Al-Sudani's Financial Advisor Reveals The Reason For The Continued Rise Of The Dollar And Confirms: Short-Term

 Al-Sudani's Financial Advisor Reveals The Reason For The Continued Rise Of The Dollar And Confirms: Short-Term

Posted On 2024-07-04 By Sotaliraq  The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Salih, revealed on Wednesday the reason for the continued rise in the dollar exchange rate in local markets, while stressing that this rise is short-term and does not constitute any relative importance in affecting the stability of the general price level.

Saleh said that “despite the fluctuations in the parallel or irregular exchange market, whose short-term fluctuations are the result of noise from colored or confusing information originating from international or regional circumstances, or the issuance of some regulatory instructions adapted to foreign currency, which some speculators are trying to exploit to generate a trend of fateful profits in the exchange market, it can be said that the fixed exchange rate system in Iraq is still based on a strong foundation consisting of the country’s international reserves.”

Noting that “it is the highest in Iraq’s history through the management of its foreign reserves, resulting from a surplus in the current account of the balance of payments at a significant rate that may reach (positive 7% of the country’s gross domestic product).” Indicating that “foreign currency covers a percentage of more than 130% of the total currency currently in circulation.”

Saleh added, “Given the strength of the official central exchange rate and its role in financing nearly 90% of the private sector’s foreign transfer transactions, excluding the government sector, the dollar-to-dinar exchange rate in the parallel market does not represent any relative importance in its fluctuations in influencing the stability of the general price level, which has become static in its components and trends due to the influence of the official exchange rate factor currently dominating the financing of foreign trade (imports), amounting to 1,320 dinars per dollar.”

 He stressed that “this lack of influence is embodied in the state of relative stability of prices of goods and services to a large extent, as the average annual inflation in our country does not exceed 3%.”

He continued, “Based on the above, and in light of the strength of the foreign reserves supporting the Iraqi dinar, the value of which as liquid foreign assets exceeds $100 billion, the official exchange market, as a general trend, will remain dominant in containing any colored noise or ambiguous information that affects the parallel exchange market in short periods, due to urgent international or regional political events here and there, or in adapting some of the instructions regulating the monetary market, as we noted above.”

He added, "After the decline of the dollarization phenomenon in domestic transactions, especially in contracts, obligations and payments within the country since last year and its legal prohibition, the parallel exchange market has become such that its general effects today only form a narrow economic scope of prohibited transactions practiced by informal markets, and at a rate of 10% of the total supply and demand transactions for the currency."

He stressed that “the stability of the dinar to dollar exchange rate that the country is witnessing even in the secondary markets above is a real and solid stability, and is derived from the strength of the impact of the price and quantity factors of the monetary and financial policies and their integration in imposing overall price stability in the country, and containing inflationary expectations that were caused by the parallel exchange market forces during the past years.”

He added in his statement that “the irregular secondary market, due to the freedom of external transfer, falls under the influence of the official exchange market rate, whose operations are constantly expanding in favor of dealing at the fixed official exchange rate.”

The dollar price recorded a rise today, Wednesday, with the closing of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, reaching 149,000 dinars for every 100 dollars, as the price recorded this morning 148,500 dinars.   LINK