After delays in payment, a member of parliament proposes a “virtual currency” to solve the salary crisis.
After delays in payment, a member of parliament proposes a “virtual currency” to solve the salary crisis.
2026-08-07
Shafaq News – Baghdad
On Friday, Saad Al-Awadi, the deputy head of the National Approach parliamentary bloc, proposed a plan to secure the salaries of employees and retirees through the “digital dinar” and end the “cash crisis” in Iraq.
In a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, MP Al-Awadi said that this initiative is “a comprehensive economic initiative to address the cash liquidity crisis and ensure the stability of salary payments for employees and retirees, through the launch of the (digital Iraqi dinar) and to facilitate access to financial entitlements for employees without the need to deal with paper money.”
He explained that “the initiative aims directly to save employees from the repercussions of delayed salaries and liquidity bottlenecks in banks and disbursement outlets, by depositing the salary as a digital, encrypted, and protected currency in local financial wallets, which allows citizens to use their salaries immediately to purchase needs and make electronic payments without waiting for (cash) to be available.”
Al-Awadi explained that “the current cash bottleneck is not due to a lack of resources, but rather to the hoarding and stockpiling of paper currency outside the banking system at record rates, stressing that reliance on the digital dinar approved by the Central Bank will eliminate salary delays, reduce operational costs for printing and transporting money, and provide protection for citizens’ purchasing power away from domestic borrowing policies.”
He added that “the proposed roadmap also includes obligating the service and commercial sectors to accept digital transactions, and providing incentive packages and government guarantees to restore confidence in the banking sector.”
He called on the government, the central bank and the relevant parliamentary committees to hold an urgent joint session to develop the legislative and technical frameworks necessary for implementing the project.
It should be noted that Iraq still lacks official cash platforms or electronic trading systems, and the most famous and widespread digital currencies traded globally, Bitcoin, are still not adopted on the ground in buying, selling and cash transactions.
shafaq.com
