An economist reveals four reasons behind the worsening dollar crisis in the markets.
Economic expert Nabil Al-Marsoumi revealed on Tuesday the reasons for the worsening dollar crisis in the parallel market, in light of the continued pressures related to imports and the shifts in trade routes after the implementation of the new import mechanism (ASCODA) and the activation of the customs tariff law.
Al-Marsoumi explained in a statement followed by the “Iraq Observer” agency that “the application of the ASYCUDA mechanism and the customs tariff has pushed a large part of imports to shift geographically towards the ports of the Kurdistan Region, which do not apply this mechanism.”
He added that “this shift has put significant pressure on the parallel dollar to finance trade with Türkiye, noting that about 2,000 containers of goods enter through the Ibrahim Al-Khalil crossing alone.”
He explained that “this pressure contributed to the rise of the dollar in the parallel market and its exceeding the 1,500 dinar mark per dollar, in conjunction with additional pressure resulting from trade with Iran, which amounts to about one billion dollars per month and is also financed from the parallel market.”
Al-Marsoumi believes that “the dollar will continue to rise until a balance is achieved between the cost of importing through Basra ports, which are financed at the official dollar rate, and the cost of bringing goods in through Kurdistan ports, which rely on the parallel dollar rate.” link