Ali Al-Alaq, the governor of the Central Bank, revealed the imminent establishment of national companies and banks specialized in electronic payment and financing small projects, while calling for fixing the price of a barrel of oil in the budget at $40. Al -Alaq said during his participation in the “Miri 2024” forum held in Erbil, followed by “Al-Mutala’a” agency, that “in 2003, the Central Bank’s reserves were $900 million, and Qusay Saddam Hussein seized them on the eve of the fall of the regime, and they were loaded onto a truck, so Iraq seemed to have reserves of nothing.” He added, “At that time, the size of the money supply was about 4 trillion dinars, and today we have more than 100 trillion dinars in circulation (issued currency), not all of the money supply, which is wider than that, and the reserve is more than 100 billion dollars.”
He continued, “The inflation rate (in 2003) was twice and sometimes three times, now it is 3.8%, which is a typical rate that achieves stability and prosperity.” He said, “In 2023, the inflation rate was 7.5%, compared to a rapid growth in the money supply, which was 64 trillion dinars in 2020, then jumped in 2023 to 100 trillion, achieving a growth rate in two years equivalent to the growth rate in 18 years.” Al-Alaq revealed, among the activities of the Central Bank, “the licensing of 16 electronic payment companies”, and the imminent “licensing of digital banks.” He stressed that the Central Bank is participating in “establishing a national company to organize electronic payment operations.”
Al-Alaq explained that the bank “has a plan to restructure government banks, and a second plan to rebuild and license private banks in cooperation with international companies in this field.” He also mentioned that the Central Bank “provided loans of more than 13 trillion dinars for residential and industrial projects, a number that exceeds all loans provided in the entire history of the Iraqi state.” Al-Alaq revealed the imminent “establishment of a bank under the name (Riyada) to finance small and micro projects.”
