The decline of the dollar deceives the Iraqis, and a banking expert confirms: We need the parallel m

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[size=52]The decline of the dollar deceives the Iraqis, and a banking expert confirms: We need the parallel market[/size]

[size=45]Zulfikar Yusuf[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqis breathed a sigh of relief due to the continued decline in the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar, as this decline continued for a week, recording 145,300 Iraqi dinars in yesterday’s trading, Sunday, against 100 dollars. However, it returned to record an increase, reaching 145,300 Iraqi dinars in trading yesterday, Monday, when the stock exchanges closed. For 100 dollars, while the price of the dollar this morning recorded 144,750 Iraqi dinars for 100 dollars.[/size]
[size=45]Citizens praised the actions of the Central Bank in seeking to resolve this crisis that has accompanied them for years, calling on these concerned authorities to conduct such treatments to determine the extent of their ability to narrow the gap between the official and parallel prices.[/size]
[size=45]Who is the ruler?[/size]
[size=45]Citizen Ali Abboud, who owns a small company, is trying to predict what the market will do with regard to hard currency and its fluctuations. He confirms that “I have no confidence in the guesses that are running through my mind, as the market is a pharaoh that no one can know, so this joy of decline is happiness masked by bewilderment and anticipation.”[/size]
[size=45]Abboud adds to (Al-Mada), “With numerous statements by the Central Bank of Iraq and the Iraqi government to develop solutions to solve the crisis of the rise in the dollar exchange rate in the country, some of us have wondered about the extent of their control over the crisis, and who is in control to create this phenomenon that every Iraqi citizen suffers from?, If the problem is solved, what is the reason for that? Many questions are posed by the citizen to the concerned authorities, but is there an answer?[/size]
[size=45]Wizards but![/size]
[size=45]The financial and economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explains in a statement followed by (Al-Mada), that “the reasons for the decline in the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market are the high capabilities of Iraq’s foreign currency reserves and the good management of foreign trade financing during the last period.”[/size]
[size=45]Saleh stated that “the parallel market is gradually approaching the official central market, due to the presence of regular foreign trade by the private sector through the compliance platform and the great flexibility that banks have shown in dealing with this platform for the purpose of securing transfers.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “The openness to transfers through various methods, including payment cards in all their forms, importing foreign cash currency into Iraq, and financing foreign trade in various currencies, and not limiting this transaction to dollars only, led to a decrease in the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market as well.”[/size]
[size=45]While financial and banking expert Mustafa Akram Hantoush confirmed, “The issue of the dollar has been taken to great lengths by the Iraqi government, and the issues of gold and cigarettes that were smuggled through the Kurdistan region have been dealt with due to mismanagement by the Department of Standardization and Quality Control.”[/size]
[size=45]Hantoush added in an interview with Al Mada, “The treatments carried out by the government transformed these two, who governed them, from the largest traders in the market to dealing with the official market, and this matter is good, and this led to the entry of traders to the platform.”[/size]
[size=45]He explains, “There are other treatments, including introducing small merchants through the TBI, who are merchants who own small companies.”[/size]
[size=45]Pointing out, “The visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sawadni to the United States contributed to giving comfort to the merchant who needs the dollar that there is no need for the purchase process before a long time.”[/size]
[size=45]We need the parallel market[/size]
[size=45]On (March 14, 2024), the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, announced an understanding with the US Treasury to reconsider the sanctions imposed on Iraqi banks.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Alaq said in a press statement after being hosted by the Parliamentary Finance Committee, followed by Al-Mada, that “the process of printing the local currency takes place according to the required financial cover.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the instability of the exchange rate is caused by the presence of illegal trade carried out by small traders and some speculators.”[/size]
[size=45]While Hantoush continues his speech to (Al Mada), that “there are some files that have been dealt with. As for travelers, there are some banks that make real and official reservations and receipts, even though the Central Bank did not create a platform for the traveler to include all banking companies and banks, and this is what causes pressure on the parallel market.” In addition, there is no platform for trade with Iran and Syria for commercial exchange, booking remittances, and dealing in gold, as we do with Turkey.” He stressed, “We have a need for the parallel market, as there is trade that is not covered by the Central Bank of Iraq, in addition to the banks that control the dollar that do not compete, as today there are banks such as (Citibank, JPMorgan Chase), JPMorgan, and the American Citibank, which are affiliated with specific countries.” A foreigner is the one who receives the dollar, buys it from the central bank and controls its value, so she sells it for 132 or 142 and the merchant is helpless. Therefore, these banks also have an influence on the exchange rate of hard currency and its rise and fall, even though this matter is not true and Iraq has a law that prevents Through it monopoly.”[/size]
[size=45]Strengthening the banking sector[/size]
[size=45]Observers of the scene confirmed that there are several reasons for the return of the rise in the dollar exchange rate in Iraq and its instability, including methods of smuggling foreign currency out of the country, as well as importing goods from Iran and neighboring countries, with invoices either for fictitious commodity deals, or with forged invoices in which prices are inflated to significant levels. While some merchants and importers hide their names from their commercial transactions so that they do not appear on the lists of the Central Bank, or tax and customs, and some of them do not have an importer’s certificate that allows them to conduct commercial exchanges in the first place.[/size]
[size=45]Hantoush continues his talk to (Al Mada), stating, “We must work to strengthen the banking sector in the country, and create competition so that some banks do not control the dollar and monopolize it, and these reasons only lead to a decline, but the official price of the dollar is excluded.”[/size]
[size=45]He concludes, “There are many transfers arriving from countries via (Western Union) with a value of 140 thousand dollars per transfer, along with the price and other matters, and this needs to be reviewed to stabilize the exchange rate and return it to real levels below 140 or 145. Otherwise, everything we talked about is not a small thing.” Who harms the parallel market.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the Council of Ministers announced, on February 7, 2022, the approval of amending the dollar exchange rate to 1,320 dinars per dollar, and about a year ago, specifically since the start of the Central Bank’s work on the electronic platform and the international financial transfer system “SWIFT”, no The dollar exchange rates in Iraq are stable despite the attempts of the government and the central bank to control the exchange rate in parallel markets.[/size]
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