Iraqi government attempt to finance new airplanes

Rizgar Khoshnaw | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Last week, the Iraqi finance minister, Mr. Hoshyar Zebari, held a meeting with Boeing company officials to discuss the financing of the 10 new airplanes that Iraq has purchased two years ago.

This purchased is valued at $500 Million, which ironically, this amount is exactly the same amount that I, and my partners, have been talking about financing the Iraqi ministry of transpiration for the purchase of 10 new commercial airplanes!! The offer that we made the Iraqis was months ago and we received no response from the Iraqi government.

The most absurd thing about what the Iraqis are actually asking Boeing for is to have their deposit returned! By asking for the deposit money back, which is no more than $100 Million, who in the world will ever trust and deal with Iraq in the future? This is a matter of credibility issues and future trust that Iraqis do not seem to understand at all. I will not be surprised if Boeing did not cancel this Iraqi deal and moved on.

I have a suggestion for the Iraq government to consider and that is why not ask the South Korean company, Hanwha, to give the back the $2 Billion that Iraq gave them only last years for the Bismayah housing project in Baghdad? This entire $2 Billion is cash given to the Koreans should not have been given to begin with since the Bismayah project is actually an “investment” project! How can you call it “investment” when you are providing $2 billion in cash to the Koreans to implement this project? I think we all know the answer and that is Iraq will never ask for this money back since, most likely, too many Iraqi “politicians” have gotten paid from the $2 Billion and this subject will never be open for discussion!! See the link.

The issue of selling Iraq 10 new airplanes began a year and a half ago when I received a call from a friend, within the Iraqi ministry of transportation, asking me to help the ministry to find new commercial airplanes that are ready for immediate delivery since the Iraqi ministry of transportation needed them desperately. I found exactly what they needed and I began to send the information to the ministry of transportation in Baghdad.

When I met with the company that was selling these new airplanes, the owner of the company told me that he had a very unpleasant experience with Iraqis in the past and he is not interested in dealing with them again. Moreover, he told me that if the Iraqis need to make this purchase, they need to talk with me only as he has no desire to talk with them directly.

During the year and half period, I was asked, by the Iraqi side, to write letters and send all of the information about this purchase. I did exactly as the Iraqis suggested/requested and I sent them every possible document about this deal, including “pretty” colorful pictures of these airplanes among other information! I was told that Iraqis like to see pretty pictures of whatever they are trying to buy! No matter what I sent them they always asked me to send more information and not sure why that is! After all that I had provided them, and over a year and a half working on this project, we heard nothing from the Iraqis.

Few months ago, I spoke with my partners about this issue and we came up with a new idea. This idea is to “sweeten” the deal and make it happen. We told the Iraqi transportation ministry that we would consider providing the financing for this $500 Million purchase. Still, we heard nothing back from our generous offer.

So, why is it that I am offering to help the Iraqis with this $500 million deal and they completely ignore my/our help and now we see the Iraqi finance minister trying to convince US banks to finance the $500 Million Boeing purchase? I was offering the Iraqis to finance the exact amount and the exact number of airplane and they did not even talk with us about our offer and never responded to us. May be because we made it clear that we are NOT paying any Iraqi “officials” to get this deal done?

Most Iraqi “politicians” not only corrupt, but very unqualified, unprofessional and uneducated and I have no idea how these people are placed in such sensitive and important positions. Iraq will never prosper as long as they have too many unqualified personnel running the show in Baghdad!

To show how unprofessional and lazy most Iraqis are, below this article, I included a “copy-paste” a portion of “tender offering” by Iraqi ministry to build a new Karbala Airport. But, notice something very interesting here and that is today is April 20, 2015 and according to the tender below, the “dead line” for foreign companies interested in implementing/investing in this project must submit a written offer by June 25, 2013 deadline!! This date is two years passed and yet it is still on the front cover page of the Iraqi ministry of transportation’s web site. Furthermore, the two e-mail address that they have included in the offering do not work as I have attempted to write them many times and my e-mails always returned “undelivered.”

Furthermore, Iraqis are very poor when it comes to dealing with finance and economics and they lack any knowledge and common sense in these two areas. For example,

Iraq has borrowed $3.6 Billion from IMF on March 10, 2010 ( see article below) when the Iraqi government said it needed money while crude oil was selling at much higher price than now ($88 a barrel on the day Iraqi government received the loan compare to $54 now) So, if Iraq can not manage, and the seem to always beg foreign countries to help them, when oil was selling at more than 50% of the current price, then how will they repay the new loans that they are currently asking for from the IMF as well as the $5 Billion bond they are trying to issue when oil has dropped to this level? If indeed the Iraqi government managed to succeed in issuing the $5 billion bond, I truly believe that the investors will not see this money back. Iraqis are not known to be savvy in finance, on the contrary, they lack true knowledge/experience in international finance and economics.

MIDDLE EUPHRATES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT
AIRSIDE INFRSTRUCTURE, LANDSIDE INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES

The Ministry of Transport(MOT)of the Republic of Iraq, hereby invites contractors to participate in a prequalification procedure with a view to participating in a subsequent International tendering procedure for the award of a contract for the construction of the Airside and Landside Infrastructure of a new airport to be built near Holly Kerbala Governorate,Iraq, named the Middle Euphrates International Airport(MEIA).

interested Contractors upon submission of written request of registration to the following email addresses: www.motrans.gov.iq
Email : [email protected]

Prequalification s will be issued starting from 25 May 2013 to the registered Contractors.The deadline for submitting the application of prequalification is 25th June 2013 at 12:00 noon at local time. Interested contractors, according to their qualifications and capability.

IMF Provides $3.6 Billion Loan to Iraq
IMF Survey online
March 04, 2010
• Two-year deal to support Iraq
• Policy reforms to strengthen economic outlook
• Rising oil prices and production will help the economy
The IMF approved a $3.6 billion loan to help Iraq as it struggles with high deficits and falling government revenues due to lower than anticipated oil prices, the organization said.