Sulaymaniyah: Iranian currency circulation booms with high profits
Sulaymaniyah: Iranian currency circulation booms with high profits
2026-02-18 05:29
Shafaq News – Sulaymaniyah
A currency trader in the central market of Sulaymaniyah revealed on Wednesday the growing practice of “currency trading” between Iranian and Iraqi traders, through the purchase of sums in Iranian currency and their entry into electronic accounts, before transferring them back to Iran to take advantage of price differences between the two markets.
The merchant told a Shafaq News Agency correspondent that some Iranian traders arrive in Sulaymaniyah with sums of Iranian currency for the purpose of selling it, and then proceed to buy other sums of the same currency, which are then put into bank cards or electronic accounts, before being transferred back to Iran as part of these operations.
He explained that the process is based primarily on investing the difference in the price of the dollar against the Iranian currency, as 100 dollars is currently equivalent to about 16 million tomans in Iran, which means that 10,000 dollars is equal to about 160 million tomans.
He explained that the profit is achieved through a price difference ranging between 35 and 40 million Tomans, which is equivalent to about half a million Iraqi dinars as net profit for every 10,000 dollars that are circulated.
He pointed out that part of the process takes place inside Iran through intermediaries or money transfer offices that charge a commission estimated at about one and a half million tomans for every 100,000 dollars, which is about 150,000 tomans for a transaction worth 10,000 dollars.
The trader pointed out that these activities do not include all workers in the money exchange market, but are limited to a limited number of traders, some of whom are Iranian and others Iraqi, who use electronic payment cards or bank accounts to carry out the trading operations.
Economic observers believe that these operations reflect the continued impact of financial restrictions and informal transfers between Iraq and Iran, given the disparity in exchange rates, which opens the door to speculative activities that generate quick profits and raises questions about banking oversight and the volume of liquidity outside official channels.
shafaq.com
