IRAQIS RESORT TO “GOLD BULLION” INSTEAD OF MONEY, AND THE BANKING SYSTEM IS DYING, 14 JUNE

IRAQIS RESORT TO “GOLD BULLION” INSTEAD OF MONEY, AND THE BANKING SYSTEM IS DYING

Today, Wednesday (June 12, 2024), financial affairs expert Mustafa Hantoush revealed the reason why Iraqis are resorting to purchasing gold bullion in abundance during the current period.

Hantoush said in an interview with “Baghdad Today” that “recently, the demand for buying gold bullion has increased significantly by citizens, especially those with large sums of money. They have begun to save that money through these bullion instead of depositing their money in banks.”

He stated that “the reason why citizens resort to buying gold bullion to save their money is as a result of the weakness of the banking system, lack of confidence in this system, and fear for their money due to American sanctions. This is why we see the majority of Iraqis turning towards gold bullion, especially in light of the high prices of the yellow metal and the stability of this price and its lack of fluctuation like the dollar.” .

From mid-December 2022 until now, the Iraqi dinar has continued to fall against the US dollar, until it reached the level of 1,610 dinars against one dollar at a time when the official price of the dollar is 1,300 dinars.

With the decline of the national currency and the rise in poverty and unemployment rates, Iraqi gold markets recorded a large demand from customers to buy the yellow metal amid warnings against buying counterfeit ones.

According to data from the specialized website “Bloomberg” , Iraq bought 33.9 tons of gold in the year 2022, while the Turkish Consul General in Erbil Hakan Karaçay revealed that Iraq imported Turkish gold worth $1.5 billion during the year 2021.

Iraq’s gold reserves witnessed a noticeable increase during the month of February 2024, as International Monetary Fund data showed that Iraq had increased its possession of the precious metal by 3,079 tons, bringing the total to 145,661 tons.

This increase indicates Iraq’s continued strategy to diversify its foreign reserves and enhance financial and monetary stability in the long term.

This step by Iraq comes at a time when the world is witnessing a rise in gold prices, as the price reached its highest level in its history last month above $2,400 per ounce.

Many simultaneous factors are strengthening the record levels of gold, especially in light of the escalation of geopolitical tensions around the world, and in light of the state of “uncertainty” surrounding the global economy, which supports the trend towards the precious metal as a traditional safe haven in the face of market fluctuations and dire scenarios that impose themselves on the market. the scene.

Iraq is among the countries that possess large amounts of gold reserves in the Arab region, as it ranks fourth after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco.