not far behind us as are most countries in Asia. China is finally starting to understand this and are beginning to join the world community having come to the realization that if your trading partners are broke, they no longer are going to be reliable trading partners. In addition China has yet to develop it’s domestic markets and cannot afford to have a trade war with the west. That would mean economic suicide for all. For the first time China has started to do something about the value of their currency. It remains to be seen how far they will go but I believe they will do a true revalue of their currency. China will be close but will never hit the mark. In other words China will raise the value of their currency some but not as much as the IMF (US) and the rest of the world would like in a continuing attempt to have an unfair trade advantage on the world. I don’t blame them. They are masters of this game. China is also leading the charge to knock the US out of the saddle as the world’s premier currency reserve but estimates by all experts say it will be at least 10 years before China is considered a reliable currency reserve or will have any real effect. China will eventually be a currency reserve as enjoyed by the Yen, Euro, USD and Sterling pound but now realize this will not happen anytime soon. So for now China is lobbying the IMF to change the makeup of currency reserves from USD to SDR’s but again this is not a concern today or for the foreseeable future. I can assure you that when the dinar revalues, all of China’s fears and concerns about the US Dollar will immediately go to the back burner for the foreseeable future. Until then China will continue to worry about the value of their USD.

 Last Friday, I was asked about gold as an investment by JS a friend of the family. During this year in particular this question has been asked a lot. People are trying to figure out what do I do with money? Where do I put it that is safe? I get asked this question a lot because of the business I am in, …… Gold and Silver. I would say this to all. Gold is a hedge to economic insecurities, stress and problems. If all things were as they seem today I personally would buy gold but things are not always as they seem. Since the democrats took office, and maybe just before, the US government has been non stop printing USD. Everybody knows this and feels that there will be a price to pay at some point. Mostly out of fear gold has gone through the roof as of recent settling well over $1200.00 per ounce. This astronomical rise from $800 per once to where it is today is a direct result of both governments and individuals buying in the face of what we all know has to be a declining dollar. Gold is paired against the dollar as is all commodities and currencies. As the dollar goes down, gold will go up. As the dollar goes up gold goes down. As the dollar goes down oil and other currencies will go up. Almost 70% of all countries in the world hold their foreign currency reserves in US dollars. You can easily see how important the US dollar is to the stability in all facets of the world economy. If the USD drops in any significant way it will drag everyone else with it. If the dollar drops foreign currencies around the world will have to be adjusted down with it as they are backed in part by the US dollar in their foreign currency reserves. This is also why central banks have been buying gold out of fear of the US dollar. The USD is almost deemed too big, too important to fail. That is why the IMF is revaluing other currencies up against the US dollar in lieu of reducing the value of USD. This is why they have raised 11 currencies in the middle east and about 20 other currencies around the globe so far. It is why they have scheduled another 17 – 19 currencies to be raised this year. The world has over 100 different currencies that will be affected before this rebalancing of currencies is done. Back to gold. Both Gietner and Obama have stated they intend to balance the budget in the next 2 – 3 years. IMO the only thing that can possibly do this is the revaluing of the dinar. If the dinar revalued $1 – to $2.00 these statements would be close to accurate. First the USD would strengthen immediately. Gold which is based on the dollar would drop as the dollar went up. Currencies around the world would strengthen along with the USD they are holding in currency reserves gain in value. This is just the opposite of what we see is happening today. As fear of the dollar dropping threatens the system, gold is going up as are most hard assets. It is rumored that the US is the largest holder of Iraqi dinar outside of Iraq. If you google the US treasury and look under the category “Iraq”, it tells a story about the treasury doing an initial currency swap with Iraq to fund their government and Ministries. It does not say how much was swapped but does make reference to billions of USD traded to Iraq. Rumors of 747’s landing in DC with pallets of dinars persist. I have been all over the treasury site but they only list currency holdings of international currencies like the Euro and Yen. The initial value of the “new Iraqi dinar” was 4000 to 1 US Dollar and the rumors are that the US government received 4 trillion dinar or there abouts. If this is even close to true and Iraq revalues their currency 1 dollar to 1 dinar then George Bush’s statement of “this is a war that will pay for itself” will be true 10 times over. Gietner’s statement while doing the few “town hall meetings” he did, that “this government intends to balance the budget in three years” will also be true. You and I will become part of the spark that reignites the world economy as we squander our new found wealth. Governments around the world will at least temporarily be relieved of the stressful economic situation they are in as most western government have Iraqi dinars in their currency reserves. Gold will also drop because the global financial picture would stabilize and fear of value of the USD would dissipate. Both governments and individuals would stop buying gold as a hedge against “the dollar”. It would not be as important for governments to hoard gold as a reserve supporting their own currency. Most governments would ultimately begin to liquidate their positions in gold creating a glut on the markets. So one can assume that if Iraq revalues their currency gold will drop. Of course this senario is wholely dependent on the dinar revaluing. If it does not, I personally will load up on gold as the outcome of the world economy is dubious at this juncture. I hope this gives some insight on gold. Also when the Iraqi dinar revalues I suggest hold off buying gold until it finds it’s bottom. Then buy what you feel comfortable with. If you already own gold, you might consider selling upon the announcement of the revalue of Iraq. As you can see there is nothing simple or sure about world economics and all of the above is my simplified opinion only. But it appears to me that much of what is happening was foreseen and a plan was put in place in 2003 by much smarter, well informed people than you and I. IMO there is coming a new asset class to the world, Iraqi dinar.

By, xxx