What happened today in Baghdad banks? Dollar customers will not be patient any longer.. They will close their accounts - Urgent
Journalists are prohibited from entering
For the second day in a row, chaos has prevailed in the branches of government and private banks in Baghdad, with large numbers of customers arriving to withdraw whatever amounts they can deposited in US dollars, amid fears of “banks exploiting depositors’ accounts,” according to a number of customers.
Since Monday morning, customers have flocked to the branches of major and regional banks in the hope of withdrawing their dollar balances.
Most banks still refuse to hand over their balances to customers on the grounds of the lack of cash liquidity in foreign currency.
The media was prevented from covering the situation inside or near banks, with security tightened around most banks.
A number of customers describe the banks’ practices as “organized theft” with fears of “bad exploitation” of the balances of depositors and dollar account holders.
Customer trends were divided into three options: those who wanted to close their bank accounts, those who wanted to close them, and those who preferred to wait until the end of the year.
Those wishing to close their accounts hope that this step will force the bank to disburse the rest of their balances, while others seem more clear by demanding that their account be zeroed out and keep it open without a balance in the hope of using it if the situation changes.
Those demanding access to their dollar balances fear that the banks will postpone their disbursement in order to deliver them after the end of the current year in Iraqi dinars and at the official exchange rate, which means that depositors will lose a large percentage of the value of their deposits.
Customers who preferred to wait do not have large accounts or do not care about changing the value of their balances later, while awaiting a solution from the central bank.
source in one of the Baghdad banks:
We advised customers to wait a day or two while awaiting the arrival of an increase in our balances from the Central Bank, which today disbursed a new portion of them.
Number of bank customers:
The words of bank officials cannot be trusted. We have relied on them throughout the past period, and they have led us to where things are today.
The state must intervene to end the crisis. The dollar problem cannot be solved in this way, which raised the exchange rate in the market instead of contributing to controlling it. link
