Networth

I hope you're right. Unfortunately, one person does not have the power to determine the rate. It will ultimately be determined by the market. If productivity does not improve, the exchange rate will not improve. If political stability does not improve, the exchange rate will not improve. If corruption and graft continue to dominate, the exchange rate will not improve. If the money supply keeps expanding faster than productivity, the rate will not improve. Shabbibi may have good intentions or he may be a lying gov't official trying to placate or influence the public. Either way, he will not ultimately control the exchange rate. He can keep the currency off the market (which he has done so far) but, once it hits the exchange markets, his influence is over. He can do nothing to keep the market from determining the correct rate.

Don't dismiss this possiblity. It is reasonable to believe it won't RV, at least not the way people are predicting. In my opinion, there are several reasons why it won't RV. The unrest in the Mideast is one of the them (although not the most worrisome one). Even if you disagree with the sentiment that it will never RV, you can't dismiss the notion out of hand. The grand assumption has always been that it will RV. But that is a grand assumption indeed. It is not an illogical thought. In fact, I'm of the opinion that each passing day REDUCES the likelihood of a sudden, high rate RV and INCREASES the likelihood of a quiet, unassuming presentation on the foreign currency exchange markets at a similar rate to what it trades for now. Obviously, time will tell. I know it's not a pleasant thought, but don't be surprised, however, if the dinar NEVER revalues for a higher exchange rate.

Come on people! Why does every single event have to be reported or implied as something related to the RV? People can't possibly be that surprised that some banks are no longer selling dinar. It's an exotic currency. It is not easily obtainable or widely traded. Dinar Trade and Dinar Banker had a hard time getting dinar a few weeks ago and this board went gaga. And those places deal almost exclusively in dinar. It had nothing to do with an imminent RV. Turns out it was simply overwhelming demand. Imagine a bank that deals with dozens of currencies, of which, the dinar is a very, very small portion. Depending upon the volume and availability, banks routinely drop (or pick up) currencies. This may be temporary or it may be permanent. Either way, it's sign of nothing except a business decision by the bank. It has nothing to do with the RV. Stop the madness of trying to relate every piece of news and information to an RV.

You need economics 101. You can't be serious. The dollar is not being debased? Since formation of the federal reserve in 1913 the dollar has been debased by 97%. That is, the dollar's purchasing power has been destroyed by 97%. If a dollar could buy 100 widgets in 1913, it can only buy 3 widgets today. And no inflation? Do you even know what inflation is? If you think inflation is the price of goods and services, you shouldn't be giving economic advice to anyone. Inflation is an expansion of the money supply. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is ALWAYS a monetary phenomenom. ALWAYS. Rising prices are only a symptom of inflation. Inflation can (and usually does) exist long before prices rise. Our money supply is expanding rapidly. We are currently in the middle of a $600 billion expansion of our money supply known as quantatative easing 2 (QE2). This follows the wildly unsuccessful QE1. Quantatative easing has no end in sight with over $1 trillion in annual deficits as far as the eye can see. And the dirty little secret is, our gov't will continue to expand the money supply because it is in their best interest. It is far more acceptable to expand the money supply and pay our debts and obligations with devalued dollars than it is to default on our debts. Because those are our only 2 choices: devalue or default. So we are devaluing. Rapidly. The good news for the dollar, if there is good news, is that the other countries of the world are rushing to devalue their currency also. So, in a relative sense, the US dollar is not as unattractive as other currencies. You might call it the best looking horse in the glue factory. Please don't give any more economics advice. You are exactly wrong.

I agree with everyone here that it not a scam. At least not in the traditional sense. However, that's not to say that people can't and won't lose money. They very well could. If your definition of a scam is one that has a high liklihood of losing money, then I suppose this could be considered a scam. However, it's not much different than an investment in penny or speculative stocks. If you understand the potential risks and voluntarily invest your money anyway, that is definitely not a scam.

I'm sorry to hear about your financial predicament but it is really, really foolish to invest in something without doing research or due diligence. It is more foolish to invest money that would otherwise be needed for living expenses and sustenance. I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I'm hoping other people may be reading or advising others about this investment. That's what is so unfortunate and frustrating about this RV talk. It easily traps people into believing that it WILL RV soon and it WILL RV at a high level. They are so desperate, they will believe almost anything that looks like it will remove the desperation. Desperate people do irrational things like use money needed for living expenses to invest in hope (which is all it is at this point). But the RV is far from certain. One thing is certain. The dinar will not revalue simply because you or I really need it to. Our level of desperation will not change the liklihood of RV at all. I think you should consider selling your dinar for US dollars so you have more tradable currency to do things that you need right now. This is my honest advise. Reading boards like this will lead you to believe the RV is right around the corner. It always seems to be yet it never is. This could drag out several more months or years. There are reasons to believe it may NEVER RV. But having a few more dollars will help you more now than having a few more dinar.

The following statements are true. The Iraqi dinar has NOT revalued. Nobody on this board knows IF it will revalue. Anybody that tells you when or how it will revalue or the reasons why it may or may not revalue is guessing or lying.

What if they're right? If we're completely honest about it, so far we're wrong. It hasn't RV'd. Nobody knows if it will RV. The assumption is that it will but that is a grand assumption. Should they rub it in your face if they're right? It seems kind of childish to do so. It's simply an investment they chose not to make. There is nothing wrong with that. At this point, THEY may be right. Millions of people make millions of decisions everyday of how to spend or invest their money. We shouldn't need to validate our decisions by ridiculing our friends and colleagues.

That's a relatively vague statement and could mean lots of different things. Personally, I think Iraq has much going for it. That's why I bought dinar. However, I have never, ever felt a sudden, overnight revaluation was in the cards. The dinar could appreciate against the US dollar if Iraq can truly stabilize security in the country. It will appreciate if Iraq can fully exploit it's oil and gas resources. It has a relatively educated population, fertile land, and strategic location. There are many good reasons to own dinar. But too many people have irresponsibly hyped this investment. And too many people have taken the bait. They try to read hidden RV messages into every single news item and event. Don't get caught in the trap. The allure of sudden riches can become a very emotional event for people. It's easy to throw rational, logical thinking out the window when that happens. Don't lose perspective.

What gap? The value of one currency relative to another does not matter at all. People have this perception that if it takes 1170 units of one currency to equal one unit of another currency that is somehow bad. It's an irrelevant measure. Only the stability of the currency matters. The South Korean won trades at nearly 1,200 to 1 with the US dollar. South Korea is a WTO member. If Iraq RVs, I don't think it's going to be the sudden overnight change in value that people believe. I think it's going to quietly start trading openly on the currency exchanges (not via CBI auctions) and the ultimate value will be determine by the market's perception of the strength of the Iraqi economy. Owning currency is like owning stock in the country that prints it. People are only going to want to own it if they think it will be a safe store of value.

The source is Blaino? That should be all people need to know. This one goes in the circular file cabinet.

Sadly, you make some sense. I've never considered this investment as much of a slam dunk as many people have but, whatever the odds of an RV were a month ago, they are now definitely longer for many of the reasons you mentioned. I think it's important to constantly and honestly evaluate this investment. And, quite honestly, Iraq is not a stable country. They hover on the edge of chaos and violence everyday.

Where I come from, we call it 1 and 2/3 bank.

I agree with Wayne. What's all the excitement about? Is the assumption that branches are specifically receiving these machines so they can specifically cash in dinar? Wouldn't certain banks or branches routinely need these machines for any currency transactions anyway? The euro, the yen, the US dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar are far more widely traded than the dinar. In the normal course of business wouldn't banks need these machines to authenticate those currencies now? Some people get dinar on the brain and try to read hidden, pro-RV messages into every single activity and news item. That's not always the case. It's not healthy. Take a step back and rationally analyze the situation. Banks with machines that authenticate paper money should not be an unusual development to you. That's part of what banks do. They provide a market for currency exchange.

Oil is priced in US dollars. However, it can be traded for any currency. China buys much of it's oil from Russia in exchange for rubles. All of Venzuela's oil is traded for bolivars. It depends on the contract. If the dinar RVs as everyone suspects, I believe Iraq will demand many of it's oil purchase agreements to be priced in dinar. It will want to repatriate as many dinar as possible. Otherwise it runs the risk of runaway inflation. If it doesn't RV, it will likely continue to price it's contracts in USD.

I hate to be a stick in the mud but I disagee. First, the dinar is not worthless. It has a value relative to other currencies. Just because it takes 1,170 dinar to buy 1 dollar means nothing. It's only a relative comparison. The value of the dinar is very similar to the value of the South Korean won (relative to the dollar). Yet South Korea is a developed nation and no one considers the won worthless. Secondly, I have seen or heard nothing that Dela Rue machines are standing at the ready waiting for people to cash in their dinar. I suppose that's why you put this in the rumors section. Finally, the US is still bankrupt, with or without an RV. The dinar is the currency of Iraq to conduct commerce WITHIN Iraq. It is not an international currency. If the US holds dinar, they will be used primarly to buy oil from Iraq. They will not be used to back or our debts. Our debts are denominated in US dollars. Only US dollars can be used to pay it back.

Blah, blah, blah. This is ridiculousness on display. I hope nobody believes this hogwash. Foreclose on U.S. corporation gov't? Liens against gov't officials? People can't possibly take this garbarge seriously.

I appreciate your enthusiam and I suppose anything is possible. However, Iraq doesn't even use the same currency today as it did 40 years ago. It's still called the dinar but it has no legal value in Iraq today. It may have numismatic value for it's rarity, but that's it. It's like old confederate currency in our country. You can't buy anything with it but there are some collectors that buy it for it's historical significance. Even if was the exact same currency, you'd have know considerably more information before you can make a fair comparison. 1) What was the GDP of Iraq in 1972? 2) How many dinar were printed and issued in 1972? I don't know the answer to either one of these questions but I suspect there weren't 6 trillion printed dinar floating around back then as there are today. Keep in mind the dollar has also weakened considerable since 1972. The fact that it was valued much higher in the past (especially 40 years ago) is completely irrelevant to what the value is today. I hope you're right and I hope it revalues at this old rate. But I strongly doubt it.

Somebody will have to help me with this one. When I first read the post I didn't find the situation all that unusual. I'm no currency expert but I check another exchange site, xe.com, several times a day. It certainly isn't unusual to see the USD/IQD pair vary from the auction rate. I have seen it as high as1/1159 and as low as 1/1185. It also seems to adjust several times during the day. Is this a different situation than the changes noted by this original post? Now I'm intrigued by how many people seem to find this information so unusual and positive. I've never been a regular forex.com follower so maybe it is. What is the difference between forex.com and xe.com that makes this such a unique circumstance? Does it matter that the USD/IQD has routinely vaired from the official auction rate on xe.com? I just don't understand.

What? C'mon. You can't be that gullible. The entire world is depending on this? That is far fetched to say the least. The RV is about Iraq. It has nothing to do with the rest of the world. If an RV could fix the world's monetary problems why not just revalue the dollar? Or the euro? Or the yen? Why does the dinar have to be revalued save the world? I mean it could be any currency right? I think there are legitimate reasons for the dinar to revalue. But saving the world is not one of them. If the world monetary system is so dependent upon the revaluation of a single currency of a small undeveloped country, we are absolutely doomed.

As I said, I consider it better than holding US dollars. I believe it will appreciate, albeit over a much longer time frame than many are expecting. Keep in mind the dinar has not been an internationally reconginized currency for nearly 40 years. The rate during the Sadaam years was not determined by the market. It was set by Sadaam. It did not freely trading in foreign currency exchange. I don't think that is a good basis for everyone to use. When Shabbibi has stated that he intends to increase the value of the dinar, it certainly doesn't mean it will be a sudden, overnight RV. It could very well mean an eventual, deliberate increase fueld by GDP growth. I don't know (obviously) but I think people read too much into statements sometimes based on what they WANT rather than what seems most likely.

One of the reasons I've heard that Iraq intends to revalue the dinar is because it is considered "worthless". I don't know exactly what people mean by this but I assume that they are referring to how many units of Iraqi currency can be exchanged for one unit of our currency. But what is worthless? 1 for 5? 1 for 100? 1 for 1,000? As everybody knows, we can currently exchange 1 dollar for about 1,170 dinar. But why is this consider worthless? We can also exchange 1 dollar for about 1,200 South Korean won. Yet the won is not considered a worthless currency and South Korea is considered a developed, first world country with one of the higher standards of living in the world. Granted, it takes many more won to purchase an item than it would if it was priced in dollars. But that doesn't matter. It's only a relative comparison. There are many things that effect an exchange rate. I'm not a macroeconomist but it may be that there are simply more won in circulation compared to the GDP of South Korea than there are dollars in circulation compared to the GDP of the US. Their GDP is diluted into more units of currency. But, as far as I know, South Korea has no plans to revalue their currency for the sole purpose of changing the exchange rate. In my opinion, the exchange rate is an irrelevant and unhelpful measure of the worthlessness (or value) of a currency and in trying to figure out why the dinar might revalue. If Iraq's GPD increases (as I think it is likely to do) and the CBI is responsible about the number of additional dinar they release into circulation, it seems to me the dinar is likely to appreciate in value. That may disappoint many people if it ends up being a slow, deliberate, methodical increase and not the sudden, overnight RV that many are expecting, but it is OK with me. It's still a better investment than holding US dollars.

I'm on the same side of the fence as you desperately hoping I'm wrong.

The only difference between most predictions and mine is that I actually hope mine is wrong. January 31, 2011. The Iraq government has returned to work and approved the budget. Gurus make predictions that the last major obstacle has been hurdled and an RV is imminent. RV speculation reaches a fever pitch. Dinar sales go off the chart. TerryK predicts a Monday cash in. Many of us start planning our post-RV lives. February 28, 2011. The gurus scramble for reasons why the dinar has not yet RV'd. Some suggest the HCL law needs to be passed. Others predict that sanctions have to be fully lifted. Hillarious Clinton is scheduled to visit in a few days and speculation is rampant that she is going to "force" the RV. Terry K predicts a Monday cash-in. March 31, 2011. Many dinar holders start to feel in the back of their minds that it will not RV anytime soon. Many stop telling their friends and family about the dinar out of fear of embarassment. Most still believe that it will happen. But some holders start to cancel their subscriptions and web site memberships. TerryK predicts a Monday cash-in. June 30, 2011. Full UN sanctions are lifted. Holders regain excitement that an RV is imminent. TerryK predicts a Monday cash-in. December 31, 2011. Many dinar holders now realize that an RV is not going to happen. Dinar sales and web site subscriptions tumble. Many are anxious and angry and some start to blame the web sites for feeding their hope. A few start to scramble to sell their dinar. TerryK still predicts a Monday cash-in but nobody believes him. December 31, 2012. A few lawsuits are pending against dinar dealers and pumpers for fraud. All get dismissed. The market for dinars dries up and people give them away as gag gifts or use them as another denomination in monopoly. Some stick them in a drawer and forget about them. Some of us joke about our foolishness and gullibility and tuck it away as one of life's painful lessons. Many dinar dealers quietly shut down operations. December 31, 2020. The dinar hype is now a distant memory for most people. A couple people dig through their attic and find their old dinars tucked away in a plastic bag. We go to local pawn shop to see if they are worth anything. The pawn dealer recounts the tale of one of the biggest manias in history and inform us that so many dinars are floating around that they have no value. Iraq has redesigned and redenominated their currency several times in the last decade. They continue to struggle with violence and an unstable gov't. We laugh and return to our lives. December 31, 2070. Our grandchildren dig through our personal effects and find the dinars tucked away in a dusty drawer. They have no idea what they are. Neither does the pawn dealer. He calls in his expert and is told of one of the largest speculative events in history and laughs about how many people thought they would earn 30,000% overnight. He's intrigued by the excellent condition and vast number of notes in the collection. Gold and silver are the only trusted currencies in the world and the expert suggests the notes are worth several ounces of gold. The grandchildren are tickled to death at their good fortune and quietly thank their grandparents for participating in such a folly. The return on our investment is finally realized.

Don't believe it. China has nothing to do with the value of the dinar. Nothing. Commons sense should tell you that. That's simply the latest excuse by all the people that have made ridiculous predictions that have never come true or people that are trying to dream up reasons why it hasn't happened yet. If China is discussing currency with us, it is about our own idiotic monetary and fiscal policies and the affect it's having on OUR currency (which they own an awful lot of). The IQD is not about us. It has never been about us. It's only about Iraq.