More than a billion dollars.. Iraqi Central Bank sales in 5 days
The total sales of hard currency in US dollars by the Central Bank of Iraq during the days in which the auction was opened last week amounted to more than one billion dollars.
Shafaq News Agency correspondent stated that the Central Bank sold during the past week and for the 5 days in which the auction was opened, one billion, 447 million, 195 thousand, and 578 dollars, at a daily rate of 289 million, 439 thousand, and 115 dollars, lower than what it recorded last week, in which the selling rate was 291 million, 133 million, and 23 dollars.
The highest dollar sales were on Thursday, when sales reached $294,231,452, while the lowest sales were on Tuesday, when sales reached $286,331,579.
Our correspondent indicated that foreign remittance sales during the past week amounted to 1 billion, 368 million, 245 thousand, and 578 dollars, compared to cash sales that amounted to 78 million, 950 thousand dollars.
Central Bank of Iraq: No decision or directive has been issued regarding the closure of exchange outlets
The Central Bank of Iraq denied, on Saturday, the issuance of any decision, directive or statement regarding closing exchange outlets or converting them into exchange companies, calling for caution in transmitting and circulating news that these outlets are closed.
The bank explained in a statement today that the Central Bank’s statement issued recently stipulates: expanding the spread of cash delivery outlets through all available channels, including ATMs, POC cash payment devices, as well as authorized exchange companies, electronic payment company outlets, and POS electronic payment devices spread throughout Iraq.
The statement stressed the need to transmit news from its official sources, which are published on its official website and verified social media pages.
He stressed in his circulars issued to all parties in the Iraqi financial and banking sector, which included directing banks and non-banking financial institutions to expand their financial services in areas that lack the aforementioned services.
Electronic payment outlets announced last Friday evening a complete closure starting next Monday in protest against the statements of the Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alaq, who indicated that the commissions in the outlets are not licensed by the bank, and announced a plan to transfer operations to exchange companies.
After the Central Bank’s decision, will it lead to a decrease in real estate prices?
Popular circles widely circulated the decision of the Central Bank of Iraq to limit the purchase of real estate exceeding 100 million dollars to banks, and the speculations that accompanied this decision about the real estate market and whether it would suffer from stagnation or whether it would lead to a decrease in real estate prices.
The decision can be summarized as follows: Any property whose sale price is 100 million dinars or more, the Real Estate Registration Department will require the seller and buyer to go to the bank and hand over the money there, then take a deed to present in the real estate sale transaction, in order to ensure that the buyer is held accountable by the bank to identify the source of his money.
A number of specialists and social media users have explained that this decision will lead to a “stagnation in the real estate market,” but these opinions are mostly based on an idea far from logical conclusion, as this opinion is based on the fact that buyers will refrain from buying due to the complexity that will accompany the transactions, and this is an illogical opinion, as real estate transactions are very lengthy and basically going to the bank to deposit the fees money is already present in the real estate transaction in advance and there will be no big difference when the money is delivered through the bank instead of being delivered by hand.
Another opinion was that setting the 100 million as the upper limit by the Central Bank gives a moral boost that this amount is high and must be subject to accountability, which leads to citizens clinging to their money.
The third opinion is based on the fact that some real estate owners will lower the prices of their properties to less than 100 million just so that they do not go to the banks, which is a false belief, as the seller is not really concerned with this process, but rather the buyer is the one who will be held accountable for the source of his money. The seller will never lower the price of his property, but rather the seller will be more welcoming of this decision since he will receive his money from the bank and will be keen to eliminate the possibility of fraud against him or that the money is missing or counterfeit or other fraudulent operations.
However, the opinion that differs from previous speculations, which may touch on the reality of the possibility of real estate prices declining due to this process, is the belief that the owners of corrupt money will not be able to buy real estate in large quantities later to launder their money, as they will have to go to the bank and disclose the source of their money, but mostly the owners of corrupt money do not buy real estate at prices around 100 million dinars, and basically since the discovery of the theft of the century, buying real estate with corruption money has become an open issue and many of the owners of corruption money do not resort to it, which means that the decision will not greatly affect real estate prices or lead to stagnation, except for the possibility of actually besieging corruption money and not the real estate market in general.
Iraq chairs first meeting of Group of 77 and China at UN
Iraq chaired the first meeting of the Group of 77 and China at the United Nations today, Saturday, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement, “After Iraq officially assumed the duties of chairing the Group of 77 and China, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations in New York, Abbas Kazim Obaid, chaired the first meeting of the group at the level of permanent representatives.”
During the meeting, Obaid stressed, “Iraq, as the head of the group, is keen to give priority to the concerns of the member states,” stressing “the importance of strengthening solidarity and cohesion to achieve common goals, based on the outcomes of the ministerial statement in New York, the South Summit in Kampala, and the Havana Conference on Science and Technology.”
The Permanent Representative of Iraq also pledged to “exert maximum efforts to achieve distinguished performance for the group in international forums and multilateral agreements, while preserving the unity of the group and its rich heritage.”
During the meeting, the group’s work program was reviewed based on the common priorities confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, in his statement during the ceremony of Iraq assuming the presidency of the group.
The statement clarified Iraq’s commitment to continuous coordination and consultation with member states, and to work on parallel tracks to follow up on common priorities and defend them in relevant international meetings.
At the end of the meeting, the group’s work priorities for the coming period were adopted, and a number of representatives of the member states offered their congratulations to Iraq for assuming the presidency of the group.
They praised “the priorities set out by the Foreign Minister in his statement,” expressing their confidence “in Iraq’s role in expressing the positions and concerns of member states.”