{Economic: Al-Furat News} The economic adviser to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, revealed the volume of the Iraqi gold reserve at the Central Bank of Iraq.
Saleh told {Euphrates News} “A distinction should be made between commercial gold that is fundamentally imported and cash gold, which is an integral part of the country’s foreign reserves, as cash gold falls within the diversification of the investment portfolio of the monetary authority, and the figures indicate that it is more than 132 tons of cash gold and within the safe range of the country’s foreign reserves.”
He added, “As for commercial gold, it is regulated by a law and instructions subject to the controls of commercial regulations and the Gold Labeling Law, which is responsible for the Central Agency for Standardization and Quality Control, marking and protection of gold assets supplied to the country as a national wealth.”
Local markets in Baghdad are witnessing an increase in gold prices, as the price of selling a gram {weight} reached 465,000 dinars.
An economist, Salah Nouri, revealed the reasons for the rise in gold prices.
“What is happening at the present of the rise in gold jewelry is the result of the increase in the demand for it, every commodity, when the demand for it increases, its price rises, and so far this makes economic sense,” said Nuri Al-Euphrates News.
“But most importantly, why has the demand for gold jewelry increased at the present? I think that the citizen is tending to save in it instead of the dollar, and this is a weak reason, and most likely that dollar speculative traders are turning towards gold instead of dollars for reasons of speculation or smuggling, because individual citizens have limited need for gold jewelry on occasions,” Nouri said.
A source familiar with {Euphrates News} said that one of the reasons for the rise in gold prices was due to (the weak confidence of citizens in banks), so they withdrew the amounts deposited in banks and went towards gold.
Raghad Daham
