The appearance of Mohammed Saleh, the advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani for financial and economic affairs, saw the agreement of the Central Bank of Iraq and the representative of the US Federal Bank, on strengthening the balances of Iraqi banks in dollars and increasing their number, and strengthening other local banks with balances from a basket of international currencies “a step towards stabilizing the dollar exchange rate” in the country.
Saleh added in a press statement that “the Iraqi Monetary Authority holds reserves in foreign currency, which is the highest in Iraq’s financial history,” noting that “Iraq has the highest foreign currency reserves and high trade efficiency, today reserve currencies are enough for Iraq’s trade for a period (fifteen months), while the global standard (three months).”
He explained that external financing for the private sector is carried out through the compliance platform, which required conditions that lasted for a year from last October to this November, and thus banks adapted on the basis of global compliance to the use of foreign currency for the purpose of trade and not for other purposes that cause problems for the state.
He pointed out that “the agreement between Iraq and the United States indicates a high flexibility in financing the private sector, by strengthening a number of banks in dollars, which have adapted themselves to global compliance and will finance Iraq from major global trade centers.”
Saleh pointed out that more than 85% of the demand for foreign currency is through the external platform managed by the (Central Bank of Iraq), by strengthening the balances of external banks, while the parallel market constitutes only 15% of the speculator market, stressing that this agreement constitutes the beginning of the price stability of the exchange market.
An Iraqi government source, earlier, revealed an Iraqi-American agreement aimed at enhancing the balance of 10 Iraqi banks in dollars, and revealed an increase in the number of Iraqi banks whose balances will be strengthened in Chinese yuan through the Singapore Development Bank to 13 banks, while the number of banks that have strengthened their accounts in Indian rupees with the Singapore Development Bank 2, and other banks will be added over the next two weeks.
