NEWS OF IRAQ, 5 JULY

An Iraqi Proposal To Deal In Dinars Instead Of Dollars With Iran

Money  and business  Economy News _ Baghdad  The commercial adviser to the Iranian embassy in Iraq, Abd al-Amir Rabihawi, stated that pressure from the US treasury prevents the Iraqi side from using its official currency to transfer money to Iran, forcing it to use the free market currency, which differs by 10% from the official currency and harms Iranian merchants.

According to the Jahan Sanat News website, Rabihawi said, at the meeting of the Iranian-Iraqi Joint Chamber, that "trade with Iraq is traditionally possible so that money is exchanged with this country through exchange offices or cash."

Referring to the number of decision-making centers in Iraq and Iran, he explained: "In Iran, we have Iraqi offices in most ministries that take decisions on their own, and this is what led to a lack of centralization in decision-making in Iran and it has become a peninsula, which causes contradictory steps to be taken."

Rebihawi believes that Iraq is the best country for investment and export of goods in the region, stressing the importance of using this country for re-export, or benefiting from the advantage of transit through Iraqi territory to Europe or North Africa.

The Iranian trade advisor in Iraq stated that the central bank in this country distributes daily no less than 250 million dollars to the country's banks, and said: "The pressures of the American treasury prevent the Iraqi side from using its official currency to transfer funds to Iran, which forces it to use the market currency." The free currency, which differs by 10% from the official currency and harms Iranian merchants.

                           

The Iranian official added, "Iraq suggested that all our financial dealings in Iraq be in dinars, even Turkish shops buy and sell in dinars in this country. Given the sanctions, this issue is in Iran's favor."

And he added, "Accordingly, we offered the Central Bank of Iran that Iranian businessmen and merchants trade in dinars instead of dollars."

Rabihawi confirmed that Iran is using its frozen funds in Iraq to buy 7 commodities that are not subject to sanctions, in addition to industrial equipment, medicines and foodstuffs.

He continued, "Iranian merchants must convince the Iraqis that the goods Iran exports to Iraq are non-sanctioned," declaring that the country exports 4,500 goods to Iraq that cover about 10% of its needs.

He added, "We must be frank with the Iraqis so that they realize that the issue of the price is very important to us regarding commercial exchanges with it, so that they return to us a difference of 10% of the price of the official and free currency."

Rabihawi stated that since the beginning of the arrival of tourists with the aim of treatment to Iran, brokers began to exploit this point and plunder money by increasing the cost of treatment several times, and he said: “It is true that medical tourism has become popular and has a noticeable demand by Iraqis, but it is subject to the control of merchants and brokers in Iraq There is a disagreement between the Ministry of Health and Tourism on the need to solve these problems.

In conclusion, he added that it was decided to establish 5 industrial cities on the Iranian-Iraqi borders.

 Last week, the Iranian deputy oil minister for gas affairs said that the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity had paid Iran all gas-related debts.

“The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity has paid all our dues for gas, and the debt is now zero, but sometimes there are problems transferring money from the Iraqi TBI Bank to Iran,” Majid Chengy said.

In his statements, the Iranian official did not mention the amount of frozen funds in Iraqi banks.

For his part, Ahmed Musa, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, confirmed, on Monday, that his country had paid Iranian gas dues to Tehran and deposited them in the Trade Bank of Iraq.

He said, "The Ministry of Electricity has paid all dues owed by Iraq to Iran, which are dues for importing gas from it."

He added, "The dues were paid to the Iraqi Trade Bank in the Credit Fund, but the bank is finding difficulties in transferring them to the Iranian government because of the US sanctions."

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