A Former Central Bank Official Rules Out The Collapse Of The Iraqi Banking System As A Result Of US Sanctions
2024-02-08 Shafaq News/ Mahmoud Dagher, an economist and former general director of the Central Bank, ruled out, on Thursday, the collapse of the banking system in Iraq following the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on a group of banks in the country.
Dagher said in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, "The collapse of the banking system due to these sanctions and restrictions will not happen despite the continued pressure of this intensity that is harming these banks."
He added that there are no real reasons for these sanctions, adding that the US Treasury only restricted these banks from obtaining the dollar.
Dagher stated, “Because there are no reasons, and because the case is suspicious, it is not a penalty, but rather a restriction on those banks, but it results in harm to them, to the people, and to the import financing process.”
He stated that the penalties came based on the banks’ dealings with suspicious financial transfers during the past year 2023.
The day before yesterday, Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, called on the United States of America to reconsider the sanctions imposed on 21 Iraqi banks that contribute to financing the food basket items for families with limited income, as the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.
In July 2023, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks in a crackdown on Iran’s dollar transactions.
An official document issued by the Central Bank of Iraq this February showed that 8 Iraqi banks were banned from participating in the foreign currency buying and selling window.
Iraq has more than 70 private banks, a relatively new feature in a sector that was almost entirely under state control until the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime after the US invasion in 2003. LINK
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