Central Bank Governor: We will soon work on a national lending strategy

overnor of the Central Bank of Iraq Ali Al-Alaq:

– Bank lending is a cornerstone of the banking sector

– The central bank was a pioneer in stimulating the lending capabilities of the banking sector

– We will soon work on a national lending strategy

– We are now in the process of evaluating these initiatives and taking advantage of lessons and putting them in the right directions

– Our focus in the next phase will be on financing SMEs

– The banking sector has reached the upper limit for lending

– We have more than 70 trillion dinars outside the banking system for trading and this is a very large amount and represents a high percentage of GDP

– We have completed the development of a comprehensive plan and a wide electronic payment strategy

– We will monitor banking services in the field and the extent to which they keep pace with standards

– We will submit a project to establish a loan guarantee company

– The banking sector needs more geographical spread and we commend some banks that have extended to wide networks

– ‏ Inside Iraq and we call on other banks to promote this spread in the regions of the country

– Lending related to the agricultural, industry and services sectors is still at its lowest

– We need to build a central bank-led national bank lending strategy