Ismaik: The solution to the dollar crisis in Iraq is “very simple”
The economic expert, Hassan Ismaik, confirmed that the solution to the crisis of the high exchange rates of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar is very simple.
Ismaik said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, “The foreign cash reserves that the Central Bank of Iraq owns are what preserve the value of the Iraqi currency, and because Iraq does not receive money except government money, and the private sector smuggles its money abroad.”
He added, “The Iraqi citizen does not trust the banking system in his country,” which means that there is a defect that must be fixed.
Ismaik believes that "the solution is by placing the money obtained from the sale of crude oil, the main source of the Iraqi economy, as deposits in the central bank and attracting the hoarded funds." In the homes of Iraqis and also attracting the money of investors abroad, the private sector and investment companies.
Ismaik continued, “The success of the solution is linked to Iraq’s development of the banking sector systems and it being an open and not closed system. Reinforcing his vision with leading regional models such as the Arab Gulf countries.”
He pointed out that “there is enormous money coming from the people and the private sector, as well as investment companies.”
He added that “Iraq only needs development in the banking sector system, clarity in this system and not being closed, because when we say it is forbidden to transfer dollars, and it is forbidden to buy with dollars, and it is forbidden to exchange for dollars, your value will immediately lose and decline, and the currency will fall.”
Ismaik stressed that “the dollar crisis ends when there is a solid banking system, as there is huge amounts of money with the people in their homes, and if this money goes to... Banks will change the equation, and the money of Iraq is Abroad will range, at a minimum, between 200-300 billion in deposits in banks.”
Since the end of the year 2022, Iraq has been facing a crisis in the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar, after the United States took a number of measures to restrict the use of... The dollar is in Iraq and its possession is limited to certain parties, as the exchange rate is witnessing fluctuations and instability despite the measures taken by the Iraqi government and the Central Bank to control the exchange rate.
The dollar crisis has been accompanied by variation in the methods of its solutions and treatment, especially among those who see it as a crisis that expresses structural imbalances in the system. Iraqi monetary policy, and among those who believe that resolving it requires only responding to it in an intelligent manner. link