Clare
Article: "Iraq: Concluding Statement of the 2025 IMF Article IV Mission" Quote: "An International Monetary Fund (IMF)...met with the Iraqi authorities in Amman and Baghdad during May 4–13 to conduct the 2025 Article IV consultation...
A highly uncertain global environment, falling oil prices, and acute financing pressures, are taking a toll on economic activity and exacerbating Iraq’s existing vulnerabilities, calling for urgent measures to preserve fiscal and external stability..
Article quote continued: "Building on recent progress, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) should continue modernizing the banking system.. .
The mission commended the CBI for the successful transition to the new trade finance system. Trade finance is now fully processed by commercial banks through their correspondent banking relationships. This has also supported the recent decline in the spread between the official and parallel market exchange rates. Nonetheless, further efforts are needed to further reduce the spread, including by imposing Iraqi dinar usage for car and real estate transactions, improving customs controls to curb smuggling, and simplifying FX access."