The Dollar Fluctuates In The Iraqi Stock Exchanges.. And An Economist Shows: There Are 10 Influential People Who Control The Parallel Market, 29 JAN

 The Dollar Fluctuates In The Iraqi Stock Exchanges.. And An Economist Shows: There Are 10 Influential People Who Control The Parallel Market

Posted On01-28-2024 By Sotaliraq    

The dollar exchange rates throughout Iraq witnessed a slight decline and fluctuation at descending levels for a week, which left impressions on the Iraqi street and doubts about controlling the rise in the dollar exchange rates.

On Friday evening, the exchange rates of the US dollar remained near the level of 151,000 dinars per $100 note on the main stock exchanges in Baghdad, with slight differences in the offices of exchange companies from one region to another. While dollar prices recorded a decline in Baghdad yesterday, Thursday, on the Baghdad stock exchanges, recording 151,500 Iraqi dinars for every 100 dollars.

The Central Bank of Iraq has relied on the dollar auction for years, as one of the tools to adjust the exchange rate of the Iraqi dollar and prevent speculation in it. 

However, with the arrival of the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, financial revenues improved due to the significant rise in oil prices, and with the Russian-Ukrainian war entering its second year, a crisis emerged. The rise in dollar prices, which agitated all sectors of society and led to an unprecedented increase in commodity prices.

Creating a parallel market

Despite the fact that Iraq sells its oil smoothly to global markets, and receives its value in dollars. Then the journey of converting the dollar into the Iraqi dinar begins towards the local markets, but experts confirm that there is a depletion of hard currency, and it can be compensated for with more modern measures to preserve the value of the local currency and control the official price of the dollar.

Member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mustafa Al-Karaawi, explains, “There is no official decline, according to the financial releases that occur.” Noting that, “If the dollar is available, its price will decrease, but if there are amendments to the procedures by the government, it will return to an increase.”

Al-Karaawi added in an exclusive interview with Al-Mada: “The Central Bank must be serious about implementing a plan to control the dollar exchange rate, as its plans have not yet reached the level of ambition.”

He continues, “If correct mechanisms are applied and the exchange outlets are controlled, as well as control over imported goods and foreign remittances, the government can control the exchange rate of the dollar, as it will have special uses, which will make there a lack of demand for the dollar.” Continuing his speech, he said, “The lack of an electronic system that facilitates the financial transfer process made companies and merchants resort to using the so-called (parallel market).”

Financial Currency Balance

Specialists confirmed that speculation occurs in the parallel market with the publication of inaccurate information that leads to raising or lowering the price of the dollar, and they pointed out that lowering the price moved the solid dollar among individuals and pushed them to sell it for fear of its continued decline.

While economic expert Abdul Salam Hassan explained, “The dollar will remain a moving market due to the lack of a stable basis for it.” Pointing out, “The hard currency in Iraq is unstable, and in the next few days the dollar exchange rate will return to rising, because we do not have a balance for the financial currency, and there is no definition of a correct mechanism for trading.”

Hassan added in his interview with (Al-Mada), “If I had 100,000 US dollars, through which I would be able to control the market, what about the influential people in the market who have many interests, as the number of these influential people does not exceed 10 people and they are the ones who control the currency market in Iraq?”

The economic expert continues his speech by saying, “The control of the parallel market over financial transactions in the country is due to the absence of a parallel market for it in the local currency, and this is what makes solutions non-existent. We, as specialists, have been given a fixed mechanism for Iraqi financial liquidity through which the dollar exchange rate is controlled, and the exchange rate of the dollar has been determined.” A date to consider this proposal by the Council of Ministers, but private interests are the ones who created the parallel market that destroyed the country’s economy.”

It is noteworthy that for more than a year, and specifically since the start of the Central Bank’s work on the electronic platform and the international financial transfer system “SWIFT”, the dollar exchange rates in Iraq have not witnessed stability despite the attempts of the government and the Central Bank to control the exchange rate in the parallel markets.  LINK