Wednesday, October 18, 2023

The Iraqi currency auction and World Bank determinants, 18 OCT

 The Iraqi currency auction and World Bank determinants

The Iraqi currency auction and World Bank determinantsMuhammad Hassan Al-Saadi
Since the US invasion of Iraq, the World Bank and the US Treasury have been providing the necessary funds to its central bank, with funds received estimated at 10 billion dollars or more annually.
This money is from its oil sales, so it is placed in a fund in the Federal Bank, while Iraq seeks to obtain one billion dollars in cash from it, while the bank rejected this request, under the pretext that it conflicts with its efforts to stop the flow of dollars out of the country.
Iraq, for its part, announced its need for a billion dollars in cash to support its deteriorating dinar, while the US Treasury is still studying the request. In contrast, discussions are still raging in the internal corridors of the Federal Bank, in light of the absence of a clear and transparent financial system in Iraq, which can Relying on it to receive hard currency, as large amounts of dollars flow to private banks and money exchange shops, which are subject to unclear mechanisms, and there are many suspicions of corruption, money laundering and smuggling outside Iraq.
The US Federal Bank informed Iraq of its refusal to send a shipment of dollars, and considered it inconsistent with Washington’s goal, to reduce Iraq’s use of the US dollar, in favor of electronic transactions, which can be tracked more easily, as US officials confirm that smuggling operations out of Iraq are carried out by corruption mafias. It negatively affects the price of the dollar internally, and undermines the efforts of the Central Bank of Iraq to control its movement internally.
For its part, the Central Bank of Iraq is trying to make some adjustments to the mechanisms of financial work, so it initiated a rapid, phased plan, based on dealing in dinars in the internal Iraqi market, to get rid of the dollar until 2024, by controlling the efforts of informal companies and individuals subject to sanctions. , to buy billions of dollars, through currency auctions.
Government measures would restrict the movement of the dollar and revitalize the dinar to be the only one in circulation in the market, in addition to using modern mechanisms and technologies, and developing the financial system in a manner consistent with the development witnessed by the global system, and achieving monetary stability in the country.
Although there is a suspicion of a political aspect in the American measures, it does not negate the necessity and need of Iraq to develop and automate its financial sector, and prevent the smuggling of its oil imports outside its borders, as this is in its interest and its people, before any other party in the world..

No comments:

Post a Comment