Al-Kadhimi: The US Federal Reserve’s promises to the Central Bank of Iraq regarding the dollar are without result
Al-Kadhimi: The US Federal Reserve’s promises to the Central Bank of Iraq regarding the dollar are without result
2023-11-29 01:57
Shafaq News/ On Wednesday, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Moeen Al-Kadhimi, accused the US Federal Bank of evading answering the Central Bank of Iraq’s inquiries regarding foreign transfers and the dollar, after news emerged that new meetings would soon be held between the two sides.
Al-Kadhimi told Shafaq News Agency, “The goal of holding repeated meetings between the Central Bank of Iraq, the Federal Bank, and the US Treasury Department is to facilitate the release of external transfers from the Federal Bank, which are estimated at 10 billion dollars monthly, and which remain locked up with the US Federal Reserve, and there must be agreement to release these amounts within External transfers to the Central Bank of Iraq.
He added, “In the previous stage, there was an intentional failure to return 50% of foreign remittances sold at the foreign currency buying and selling window, and it is one of the basic matters that were raised in the repeated meetings between the Central Bank and the Federal Bank and questions about the reasons for the disruption and rejection of remittances that lead to the disruption of economic activity.” in the country”.
Al-Kadhimi pointed out that “the Iraqi merchant submits official papers to the Central Bank to buy the dollar at the official price and pays billions of dinars to the Central Bank in exchange for receiving the dollar abroad, and after a month has passed, the merchant is surprised by the rejection of his request to buy the dollar from the US Federal Bank without knowing the reasons.”
A member of the Finance Committee said, “Officials at the US Federal Bank evade answering the questions and inquiries raised by the management of the Central Bank of Iraq about the reasons for rejecting foreign transfers, and every now and then they say this will be addressed during the coming period without result.”
Washington rejected Iraq’s request to obtain one billion dollars in cash from the Federal Reserve Bank, under the pretext that it conflicts with their efforts to curb Baghdad’s use of the dollar and stop illicit cash flows to Iran, according to the American newspaper “The Wall Street Journal.” The American newspaper quoted American officials as saying that “the banknotes are between… “The hands of Iraqis have become a lucrative source of illicit dollars that go back to militias and corrupt politicians, as well as to Iran.”
The Central Bank of Iraq confirmed at the beginning of last October that dollar shipments sent by the US Federal Bank were proceeding according to a specific schedule and timings agreed upon between the two monetary institutions.
shafaq.com
