Economist: Iranian banks have put Iraqis in the “trap” .. $ 100 million Toman!

Economist: Iranian banks have put Iraqis in the “trap” .. $ 100 million Toman!

2018/07/31 10:23

Baghdad today – special

The economic expert on behalf of Antoine, Tuesday, July 31, 2018, what he described as the “trap” Iran to exploit the money of Iraqis, while pointing to the inability of the Iraqi government to do something about the subject.

“The Iranian banks announced a short while ago their willingness to receive Iraqi deposits at a great interest and attractive for the Iraqi citizen,” Antoine said in an exclusive interview with Baghdad today. “Interest has reached 25 percent for every 100 million dollars.”

He added that “Iraqi capital owners, unfortunately, made such a step without thinking about the distant economic calculations, the devaluation of the Iranian currency as a result of the ongoing American embargo,” noting that “losers are ashamed to announce their loss because they did not hear the advice of economists or their relatives” .

He pointed out that “the Iraqi government can not do anything in this regard, because there is no department competent to control the transfer of money in the Central Bank of Iraq, as it was in the past,” explaining that this “means the lack of control over capital.”

On Monday, July 30, 2018, Asharq al-Awsat published a report confirming the loss of millions of dollars of Iranian citizens’ savings in Iranian banks due to the current economic crisis in Tehran and the rapid decline in the exchange rate of the Saudi riyal. American economy.

According to the paper, many Iraqi citizens spoke “publicly” about the loss of more than half of their money in the wake of the collapse of the Iranian currency and the loss of more than half of its value in recent months.

Iranian banks require Iraqi citizens who want to deposit money to be converted into the national currency. They can not withdraw the amount in Iranian rials as well, even after one year of deposit.

“The price of (one hundred dollars) today on the black market is one million Iranian riyals,” wrote Iraqi politician and investor Mazen al-Ishaqir on his social networking site Facebook.

“With the implementation of the first phase of the US economic sanctions against Iran on August 6, the value of the riyal will fall further, and will continue to collapse in November after the implementation of the second batch of sanctions, which will include a total ban on Iranian oil imports,” he said.

“Many traders have deposited large amounts of US dollars in Iranian banks, and citizens from Baghdad and various provinces, especially Karbala and Najaf, have also deposited their money there,” the paper quoted an Iraqi trader working in Baghdad’s Shorja market as saying.

“They are now suffering significant losses in the wake of the dramatic decline of the Iranian riyal,” he said, noting that “one of my fellow traders put $ 400,000 in an Iranian bank and the current collapse in the Iranian currency cost him $ 300,000.”

The professor of international economic relations at the University of Iraq Abdul Rahman Mashhadani blamed the government and the Central Bank of Iraq in causing “the loss of hundreds and possibly thousands of Iraqi citizens for their savings and their homes because of deposits in Iranian banks.”

“Officials have to warn citizens not to deposit their money in state banks that are not economically stable, but unfortunately they did not,” he told the paper. “We have warned us for more than two years, but no one has listened to us.”

“The 25 percent interest rate offered by Iranian banks is not reassuring,” he said.

“You can not blame a besieged country in need of a difficult currency, but Iraqis have a responsibility not to waste their national wealth in this way,” Mashhadani said.

“The Iranian economy has been suffering from chronic inflation for decades,” said Ali al-Moussawi, an economic journalist who spent part of his life in Iran. “The central bank has tried to counter inflation by raising interest rates on the riyal to 25 percent for medium-value deposits.”

“These high interests have been an irresistible incentive for Iraqi citizens,” Moussawi said.

“Even a few months ago, the situation was fine, but US sanctions have reduced the value of the currency to around a quarter so far, meaning a reduction in the purchasing power of the riyal, which has benefited interest from Iraqis who are put in banks there.”

“The collapse of the local currency has created an economic shock for many Iraqi families who have relied on these benefits in financial matters,” Moussawi said.

Over the past few years, Iranian banks have succeeded in attracting Iraqi funds in a phenomenon that has begun to expand through the granting of attractive facilities and benefits, exploiting the lack of confidence in their Iraqi counterparts. The Shiite armed factions and religious opinions have played an encouraging role in these investments. Hassan “threat” threatens the Iraqi economy.

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