Experts: (Ofak) a new electronic platform that complicates the dollar crisis in Iraq

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[size=52]Experts: (Ofak) a new electronic platform that complicates the dollar crisis in Iraq[/size]

[size=45]Babylon / Jalil Al-Ghazi[/size]
[size=45]The dollar exchange rate crisis deepens in the local markets whenever it records a rise in the market, until the economic situation in Babylon is in continuous decline and stagnation, which directly affects the commercial movement. Securing her daily allowance.[/size]
[size=45]In Babil, the rise in dollar prices caused confusion in the sales movement in general markets in the province, specifically basic consumer goods such as foodstuffs, household items, and electricity, in addition to the absence of some goods in the shops.[/size]
[size=45]Haj Karim Hammadi, the owner of a shop selling electrical materials, confirmed to (Al-Mada) that “work has decreased to more than 50% of what it was before the decision to raise the exchange rates,” which “reflected negatively on his financial situation, such as providing rent allowance, which the landlord insists on not lower it.”[/size]
[size=45]He indicated that he was also forced to “lay off one of his employees and keep one worker to ensure a financial balance for his work.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The high dollar exchange rates excluded German goods from the electrical market, although they are considered the best in terms of quality, but their prices have increased dramatically and they can no longer be sold."[/size]
[size=45]Experts in the field of economics at the University of Babylon spoke during a scientific symposium organized by the College of Administration and Economics at the university about the reasons for the rise in dollar prices against the Iraqi dinar as logistical reasons that have nothing to do with the financial reserves of Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]Dr. Jawad Al-Bakri said during his lecture at the symposium attended by (Al-Mada), that “the (electronic OFAC) platform established by the Central Bank of Iraq is the one that complicated the process of selling dollars to banks and caused a lack of supply in the markets, which caused an increase in demand and an increase in exchange rates.” .[/size]
[size=45]And he pointed out that “the central bank started building that platform after agreeing with an international company specialized in this field and worked through it to link banks with the central bank for the purpose of tightening and organizing the operations of the buying and selling window of foreign currency and ensuring the effectiveness of control over it.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bakri added, “The platform requires providing information about customers requesting the transfer, the beneficiaries, and the sending banks. Because of the recent use of this platform, many errors are being discovered, which requires the bank to re-upload them,” noting that “these procedures require additional time to accept the request and pass it through the financial system.” Global".[/size]
[size=45]Because of these complex procedures of the OFAC platform, the phenomenon of (black transfers) spread, which is for merchants who started buying dollars from the black market for the purpose of bringing goods and not waiting for approvals from the new platform, which takes at least two weeks, which caused an increase in demand for dollars with a decrease in its supply.[/size]
[size=45]The financial history of Iraq confirms that it has been associated since 2003 with the US Federal Bank in accordance with Resolution 1843 of the UN Security Council in May of 2003, which opened an account at the Federal Bank in New York for Iraq under the name of the Iraqi Development Fund (DFI), and later changed to two accounts, the first being the Iraq account (1). And the first Iraq (2) account is used to put the dollar surplus and is called the reserve, which has now exceeded the barrier of 100 billion dollars.[/size]
[size=45]In the meantime, Dr. Mahdi Khalil Shadeed confirmed to (Al-Mada) that “the problem is with the Iraq account (2) which is used to finance the currency sale window that is called metaphorically the currency auction and to finance government purchases, as this account was previously transferring amounts from it with the approval signed by The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, but now the matter is in the hands of the American Federal Bank.[/size]
[size=45]According to Dr. Shadeed, “as a result of the new restrictions on foreign transfers imposed by the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve, it caused a gap between (supply and demand) for the dollar in the local market,” noting that “there is no problem with the issue of the central bank’s reserves, but rather it records a daily increase due to the rise in oil prices.” until the reserves reached (100) billion dollars at the end of 2022.[/size]
[size=45]And he added, “Despite the Central Bank’s attempts to strengthen the market by selling direct cash, the sales quantities did not cover the demand until today, as the Central Bank strengthened the selling quantities from the limits of 20 million dollars per session to 60 million per day, and despite this increase, the total sales of the currency window are what It is still low to the range of 100-130 million dollars, while the daily need estimates remain close to 180 million dollars or more.”[/size]
[size=45]Within the framework of addressing the problem of the dollar and getting out of the control of the US Federal Bank, economist Muhammad Saad Taleb explained that “from now on, the government can receive oil revenues in central banks in Europe and Asia and is not obliged to confine itself to the US Federal Reserve in New York. The central bank can also manage accounts for its reserves there and conduct conversions on them.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, “It is necessary to pay attention to the processing of remittances, not cash, as it constitutes the largest percentage in the window for selling currency, as it constituted 84% of the window for selling currency in the year 2022, while cash constituted only 16%. Thus, remittances are processed and return to documentary credits, which is one of The most important tools in the foreign trade process, which greatly contributed to facilitating the import and export process.[/size]
[size=45]He also stresses, "If the government keeps receiving oil resources in a single place, it is the one that bears its responsibility and the responsibility for its consequences for the country."[/size]
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