Economic expert Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani highlighted the decision of the Central Bank of Iraq to stop dealing with the electronic platform for dollar transfers abroad, noting that “this decision comes in the context of regulating financial transfer operations and strengthening relations with American banks in a way that ensures greater transparency.”
Al-Mashhadani added during his interview with “Al-Jarida” that “the Central Bank was previously working to enhance bank balances to meet the requirements of foreign trade, but reports from the US Federal Reserve and the US Treasury revealed the existence of unverified transfers, which led to the smuggling of funds and the financing of terrorism.”
He explained that “reports showed that one of the banks transferred about six billion dollars in six months, a number that greatly exceeds the actual volume of imports to Iraq according to data issued by government agencies and international trade centers.”
Al-Mashhadani pointed out that “the Central Bank resorted to the electronic platform to audit transfers, in cooperation with the Treasury and American banks, which led to a reduction in illegal transfers, but it also affected the stability of the exchange rate in the parallel market due to traders’ reliance on this market to finance their operations with the sanctioned countries.”
He stressed that “the Central Bank has allowed local banks for years to form partnerships with American banks to facilitate transfer operations, and now banks that have partnerships with correspondent banks, such as Citibank, continue their operations according to the new mechanism,” adding that “the decision does not mean stopping transfers, but rather regulating them, with the possibility of using alternative currencies such as the Turkish lira, the euro, the Chinese yuan, and the Emirati dirham.”
Al-Mashhadani concluded his speech by pointing out that “the negative impact of the decision on the exchange rate in the parallel market may be temporary, and the picture is expected to become clearer in the coming days.”
