After the assets of the Central Bank of Iraq rose to 207 trillion Iraqi dinars, questions arose about how to preserve them and whether the political positions of the Iraqi state are related.
The assets of the Central Bank of Iraq rose to 207 trillion Iraqi dinars, according to new economic statistics seen by Al-Sumaria News.

According to the head of the Future Iraq Foundation for Economic Research and Consultation, Manar Al-Obaidi, the mechanism of formation of these assets must be known, as the first process carried out by the Central Bank of Iraq is the issuance of cash currency, which it usually sells to various government and private agencies, “if any.”

Al-Obaidi added, “The largest buyer of the exported cash currency is the Iraqi government, which needs the local monetary mass as a result of a major dilemma that it has not been able to solve for years, which is that most of the state’s revenues are in US dollars as a result of the state’s revenues being dependent on oil, while most of the state’s expenditures are in Iraqi dinars.”

Therefore, the Central Bank buys foreign currency from the Iraqi government and converts it into assets in exchange for giving the exported cash currency to the Iraqi government to spend according to the sections set in the budget, according to Al-Obaidi, who confirmed that this money is in foreign currency, and the Central Bank resells it through banks for foreign commercial transactions and to collect the dinar. From banks.

Al-Obaidi stated that if there is a surplus of foreign currency at the Central Bank, it invests it in a way that ensures, first, the absence of any kind of risk, and second, investing it in institutions that provide the greatest amount of benefits and returns.

Therefore, according to its established policy, the Central Bank cannot invest this money except in guaranteed international bodies and institutions, or it can invest it in precious and stable metals, specifically gold, since the origin of all monetary currencies is gold, according to Al-Obaidi.

The division of the bank’s assets according to their investment locations represents the strength of the central bank and therefore the strength of the issued monetary currency, according to Al-Obaidi, who revealed that it is not possible in any way to put all the money in one basket, such as buying gold, although buying gold is the safest reserve, but the fluctuation of gold prices against the dollar It may lead to not creating a significant interest from the investment, so the bank resorts to distributing its assets into gold reserves, deposits in foreign banks with very high credit ratings, deposits in foreign central banks of countries with very high credit ratings, bonds and securities, and deposits with various financial institutions.

Al-Obaidi explained, “The most dangerous section of the bank’s assets currently in terms of non-recovery are the obligations of the Ministry of Finance amounting to 44 trillion dinars. In previous years, as a result of the state’s weak revenues from oil due to its low prices and the high government expenditure bill, the Iraqi government was forced to borrow from the Central Bank of Iraq to cover its expenses, and with improvement.” Oil prices and increased government revenues. The government has not reduced its obligations to the Central Bank, and in the event of a return to a decline in oil prices, it may be very difficult to return this money,” indicating that the rest of the other investments, such as bonds and deposits in foreign banks, are the safest and there are no major risks. economically”.

Risks may result from the presence of an emergency political circumstance that causes the central banks of the countries in which these funds and deposits are located to reserve and freeze these reserves, as happened to Iraq in the nineties and also what happened to Iran and Russia, according to Al-Obaidi, and he adds that preserving the components of the central bank, which includes a large part of it. Its reserves depend on the political position of the state and the political dealings of the state before it is economic.

In response to the question that is always asked why the Central Bank of Iraq does not invest its assets in institutions outside American control, such as Chinese or Asian institutions, Al-Obaidi explained that the answer, as I mentioned, depends on the credit strength of these institutions and countries, and there are also some investments in financial institutions in Singapore, Malaysia, and China. But not all investments can be placed and withdrawn from Western banks because of their impact on Iraqi-Western relations.

Al-Obaidi said, “The problem is not how investments are distributed and the attempt to withdraw them from Western banks. The problem is American hegemony over the world, which makes the first country economically, namely China, invest more than $800 billion in American treasury bonds and is considered the second holder of these bonds after Japan, despite All economic conflict cannot completely abandon the dominance of the US dollar,” he added, “Whenever major and giant countries are able to get rid of American hegemony, then let us think about getting rid of this hegemony as well if it conflicts with the interests of Iraq.”

He stated, “Demanding that Iraq, which is politically, economically, and security-fragile as a unit, detach itself from American hegemony and the dominance of the dollar without a global trend to create another economic pole, is a type of economic and political suicide currently. So let us wait what the results of BRICS will be, as it is the only initiative today to find an alternative to the dollar. Will this be able to do so?” Countries can break away from the dominance of the dollar, and then a direction and strategy can be developed for Iraq to distribute its investments among various countries. Is it really in Iraq’s interest to break away from the American dollar?

Earlier, the head of the Future Iraq Foundation for Economic Research and Consultation, Manar Al-Obaidi, revealed the assets of the Central Bank of Iraq and said, they were as follows:
* Securities and bonds 71 ​​trillion Iraqi dinars
* Debts to the Ministry of Finance 45 trillion Iraqi dinars
* Balances with external banks 26 trillion Iraqi dinars
* Balances with external central banks 24 trillion Iraqi dinars
* Loans granted within the Small and Medium Enterprises Initiative 12.6 trillion dinars
* Existing gold reserves 12 trillion dinars
* Accounts with international organizations 12 trillion Iraqi dinars
* Foreign exchange reserves in bank vaults 443 billion dinars
* Balances with banks Local 153 billion dinars
*Total assets 207 trillion Iraqi dinars.

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