After approving new measures, CBI sells more than +$89 million in forex
Shafaq News/ The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auctioned about $90 million in foreign currency (forex) today, Wednesday.
Shafaq News Agency correspondent said the CBI foreign currency sales in today's auction amounted to $89,236,314.
The transactions were made at an average of 1305 dinars to one dollar for documentary credit (D/C) and international settlements of e-cards, 1310 dinars per dollar for external transfers, and 1310 dinars per dollar for cash operations.
Our correspondent explained that 15 banks and 174 exchange companies cashed out $61,297,626. The remaining $27,938,685 went to fund assets abroad through credit and non-cash transactions, with 11 banks meeting those requests.
Yesterday, Iraq's Central Bank (CBI) announced it would sell US dollars at a new exchange rate of 1,320 dinars to one starting from Wednesday.
In its weekly meeting, the cabinet set the official exchange rate at 1,300 Iraqi dinars against one US dollar. The previous rate was 1,460 Iraqi dinar to the dollar.
The Central Bank of Iraq submitted the revaluation plan on Monday as the Iraqi dinar has lost more than 10 percent of its value over the past months due to pressure from the US to stop the flow of the greenback to countries under US sanctions, mainly Iran.
For years, the official rate for banks and exchange companies was 1,182 dinars, while the rate on the street was around 1,200 dinars.
Amid a liquidity crisis due to plummeting oil prices on the international market, Iraq's Central Bank devalued the dinar in December 2020 to 1,460 dinars per dollar for banks and 1,470 dinars for individuals.
But since December, the Iraqi dinar has wavered against the dollar as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York introduced measures to stop the flow of dollars to sanctioned countries through a state-run currency auction.
The currency auction has been mired in accusations of corruption, money laundering, and the channeling of dollars to Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, using forged bills.
The US has blacklisted several Iraqi banks for their suspicious foreign transactions. In contrast, new scrutiny measures have been brought to scrutinize releasing money from the US to cover imports and other needs.
That has pushed the dinar exchange rate in the black market to more than 1,600 to the dollar, fuelling public anger over soaring goods prices.
