"Iraq is Protecting The Dinar”
Mawazine News - Baghdad:
An informed source revealed, on Monday, details about the local card project recently announced by the Central Bank of Iraq.
The source stated, "The local card means a system of payment cards in Iraqi dinars, which the Central Bank of Iraq is responsible for and monitors, and which have simple commissions, given that all its transactions take place within the country and in dinars and do not pass through international networks such as Visa and MasterCard."
He added, "We can liken this to the issue of making local calls at their usual rates, but when we go outside the country, we bear the roaming fees...
Therefore, any bank or payment company in Iraq, according to the new mechanism, can issue a local card to customers, and the customer can also take another card linked to Visa and MasterCard to use outside the country."
He continued, "Therefore, the issue of establishing a local card and what is said about it (that there is a final isolation from Visa and MasterCard) is incorrect. The evidence is that any Western or Arab citizen now has a number of cards in his wallet and is free to use any card according to his needs and ability to bear the fees and other things."
He noted that "many countries have local cards, such as Saudi Arabia (Mada), which also has cards issued by Visa and MasterCard, and America as well (AMERICA EXPRESS, knowing that it owns Visa and MasterCard companies, and even the Emirates (Jeon), Egypt (Meeza), the Netherlands (PIN), India (RUPAY), Russia (MIR), and Singapore (NETS)."
He explained that "these cards work like any other card (withdrawals, purchases, ATMs, points of sale)."
Regarding the features and benefits of the local card, the source pointed out that "one of the advantages is that it operates in dinars only, and that any transaction in dollars or other foreign currencies will continue to pass through the usual international channels."
He added, "Iraq is cooperating with international companies to build the technical infrastructure. The Central Bank already has an advanced national switch built through global partnerships, and the national scheme will operate on top of this same infrastructure with strict adherence to EMVCO, ISO, and PCI standards.
This means that cooperation with international companies is ongoing, and the adoption of a local national brand for payroll or collection operations does not cancel it." Government and reduce reliance on cash," considering that "the project has developmental goals and is part of the reforms to reduce reliance on cash, support the electronic localization of salaries, and increase transparency, not to close commercial doors."
He stressed that "Iraq does not choose isolation, but rather chooses to diversify payment channels, protect local dinar transaction data from external pressures, and establish an infrastructure that can be integrated (rather than separated from the world)."
He continued, saying: "Since 2020, the United States has sought to control dollar flows and reduce cases of non-compliance. Adopting a national scheme in dinars only enables regulatory authorities to set compliance rules specific to local transactions in accordance with international best practices without subjecting them to dollar transaction restrictions, which enhances internal transparency and spares the banking system the burden of controls that do not apply to dinar movement."
He pointed out that "many countries, such as Saudi Arabia (Mada), India (RuPay), Singapore (NETS), and others, have implemented successful national schemes that are integrated with international networks. These countries are allies of Washington, which confirms that a national scheme does not mean international isolation."
He added, "The point is to implement compliance and transparency, not to deny the idea entirely. This is achieved through the parallel reform roadmap represented by the banking sector reform project, which the bank is
