Baghdad – Mil
The financial adviser to Prime Minister Mazhar Mohammed Saleh praised on Saturday the move of the Central Bank of Iraq towards issuing a digital currency, considering it a qualitative leap that enhances transparency and control over financial flows, improves control over capital and external transfers and supports efforts to combat money laundering.
Saleh told the official agency that “the Central Bank is moving to issue digital currency as a gradual alternative to paper currency,” noting that “this trend represents a qualitative leap in the national digital payment system.”
He added, “This step will achieve many benefits, including reducing cash leakage, reducing printing costs and reducing the circulation of paper currency outside the banking system, as well as reducing the need to print money frequently, which reduces the costs associated with its production and distribution, in addition to enhancing transparency and control over financial flows and the possibility of tracking digital liquidity and spending trends, whether consumer, savings or investment, in addition to improving the control of capital and external transfers, and supporting anti-money laundering efforts.”
He pointed out that “digital currencies contribute to achieving financial inclusion, especially for the least integrated groups in the banking system, which contributes to promoting economic and social integration.”
He stressed that “the transition to the digital currency requires a strong technical infrastructure that includes reliable and advanced Internet networks and advanced cybersecurity systems to protect data and transactions, as well as promoting the culture of social acceptance of digital currencies, starting from government agencies, through their use in collection operations and official transactions.”
He explained that “digital cash will maintain its traditional functions as an account, payments and savings unit, with the possibility of using it via the Internet and smartphones, which will contribute to the development of a more stable and efficient financial environment.”