Speaking to ILNA, Hosseini reacted to recent actions of the U.S. Federal Reserve for monitoring the dollar-based international exchanges by Iraq’s commercial banks and its impact on trade exchange of this country with Iran and said that currently talking about the impacts and future of trade is too soon and one should wait and see whether the Federal Reserve wants to continue this policy or not.

He added that some $250m was per day transferred to Iraqi banks via the SWIFT system and the amount has currently fallen to some $40m and it has caused devaluation of Iraqi currency dinar as one dollar is traded for 1600 dinars while it was traded 1450dinars before the current Federal Reserve’s decision to monitor the dollar flow in Iraqi banks.

Hosseini said that Federal Reserves’ decision may lead to dissatisfaction and anger of Iraqi people and pressure to the Iraqi government  as well as creating anti-Iran climate in Iraq because dollar was transferred to Iran and for this reason the U.S. took such an action.

He admitted so far there was no monitoring for forex exchange in Iraqi banks, adding that in the past Iraq’s daily oil revenues was $250m and the amount has considerably increased to $350m and in the past there was actually no supervision of the forex market.

Hosseini noted that Iraq’s Central Bank has decided to control the flow of the forex market to avoid corruption and money laundering in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Reserves. He said that so far the most important Iraqi bank, which is in charge of international exchanges and exports, is TBI (Trade Bank of Iraq) whose financial management is in the hands of an American who monitored all activities of TBI, adding that it seems the U.S. wants to control all dollar-based activities in Iraq.

He reiterated that the Federal Reserve action will have no impact on Iran-Iraq trade and said that the private sector in Iraq is keen to buy Iranian products and therefore it should resolve this problem and it can pay the money for their purchases in dinar, dirham, yuan, lira or euro and if Iraq cannot pay the money, it will be definitely unable to import goods from Iran and Iran should not involve itself in this issue. He admitted that although some problems will emerge for Iran’s exports to Iraq in short time,  the weakening of Turkish lira can have negative impact on exports to Iraq not only from Iran but also from other countries.

Hosseini also said that payment for export of gas and electricity is based on a defined mechanism and Iraq has to supply Iran’s required goods in exchange for gas debts and it is Iraqis’ problem to sort out this problem because Iraq is eager to increase its gas and electricity from Iran and if Baghdad does not observe its obligations, then Iran will have proper reaction.

He urged Iranian traders to be flexible and even get their money in dinar because Iraq’s national currency dinar can be traded in the international markets and this can help Iran to get past this crisis in Iraq.

He then said that Iraq’s debts for gas and electricity exports are more than $5b that had been previously reported.

Hosseini said that currently the payment system in Iraq has faced problem and it is not Iraq only which is involved in this problem and other countries trading with Iraq also are facing this problem, adding that since the U.S. Federal Reserve has reduced transfer of dollar Iraq via SWIFT, Iraq’s dinar has lost its value and demands for dollar bank note have increased and this can create problem for trade exchange with Iraq  and currently the U.S. is trying to control the flow of forex in Iraq and Iraqi government should not let the U.S. meddle in trade of Iraqis.

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The unprecedented increase will see total global corporate debt jump by 12 percent to around $9.3 trillion, adding to years of accumulation that has left the world’s most indebted firms owing as much as many medium-sized countries, Reuters reported.

Last year also saw a sharp eight percent rise, driven by mergers and acquisitions, and by firms borrowing to fund share buybacks and dividends. But this year’s jump will be for an entirely different reason —preservation as the virus saps profits.

“COVID has changed everything,” said Seth Meyer, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, the firm that compiled the analysis for a new corporate debt index. “Now it is about conserving capital and building a fortified balance sheet”.

Companies tapped bond markets for $384 billion between January and May, and Meyer estimates that recent weeks have set a new record for debt issuance from riskier “high yield” firms with lower credit ratings.

Lending markets had slammed shut for all but the most trusted firms in March, but have been opened up wide again by emergency corporate debt buying programs from central banks like the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan.

Companies included in the new debt index already owe almost 40 percent more than they did in 2014, and growth in debt has comfortably outstripped growth in profits.

Pre-tax profits for the same group of 900 companies have risen a collective 9.1 percent to $2.3 trillion. Gearing, a measure of debt relative to shareholder finance, hit a record 59 percent in 2019, while the proportion of profit devoted to servicing interest payments also rose to a new high.

US companies owe almost half of the world’s corporate debt at $3.9 trillion and have seen the fastest increase in the last five years of any major economy with the exception of Switzerland where there has been a wave of major M&A deals.

Germany comes in at number two at $762 billion. It also has three of the world’s most indebted firms including the most indebted, Volkswagen, which with $192 billion of debt is not far behind countries like South Africa or Hungary, though it is inflated by its car finance arm.

In contrast, a quarter of the companies in the new index have no debt at all, and some have vast cash reserves. The biggest of these stands at $104 billion and belongs to Google’s owner Alphabet.

Meyer said credit markets still had some way to go to get back to pre-COVID conditions and the ongoing threat of the virus, especially the recent surge in US cases, remained investors’ central concern.

“It is all a recipe for a more challenging outlook than we thought two months ago,” he said.

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“As of May 14, the total unpaid assessments under the UN regular budget and peacekeeping budget amount to 1.63 billion and 2.14 billion US dollars respectively,” the Chinese statement said, citing a report from the UN Secretary-General’s office and a meeting held on Thursday.

Including arrears that stretch back several years, “the United States is the largest debtor, owing 1.165 billion and 1.332 billion US dollars respectively,” China added, AFP reported.

The US is the biggest contributor to the UN budget, paying 22 percent of its annual running costs, a bill which adds up to around $3 billion; and 25 percent of its peacekeeping operations, which amount to some $6 billion a year.

Officially, Washington is meant to pay 27.89 percent of the peacekeeping budget, but a decision made by Congress and implemented by President Donald Trump in 2017 cut that payment to 25 percent, meaning Washington runs up an annual shortfall of $200 million.

The United States also has a fiscal year that runs from October to October, which can make it look like an even bigger debtor at certain times of the year.

The US mission to the UN dismissed the call, saying China is “eager to distract attention from its cover-up and mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis, and this is yet another example”.

It continued: “The United States recently made a payment of $726 million toward its peacekeeping assessment, and per practice will pay the bulk of its assessment at the end of the calendar year.”

It said the total peacekeeping arrears was $888 million, adding: “Roughly two-thirds of this amount is the result of payment at the rate of 25 percent from 2017 through the present.”

The payment of contributions by member countries for peacekeeping operations has a direct impact on the reimbursements the UN pays to countries that contribute troops to the 15 or so missions around the world.

In a report on May 11, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that “there may be significant delays towards the middle of the year unless the cash position across missions improves significantly.”

On Thursday, around 50 of the 193 member states, including China, paid their contributions in full, which Beijing — the second-largest contributor, far behind the United States — noted in its statement.

China pays around 12 percent of the UN’s running costs and around 15 percent of the peacekeeping budget.

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