Sudanese Financial Advisor: Iraq will enter the advanced digital era early next year

Sudanese Financial Advisor: Iraq will enter the advanced digital era early next year

26/12/2023

The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed today, Tuesday, that Iraq will enter the advanced digital era early next year, 2024, with a major official announcement.

Saleh told the official agency, “The government curriculum of Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani focused on reform work principles in public administration, which took two basic directions, namely eliminating the phenomenon of corruption in general and systemic corruption in particular, which is the most dangerous corruption to which more than It is detailed within the executive branch, and the second trend is to maximize the state’s non-oil revenues and make their percentage in the federal general budget estimates at no less than 20% instead of their low percentages of about 10% or even less, in order to ensure the goals within the ongoing reform years.”

He added, “Non-oil revenue agencies, which today are led by customs and tax authorities, border crossings, and others, are at the forefront of financial and administrative reform trends. At the level of international indicators, there are three elements that mostly frustrate countries’ efforts in confronting financial and administrative corruption, and they are summarized as follows: The first is dealing with transactions.” Paper documents with the public and direct human communication, the second: direct cash dealing in settling taxes and others and the risks it generates in behavior, and the third: the absence of digital systems in managing transactions without human intervention.”

Saleh continued, “Based on the above, and in order to achieve the goal of the government program in reforming and replacing digital systems in dealing with non-oil revenue devices, an accurate digital program is being rapidly adopted by the government today, and is based on assessment, examination, and electronic collection without direct human intervention and on… According to advanced digital systems implemented with solid national expertise and in cooperation with major international digital companies, in addition to the expertise of the United Nations Development and Trade Organization, especially in the sectors of digital development in border crossings, customs and taxes, Iraq will thus, at the beginning of the year 2024, have entered the rapidly advanced digital era and will There is a big official announcement about this.”

He pointed out that “replacing payment systems and spreading digital usage, starting with digital government collection and ending with large and small payments within economic activity, will crown the new digital era for Iraq,” noting that “acceleration in the use of electronic payments is one of the guarantees of banking work and safety.” And the sobriety of its operations, this is due to the reduction of what is called (liquidity risk) in the banking system due to its knowledge of daily flows and balances continuously without stopping, which makes banks deal with (functions) flexible cash demand that is not shrinking with liquidity or anticipating its loss, that is, without the availability of sufficient information due to the high situation. Uncertainty, which is the prevailing characteristic in the absence of digital payment systems, which simultaneously disrupts and the need for accelerated financing to support economic activity.”

He stressed, “All such phenomena will undoubtedly disappear in the digital banking system, and the risks of cash liquidity will decrease due to the high levels of certainty in the flow of money provided by digital systems in transactions between the public on the one hand and the public and banks on the other hand, within the framework of running a digital payments system.” It has strong governance and financial transparency and meets the needs of the growing economic business sector without the doubts and hesitations imposed by liquidity risks due to lack of information.”

Saleh pointed out, “There is an interconnection between financial inclusion, which means delivering banking services to the weakest segments of economic society, and the development of digital payments, as replacing digital payments includes expanding and upgrading the number of bank accounts, and opening a bank account represents the essence of digital financial inclusion, as it is noted with the development In the digital payments market in Iraq, the phenomenon of the growing phenomenon of opening bank accounts has increased remarkably recently, with tens of thousands of bank accounts being opened daily and continuously, according to what the Association of Private Banks stated a few days ago, which means that the Iraqi banking system is in the process of change and development. “At an accelerated pace commensurate with the new digital era in Iraq, the principles of which were established by the current government program.”

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