Iraq Is Under The Danger Of Sanctions: The Smuggling Of The Dollar Threatens The National Economy
Jan 26, 2025 Last update: Jan 26, 2025 Independent/- With the approaching end of 2024, economic reports showed an unprecedented rise in smuggling the dollar from Iraq, which raised great concern in international economic and financial circles.
The flow of hard currency is accelerated outside the country, with increasing complaints from the involvement of many governmental and private banks in these smuggling operations,
which threatens to impose economic sanctions on Iraq by international financial institutions.
The escalation of the phenomenon of smuggling of the dollar out of Iraq has led to the pushing of economists and international observers to talk about serious consequences for the Iraqi economy.
Where reports indicate that Iraqi banks, whether governmental or private, played a prominent role in smuggling the dollar abroad through informal channels.
This smuggling is not limited to the deterioration of the local economy, but rather threatens dangerous consequences that may lead to financial sanctions by the major countries, especially the United States of America, especially in light of the increasing suspicions of money laundering and the support of suspicious activities.
The dollar sale rate witnessed a noticeable increase over the past year, to exceed 81 billion dollars, which is an unprecedented number in the history of Iraq.
Despite the Iraqi government's attempts to take measures to reduce this phenomenon, the financial conditions do not seem to be under control.
On the other hand, the Central Bank of Iraq justifies this increase in selling the dollar as to cover the needs of Iraq from goods and services,
but there are warnings that this is a cover for wide smuggling operations aimed at financing countries
subject to international sanctions such as Iran and Syria.
Fears of US sanctions
Under the pressure of international financial institutions, especially the United States, the
Central Bank of Iraq
acknowledged the existence of a dollar smuggling crisis and
announced the suspension of work on the electronic platform that banks were adopting to sell the dollar.
But is this step enough to prevent illegal practices?
Experts believe that this decision may be just a formal attempt to dispel international concerns,
especially since
many obstacles still hinder the effectiveness of the declared procedures.
Economist Dr. Nabil Al -Marsoumi says in press statements that
what is happening now is to transfer sales and purchases through correspondence (intermediate) banks, which are banks subject to less control, which facilitates money smuggling and money laundering operations.
This transformation of the sale mechanism may increase the complexity of monitoring and increase international anxiety over illegal purposes of these financial transfers.
Political complicity and corruption
There are also analyzes that indicate that political corruption and collusion between some parties in the Iraqi government and its associated banks may have a major role in this crisis.
While the government has pledged to take deterrent measures, the actual implementation on the ground seems to be shy.
There are political and financial interests for some parties that run commercial banks, and benefit from these informal networks to smuggle the dollar.
In statements to him, Iraqi MP Mustafa Sanad stressed that
a large part of this smuggled money goes to Iran,
which opens a wide door to talk about Iranian domination of the Iraqi economy and its negative effects on the stability of the country.
These facts reflect the size of the challenges facing Iraq in its attempts to combat the smuggling of the dollar and achieve real economic stability.
Insufficient procedures
Despite the efforts made by the government of Iraq, whether through the Central Bank or the Ministry of Finance, the gap between the official exchange rate of the dollar and the black market price is still large.
This gap reflects the weak measures taken to combat currency smuggling, and enhances the chances of speculators in the currency market.
In highly cruel statements, some experts indicated that the government does not have the true political will to confront this crisis seriously, as the influential forces on the ground, including the major political parties, benefit from the continuation of this corrupt system.
Therefore, the process of solving this crisis remains very complicated and needs radical interventions that start from reforming the Iraqi financial system completely.
Summary
What Iraq is facing today from the crisis of smuggling the dollar is not just a passing economic problem,
but rather an alarm bell that may afflict the Iraqi economy and expose it to international financial sanctions.
Despite the government's pledges to achieve reforms, the current situation reflects the lack of seriousness in addressing the true roots of the crisis.
If things continue this way, Iraq may witness an escalation in international economic pressures,
which will increase the suffering of the Iraqi people and push the country to more financial isolation on the international scene. https://mustaqila.com/العراق-تحت-خطر-العقوبات-تهريب-الدولار/
