Article VIII outlines key rules for countries in the IMF framework...
Member countries agree not to hinder international transactions for trade, services or travel. They can't block money flowing in or out without IMF approval. It forbids discriminatory currency actions..
.It ensures convertibility of foreign held currency.
Member nations must convert foreign held balances into their own currency or special drawing rights (SDRs) when used for acceptable currency transactions.
Accepting Article VIII signals a country is committed to open and fair currency practices.
It boosts trade, builds investor trust and integrates the nation into the global economy. Iraq does not yet have Article VIII status.
BETWEEN IMF RECOMMENDATIONS AND BAGHDAD’S AMBITIONS… IRAQ PLANS A NEW ECONOMY
Prime Minister’s advisor, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, confirmed on Monday that the government’s reform policy has not deviated from the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, while explaining that the government seeks to transform the rentier economy into a diversified, productive economy.
“Despite the significant financial exposure to oil revenues, which has made the financing of public spending, especially investment, dependent on oil price fluctuations and the oil asset cycle, as well as the pressure of employment in the government sector, which has absorbed the state’s resources without creating parallel productivity in the real economy,
these are facts that put pressure on the growth paths of the rentier economy.
However, it can be said that Iraq possesses promising economic components if they are employed within a realistic and gradual development vision,” Saleh said in a statement to the official media, followed by “Al-Mutalaa”.
He added, “Strengthening the non-oil sector requires a real shift from a rentier economy to a diversified productive economy, something the current government is seeking to achieve within the framework of its government program. The reform policy currently being adopted by the government has not departed from the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, which are repeated in most of its meetings, official gatherings, and reports.” He pointed out that the government program approved by the Council of Representatives in October 2022 serves as a guide and vision that has been implemented in the work of the Iraqi reform government.
This has been embodied in the transformations in the country’s economic policy, despite the heavy social and economic legacy accumulated over the past years, such as stalled projects, thousands of employment contracts with the government that lead to permanent employment, and the poverty alleviation program, which required reaching two million families in the social welfare budget. He explained that:
“The government has paved its way with the non-oil economy in an exceptional way since it announced that it is a government of services, as it began implementing dozens of service infrastructure projects that were suspended, including starting to build one million housing units and hundreds of school buildings, hospitals, bridges, roads, electricity and water networks.
And announcing a partnership program, especially in the industrial and energy fields, with the private sector, by granting the private sector sovereign guarantees to interact in technologically advanced industrial investment, without neglecting the agricultural support policy that provided sufficient security from the production of grain crops. This is what indicated the decline in unemployment to 13 percent after it was 17 percent, in addition to the high stability in the general price level, which did not exceed 3 percent.”
He continued, “The government is proceeding with banking structural reforms without interruption, in addition to its successes in bringing Iraq into the digital age by improving digital payment systems, and the progress achieved in the gas sector and its exploitation within the development of the energy sector and natural resources, all of which constitute key factors for sustainable economic growth, which reflects the stability of Iraq’s credit rating, with the adoption of the Development Path Strategy as a program to achieve the goals of generating a leading economic sector in development outside the oil sector, to shape the coming economic future in sustainable development in our country without interruption.”
There are no sanctions on Iraq anymore in any way, shape or form. There are no sanctions. You have the IMF today giving permission for Iraq to do whatever they want to do with their exchange rate.
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The IMF has confirmed what is going on inside of the CBI and...inside of Iraq.
That's why you're seeing all of this now being said...Now, they're still in transition legally and that's ok because we can keep them under our wing and protect their currency... But there are no active restrictions that remain right now on the CBI or their currency.
IRAQ IS QUIETLY DISTANCING ITSELF FROM IRAN. HOW IS BAGHDAD BUILDING A BALANCED FOREIGN POLICY?
For more than two decades, Iraq has been trapped between foreign occupation and Iranian hegemony, navigating foreign policy without a clear identity and exploited as a tool rather than a state.
However, recent years, particularly since the events in Syria and the transformations taking place there, have opened a rare strategic window for Baghdad to quietly redraw its regional positioning with measured steps. Baghdad today is not turning against anyone, but it also no longer accepts its decisions being dictated by those outside its borders.
In this context, a valuable opportunity is emerging for the West: Iraq, as it has not been for years, is establishing an independent position among the conflicting powers. If the West wants sustainable stability in the Middle East, it must heed the voice of the new Baghdad.
From blind dependence to balance
For many years, Iraq’s foreign policy was characterized by submission to axes of coercion. Its foreign policy decisions were either reactive or conditional, governed by a fragile internal balance imposed by the reality of illicit weapons and regional pressure.
However, the current Baghdad government, taking advantage of the moment of Iranian instability in Syria and Lebanon, has begun a clear repositioning; a repositioning that does not sever bridges, but one that rejects the possibility of these bridges being built unilaterally without its input and interests.
Baghdad is operating today with a different logic: “a state with constitutional institutions, seeking partnerships, not dependencies.” This balance doesn’t mean passive neutrality, but rather independence of decision-making and openness to all from a position of sovereignty, which the country is trying to regain, even if it means disrupting its previous internal and external foundations.
This transformation is no longer just rhetoric or intentions, but has taken on concrete manifestations on the ground:
In Syria
When fires broke out in Latakia this summer, Baghdad acted with rare speed, dispatching full firefighting teams through the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. This move attracted attention not only for its humanity, but also because it was independent of traditional Iranian coordination and reflected a direct approach to its relationship with Damascus, without intermediaries or parallel military wings. This is especially true given that Baghdad’s move toward Damascus and the Doha meeting that preceded it surprised everyone.
Internationally
Baghdad has reactivated its cooperation with Interpol and handed over internationally wanted individuals after years of procrastination. It also did something more symbolic: it removed the obstacles that had been hampering the BICES information-sharing system with NATO, which had been used politically for internal balances. This demonstrates a genuine commitment to the international system, far removed from the game of axes.
In addition to security issues, Baghdad has begun to chart the contours of a new regional discourse. It no longer acts as an arm of any axis, but rather as a state that thinks in terms of interests and speaks the language of institutions.
In Syria, wheat shipments were sent despite local shortages, as a message of political and humanitarian solidarity that transcended dictates. In Lebanon, it supported the government and state institutions after the recent war, instead of glorifying the logic of illegitimate weapons. At the Arab Summit, the Iraqi delegation played a pivotal role in bringing viewpoints closer together and refusing to politicize contentious issues.
In Yemen, Baghdad hosted the internationally recognized legitimate government and allowed its discourse to resound from the heart of the capital, a clear shift from the balance of power that had previously tended toward ambiguity or passive neutrality.
Why should the West listen?
Because Iraq is not just a “security problem” or an “area of influence” as it has traditionally been viewed, but rather has a real opportunity to become a balancing state in a turbulent environment.
Continuing to ignore this transformation, or treating it with suspicion or patronage, will reproduce the same failures that have characterized Western relations with Iraq for decades. Conversely, however, building a realistic partnership—based on supporting institutions, not individuals—may give Iraq the strength to fully liberate itself from the grip of transnational groups and projects.
If the West wants a stable partner in the region, it will find no more opportune moment for Iraq to become its highest democratic experiment in shaping the new Middle East.
Baghdad is quietly distancing itself from Tehran, without provocation, but it is doing so with determination. It is rebuilding its external legitimacy with rational, non-confrontational rhetoric, but at the same time, it refuses to accept a return to the squares of subordination.
This is a truly Iraqi moment, and the West must listen carefully. Iraq is no longer a forsaken arena or a no-man’s land, but a country learning the lessons of its past and confidently advancing toward a balanced role that reshapes the regional landscape, far removed from blind alignments and vengeful rhetoric.
If Baghdad is given a real chance, it may regain its status as a central state that leads rather than is led, that balances rather than is dragged. But it needs to be treated as a head, not a tail, a partner, not an appendage, and viewed as a potential anchor in the new global economic system, not as a marginal state subject to the blackmail that has exhausted it for half a century.
Article: "The Central Bank embarrasses Iraqi banks: 13 of them are on the violations list!”
Quote: "official data issued by the Central Bank of Iraq revealed that only 11 of the 24 private commercial banks licensed to operate have not faced any punitive measures related to their transactions in US dollars.
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Full list of non-sanctioned banks: Bank of Baghdad, United Investment Bank, National Bank of Iraq, Iraqi Credit Bank, Economic Bank for Investment and Finance, Warka Bank for Investment and Finance, Gulf Commercial Bank, North Bank for Finance and Investment, Mansour Investment Bank, International Development Bank for Investment and Finance, Arab Iraqi Bank..."
