Following the exchange rate adjustment, there are calls to pay Iraqi employees’ salaries in dollars and protect the poor.
Following the exchange rate adjustment, there are calls to pay Iraqi employees’ salaries in dollars and protect the poor.
2026-10-09
Shafaq News – Najaf / Baghdad
The Imam and Friday preacher of Najaf, Sadr al-Din al-Qubanchi, called on the Iraqi government today, Friday, to reconsider its decision to amend the exchange rate, suggesting that employees’ salaries be paid in US dollars if this decision is implemented and not reversed.
During the Friday sermon, Al-Qubbanji said, “We join our voice to the voice of the people, and we demand that the government review the decision to reduce the value of the dinar, especially since Iraq’s financial revenues depend on oil, which constitutes about 90% of them, while religious tourism represents 3% of them.”
Al-Qubbanji stressed that “despite the existence of temporary obstacles in export operations, urgent solutions must be found, especially after the government announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open to the giant Iraqi tankers that transported 4 million barrels last month,” stressing that “if it is necessary to reduce the national currency, then the government should pay the salaries of employees in dollars.”
For his part, the imam and preacher of the Abu Hanifa al-Nu’man Mosque, Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabbar, urged the Iraqi state to take measures and procedures to protect those with limited income and the poor classes from the repercussions of the decision to reduce the price of the dinar against the dollar.
In his Friday sermon in Baghdad, Abdul-Jabbar said, “The Iraqi state has made its decision to reduce the price of the dinar to limit the speculative operations carried out by speculators by buying dollars at its official price and selling them at exorbitant prices, which has caused the outrageous inflation in the market.” He added, “The state is supposed to be vigilant and provide its protections and facilities to the poor who will be crushed by the high exchange rate.”
He pointed out that “the salaries of employees and retirees are mostly meager, and they are the ones affected by this increase, calling on the Iraqi state to intervene to provide the necessary protection for those salaries, because the damage has reached a great extent.”
These positions coincide with the decision of the Iraqi Council of Ministers to amend the exchange rate of the dollar based on an emergency recommendation submitted by the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank, so that the purchase price from the Ministry of Finance becomes (1500) dinars, the selling price to banks becomes (1510) dinars, and the selling price to the end beneficiary becomes (1520) dinars per dollar.
Under the new amendment, the Central Bank raised the exchange rate for the public by 20,000 dinars per 100 dollars, compared to the previous rate of 1,320 dinars per dollar (132,000 dinars per 100 dollars), at a time when the parallel market witnessed jumps prior to the decision to reach about 165,000 dinars per 100 dollars, influenced by leaks and expectations.
Yesterday, Thursday, the Iraqi Parliament hosted Prime Minister Ali al-Zubaidi regarding the decision to amend the exchange rate. He explained that “the government had three options: the first was to resort to mandatory savings and leave the employee to live on promises, the second was to distribute salaries every 45 days, and the third was to resort to borrowing and drown the country in debt, which it is already burdened with.”
He added that he took over the “mission while our economy was besieged due to the interruption of oil exports and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The size of the public debt was more than 208 trillion dinars, and the government was required to provide 10 trillion dinars monthly. Despite the crisis, we provided the salaries,” indicating that “the difference in the dollar exchange rate previously was taken over by speculators.”
For his part, Speaker of Parliament Hebat al-Halbousi affirmed that “the decision to change the exchange rate is irreversible, and the heads of the political blocs support the decision,” amid popular anger and protest from Iraqis against the decision.
shafaq.com
