Ongoing attempts… Will the government succeed in controlling the rise in the dollar price?
Ongoing attempts… Will the government succeed in controlling the rise in the dollar price?
11-9-2024
Information/Report..
The dollar price in Iraq has witnessed significant fluctuations during the current year, despite the ongoing efforts of the Central Bank of Iraq to deal with the challenges related to the exchange rate of the dinar against the dollar.
This difference reflects the great pressure on the dinar as a result of the high demand for the dollar in a country that relies heavily on imports to meet its needs.
In the context of enhancing the stability of the exchange rate, the Central Bank decided to impose restrictions on dollar withdrawals so that the dollar deposited next year will be exchanged in dinars according to the official rate in order to limit dollar smuggling and prevent suspicious financial transfers.
The reasons for this increase are due to several factors, including fluctuations in domestic politics, the increasing demand for the dollar for imports, and the inflation crisis that affects the purchasing power of the Iraqi dinar, which prompts some parties to search for the dollar as a means of preserving the value of their money.
Over the past years, the United States of America has prevented Iraq from achieving economic stability through its foreign policy, imposing sanctions and restrictions on financial transactions, and besieging Iraqi liquidity.
In the same context, the representative of the State of Law, Firas Al-Maslamawi, says that the US Federal Reserve is besieging Iraqi liquidity through the dollar.
Al-Maslamawi said in an interview with Al-Maalouma Agency, “The means of delivering the dollar and its restriction by the Federal Bank cast a shadow over the creation of liquidity in the Ministry of Finance,” noting that “the external liquidity file requires a high-level government effort in order to solve this issue and increase the quantities of dollars flowing into Iraq.”
The rise in the dollar price negatively affects living standards, as it increases the cost of imported products and thus raises local prices, which particularly affects economically weak groups, but there are those who exploit this issue for personal interests, such as currency smuggling traders and price speculators.
Regarding this matter, the economic expert Qasim Balshan says that the discrepancy in the dollar exchange rates is a door to corruption, given that there are private banks and companies that deal with the Central Bank of Iraq, and not everyone has the right to buy the currency auction.
Balshan said in an interview with Al-Maalouma Agency, “The state did not take real, actual measures to protect the Iraqi dinar, and all that was circulated were media statements that have no benefit on the ground.”
He said, “There are influential political figures and blocs behind the rise in the dollar exchange rate.”
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