{Economic: Euphrates News} The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, said on Saturday that the Central Bank is working to ban dealing in dollars internally, pointing out that the electronic platform ends at the end of next year.
Al-Alak said in a press statement that “the central bank views the exchange rate as directly related to the general level of prices in the country, and that the bank succeeded in covering the needs of importers at the official rate,” stressing that monetary policy succeeded in maintaining the general level of prices through the most important indicators for inflation, which witnessed a decline, and this is the main issue that the central bank focuses on in the success of its monetary policy.
“Maintaining the overall level of prices and low inflation marks the success of monetary policy, especially after real traders engaged in the official rate conversion process that gave us confidence in the conduct of foreign trade,” he added.
the electronic platform
He pointed out that “the electronic platform witnessed at the beginning of its work many difficulties that led to the reluctance of some to enter it,” noting that “the implementation rate in the electronic platform has now increased from 20 percent to 95 percent, and this gave our reassurance that access to the platform gives speed and security.”
He pointed out that “entering the electronic platform in the external transfer process avoids all parties from the risk of being exposed to local and international sanctions,” warning some traders who cannot work in an organized atmosphere, and are looking for chaos, and that the Central Bank is working to encircle this challenge in coordination with the government to besiege these groups that are being diagnosed and followed up.
Al-Alaq indicated that “the central bank sales, 90% of them for the purposes of remittances and external transfer, and they are proceeding smoothly and at the official rate (1320), but the problem lies in the monetary aspect, which represents 10 percent of internal daily sales,” noting that “the ten percent is enough to meet the needs of travelers, but some try to dominate by withdrawing the amount allocated to travelers, which generates pressure and increase in the cash price, and these parties are personalized and they carry out illegal and criminal operations.”
Al-Alak revealed a process of development of the cash sale system for the traveler within (System) prepared by exchange companies, and it is being developed to fill gaps, and repetition and does not accept repetition and the unreal traveler,” he denied, denying that there is a tendency to stop selling cash dollars to travelers, and that the Central Bank has no problem in covering the correct and legitimate applications within the classifications (travelers – study – treatment – special transfers) as the bank provided this through financial transfer companies (Western Union and Manni Karam).
Direct transfer
He explained that “the electronic platform is now gradually moving into direct transfer between the Iraqi bank and the correspondent bank mediated by an international auditing company, stressing that the central bank cut 60% that does not pass through the platform, but with direct transfer.” Al-Alaq pointed out that “next year the Central Bank will finally exit from being a broker in the process, and that the electronic platform will end next year and become direct transfers as internationally approved, and this is a major shift that will put things in the right paths, accelerate the transfer operations, and intertwin in relations with international banks.”
The fact that Iraq lost 27 trillion
He pointed out that “the idea of linking the exchange rate to fill the general budget deficit is inaccurate, and that the Central Bank is responsible for determining monetary policy, determining the exchange rate within its indicators, and achieving the goal of monetary policy, indicating that “the calculation process for those who say that Iraq has lost 27 trillion of the difference in changing the exchange rate is a wrong process, and that 30 percent of oil revenues do not enter the Central Bank, because the Ministry of Finance uses them for foreign payments, while the second part is that the exchange rate should not be linked in achieving balance in the balance in the budget.”
the American Treasury
Al-Alaq stressed that “the assistance of the US Secretary of the Treasury praised during her visit to Iraq the measures taken by the Central Bank to regulate the external transfer process, apply compliance rules, combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and direct coordination between the Central Bank, the US Treasury and the Federal Bank, and there is a very great American satisfaction in this context.”
Penalties on banks
He pointed out that “the Central Bank is conducting a review and scrutiny process in the diagnosis of violations against 14 banks who were imposed restrictions and denied access to dollars,” noting that “the Central Bank indicated the existence of a response and compliance from the 14 banks on the specified criteria.”
He pointed out that “the US side does not restrict the demand for the dollar, and there is coordination with regard to cash shipments through an annual agreement on the number of shipments and its dates,” stressing that the central bank prefers the use of cashless payment tools through the use of (visa and master card cards), which recorded a significant increase during the past months, and this is a good indicator that reduces the focus on the use of cash, and reduces the trouble of reviewing companies to obtain the cash dollar.
Regulating trade with Iran
Al-Alaq added that “there are talks that are held continuously to organize the import process from the Iranian side in a way that does not expose Iraq to any problems of violating sanctions and agreements,” noting that “the central bank will reach a clear formula in regulating the trade process, especially since part of it is done through barter.”
He pointed out that “an agreement obtained the settlement of the debts owed to Iraq from Iranian gas imports through a new method through which these amounts are paid.”
Adoption of new currencies
He pointed out that “there is work to adopt the UAE dirham, the Turkish lira, the Indian rupee and the euro as part of the process of facilitating external transfer by opening direct ports in the currencies of the countries we deal with,” noting that “the trade balance with India is 3 billion dollars, as well as high figures for imports from the UAE and Turkey.”
He stressed that “the central bank has reached advanced stages of understanding in the adoption of the currencies of those countries, which will facilitate the process of external transfer.”
The campaign to support the dinar
Al-Alaq said that “the multi-faceted and multi-party support campaign of the Iraqi dinar is aimed at the supremacy of the local currency in internal transactions instead of foreign currencies that are being curbed, and there is a gradual transition process within the directive of the Prime Minister in limiting dealing with the Iraqi dinars internally, and obliging companies to do so, a large percentage of which responded.”
Industrial initiative and housing loans
Al-Alaq pointed out that “the industrial initiative is not stalled, but the amounts approved for it have been exhausted, which amounted to the size of the lender initiatives by more than 13 trillion dinars,” noting that “the Central Bank raised the interest on the housing initiative to 2 percent, and this is a low price compared to global countries.”
He explained that “the set interest does not include collectors that have previous payments with the new complexes included in them.”
