Zambia Lop and Iraq RV

[slb]

Why dont you tell us why your really mad......lol

Is it cause you didnt even know the history of the value of the dinar and had to be told by some "punk kid wanna be gangsta"

Sure why not keep thinking that - good description of yourself by the way Oh forgot I'm ANGRY

What does that have to do with what I wrote? Right .. Nothing...

And, assuming you're an intelligent individual... The solution is very simple... You have the choice to not read my "socialist BS " articles and you're done and can go on living happily. Other option... Put me on your "Ignore" list....Ciao.

Perhaps your advice can extend both ways......

[pocono]

i could be wrong this is straight off imf.org.. page 43 of the report

43

ATTACHMENT III. IRAQ: TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

March 3, 2011

1. This memorandum describes the quantitative and structural performance criteria,

benchmarks, and indicators for the third Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the International

Monetary Fund (IMF). It also specifies the periodicity and deadlines for transmission of data

to the staff of the IMF for program monitoring purposes.

I. QUANTITATIVE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA AND INDICATORS

2. The quantitative performance criteria are the following:

(i) a floor on net international reserves of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI);

(ii) a ceiling on net domestic assets of the CBI;

(iii) a ceiling on the central government fiscal deficit;

(iv) a ceiling on the central government current spending bill;

(v) a floor under the balance in the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI);

(vi) a ceiling on direct government subsidies to the fuel sector;

(vii) a ceiling on contracting and guaranteeing of new medium- and long-term nonconcessional

external debt contracted or guaranteed by the central government and/or the

CBI; and

(viii) a ceiling on external payments arrears on any rescheduled and new debt of the central

government and/or the CBI.

II. DEFINITIONS

3. For purposes of monitoring under the program, a program exchange rate will be

used. This program exchange rate will be set at ID 1,170 per U.S. dollar. The program

exchange rate will be used to convert into Iraqi dinars the U.S. dollar value of all CBI foreign

assets and liabilities denominated in U.S. dollars, as required. For CBI assets and liabilities

denominated in SDRs and in foreign currencies other than the U.S. dollar, they will be

converted in U.S. dollars at their respective SDR-exchange rates prevailing as of

December 31, 2010, as published on the IMF’s website.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2011/cr1175.pdf

it could be the cbi setting this rate .. and im just mis understanding ithis

Shabibi, in at least 2 separate interviews ,stated that the CBI and only the CBI sets and maintains the exchange rate and negotiations with the IMF are a function of the GOI..

[dontlop]

Shabibi, in at least 2 separate interviews ,stated that the CBI and only the CBI sets and maintains the exchange rate and negotiations with the IMF are a function of the GOI..

that could be ..like i said i could be just mis understanding that , but any way we look at it . its still a program rate for monitoring purposes .. its not the true rates .. at least i dont think so .. of the new dinar thats about to be released in the next year sometime ..or sooner i hope like the rest of you ..

who knows .. im hoping for a 3 or 4 dollar dinar rv to go along with the lop .. if its a lop .. i dont see an equal exchange .. i know thats what they are saying ..

but i am still hopful of a 30 cent rv .. just straight up .. thats what i want the most . straight up rv.. around 30 cents will be fine by me

this rate only indicates iraqi foriegn currency reserves value .. not anything else .. i believe theres alot more to currency valuations than just how much foriegn reserves you have .. thats why im hoping for that straight up rv .

and i dont think if they were going to rv .. they would broadcast it world wide .. i think it would be covert

Edited November 28, 2012 by dontlop

[pocono]

that could be ..like i said i could be just mis understanding that , but any way we look at it . its still a program rate for monitoring purposes .. its not the true rates .. at least i dont think so .. of the new dinar thats about to be released in the next year sometime ..or sooner i hope like the rest of you ..

who knows .. im hoping for a 3 or 4 dollar dinar rv to go along with the lop .. if its a lop .. i dont see an equal exchange .. i know thats what they are saying ..

but i am still hopful of a 30 cent rv .. just straight up .. thats what i want the most . straight up rv.. around 30 cents will be fine by me

this rate only indicates iraqi foriegn currency reserves value .. not anything else .. i believe theres alot more to currency valuations than just how much foriegn reserves you have .. thats why im hoping for that straight up rv .

and i dont think if they were going to rv .. they would broadcast it world wide .. i think it would be covert

True rate or not the IMF has deemed it a fair rate,not under or over valued and stated they were confident Shabibi could hold it there...O f course that's all a moot point now that Shabibi is gone..

[keepmwlknfny]

Okay, to answer my own question I did a little research. To those who have already done their homework on this please forgive my posting what you already know. Perhaps those who are more seasoned can read what I have down here and can correct me where I'm wrong or add things I left out.

1. In 1991 (Persian Gulf War) the Swiss Note version of the IQD stopped production.

2. Everything after this was printed by the Iraqi government in the form of the new Saddam notes. On a side note, these notes were of inferior quality to the Swiss notes. It appears as though the Swiss notes and the Saddam notes were used in Iraq at the same time (post 1991) but the Swiss notes were only used in the Kurdish region.

3. In late 1995, as a result of sanctions and excessive money printing, the IQD (Saddam notes) to USD exchange rate plummeted to 3000:1.

4. Fast forward: After the conclusion of the Iraq war (early 2000's) the Saddam notes were still being printed to help balance out the economy. I'm assuming it was because the money was deteriorating or destroyed during the war?

5. From October of 2003 to January of 2004 new notes and coins were introduced. The exchange rate was as follows:

- The new notes were exchanged with the old Saddam notes at a rate of 1:1.

- The new notes were exchanged with the old Swiss Notes (pre 1991) at a rate of 150:1

This indicates that the old Swiss Notes were more valuable (duh, right?). Maybe it's because there were less in circulation?

6. As stated above, the exchange rate for the old Saddam notes to the new notes (what we have now) was 1:1. So, when the new notes were originally put into circulation the exchange rate, as verified by multiple sources per me, was anywhere from 3500:1 to 4000:1 (IQD:USD).

7. These new notes are printed by a British firm, (De La Rue) who handle either the paper or the technology, or both, for the currency printing of over 150 different countries (bonus info.).

8. Following the introduction of the new currency the IQD hit a low of 4,000:1 with the USD and a high of 980:1 with said USD in the years to follow.

9. Apparently in 2007 Iraq, concerned about the preference of the USD over the IQD, tried raising interest rates to increase the value of the IQD versus the USD.

10. The 1170:1 rate with the USD was established in 2009 by the Central Bank of Iraq.

11. The exchange rate now, as listed on the CBI website, is 1166:1.

Okay, that's what I've got so far. Some points of interest:

1. In 1995 the value of the IQD plummeted as a result of 2 things: 1. Excessive money printing and 2. Sanctions established by the US AND the UN.

I am curious to know what effect exactly, separate from the inflation, did the UN/ US imposed sanctions have on Iraq's currency?

2. From everything I read it is wrong to say the IMF is in control of the exchange rate of the IQD. The exchange rate of the IQD is set by the CBI, period.

3. Here's something I'm sketchy on: in 2007 Iraq tried to strengthen the IQD by raising interest rates to curb inflation. This raises a question:

- With the total money supply Iraq already has in circulation they are experiencing inflation. In fact, Iraq states setting a rate of 1170 in 2009 was to stabilize the currency/ economy (inflation). If this is true, and maybe I'm missing something, then there is no way Iraq can Rv their currency in its current state. They are already struggling with inflation!

My conclusion: I guess I'm still in the same place I was before about the IQD. That is, in order for Iraq to have any kind of meaningful increase in the exchange rate of their currency they are going to have to find a way to reduce total money supply. The only thing that makes sense to me is small increases in the rate over a long period of time (10 years +/-).

It was a good exercise, though. And thanks to those who helped (keepm and doctor robbins). I enjoyed the history lesson.

WW.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head! And you are at the same conclusion that a lot of members have reached....the giant elephant in the room, above all else is the inflated money supply. That appears to be the only way to see a good return on our investment....is if the CBI can significantly reduce the money supply (without lopping). There were articles about introducing gold coins in order to pull in some of that currency in circulation and that could help reduce numbers. Just no action on it yet. And that of course could take some time....but Im up for anything besides taking the easy way out and deleting the zeros....

I do believe if you look into those sanctions placed on Iraq, it mentions that because of this, imports and exports were limited which would hurt GDP which hurts the money coming into the country so they were basically going broke. Im just assuming that because they had no money, Saddam spent what reserves they had, probly depleted them all together so there really wasnt anything backing the dinar anymore. And that would explain why he just starting printing more dinar. I know dontlop says that he spent them all by 1985, but would like to see anything that would indicate thats the case.

Kuwait pretty much fkd them over too by flooding the market with oil and so Iraq was losing billions in oil sales....

[dontlop]

True rate or not the IMF has deemed it a fair rate,not under or over valued and stated they were confident Shabibi could hold it there...O f course that's all a moot point now that Shabibi is gone..

personally i dont think the rate has anything todo with anything right now .. i think its just a starting point ,, they had to put a number on it .. i dont think it was formulated or calculated .. just a starting point for monitering purposes .. once the data comes in then the work begins .. or began .. its been in the making for some time now .. it should be coming to a boil soon .. then it just has to simmer for awhile .. then it will be time for dinner ..i mean dinar.. :rocking-chair:/>

oops i had one big sweet potato left ,, and i was just cooking it ... i must of got the dinar conversation mixed up with my dinar ,,, i mean dinner , i turned it down on simmer .

Edited November 28, 2012 by dontlop

[WallyWeaver]

There were articles about introducing gold coins in order to pull in some of that currency in circulation and that could help reduce numbers. Just no action on it yet. And that of course could take some time....but Im up for anything besides taking the easy way out and deleting the zeros....

I do believe if you look into those sanctions placed on Iraq, it mentions that because of this, imports and exports were limited which would hurt GDP which hurts the money coming into the country so they were basically going broke. Im just assuming that because they had no money, Saddam spent what reserves they had, probly depleted them all together so there really wasnt anything backing the dinar anymore. And that would explain why he just starting printing more dinar. I know dontlop says that he spent them all by 1985, but would like to see anything that would indicate thats the case.

Thanks for the feedback and the good info. you added in. Your logical explanations make a lot of sense (Occam's Razor).

I had not read anything on the gold coins before so it looks like I have some more work to do. Your explanation of the sanctions, again, is very reasonable.

Take care.

WW.

[dontlop]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head! And you are at the same conclusion that a lot of members have reached....the giant elephant in the room, above all else is the inflated money supply. That appears to be the only way to see a good return on our investment....is if the CBI can significantly reduce the money supply (without lopping). There were articles about introducing gold coins in order to pull in some of that currency in circulation and that could help reduce numbers. Just no action on it yet. And that of course could take some time....but Im up for anything besides taking the easy way out and deleting the zeros....

I do believe if you look into those sanctions placed on Iraq, it mentions that because of this, imports and exports were limited which would hurt GDP which hurts the money coming into the country so they were basically going broke. Im just assuming that because they had no money, Saddam spent what reserves they had, probly depleted them all together so there really wasnt anything backing the dinar anymore. And that would explain why he just starting printing more dinar. I know dontlop says that he spent them all by 1985, but would like to see anything that would indicate thats the case.

Kuwait pretty much fkd them over too by flooding the market with oil and so Iraq was losing billions in oil sales....

im sorry your goolge doesnt work .. three words iraq foriegn reserves 1985.. thats all i did ..

https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/chap2_annxD.html

Foreign Debt

Iraq’s indebtedness has been the result primarily of the war with Iran. Iraq traditionally had been free of foreign debt and had accumulated foreign reserves that reached $35 billion by 1980. These reserves were exhausted in the early stages of the war with Iran. It is estimated that from 1980 to 1989 Iraq’s arms purchases alone totaled $54.7 billion. Following the war, Iraq was faced with the dilemma of paying off short-term debts to western creditors estimated between $35 to 45 billion at high interest rates. However, the Regime resisted western attempts through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to reschedule the debt primarily because Baghdad believed it could negotiate more favorable terms dealing with countries bilaterally.

Iraq’s foreign debt was comprised of western credit provided for military assistance, development finance and export guarantees. This assistance has been estimated at $35 billion in principal. The former Soviet Union and Russia also provided loans to Iraq via the Paris Club during the 1980s and 1990s for the development and production of military programs (Figure 10). Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates provided an additional $30 to 40 billion in financing to fight Iran (Figure 11). Although the Gulf States considered the financial support provided to Iraq to be a loan, Iraq believed that the Gulf States were required to provide help to Iraq in its fight to prevent the spread of radical Iranian fundamentalism.

In addition to the money borrowed by Iraq during the 1980s, Iraq has had compensation claims made for reparations of damage inflicted during the invasion and occupation of Kuwait during 1990 and 1991. The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was responsible for processing and collecting such claims as authorized by UNSCR 692. The OFF program provided that 30 percent of Iraq’s oil sales would be used to settle compensation claims authorized by the UNCC. This figure was reduced to 25 percent in December 2000 and was set at 5 percent when oil exports resumed after OIF. As of 7 May 2004, claims totaling $266 billion have been adjudicated and claims worth $48 billion have been awarded by the UNCC. Additional claims worth $83 billion need to be resolved.

Another source of potential financial obligations accrued by Iraq since 1990 were contracts signed with countries such as Russia, UAE, Egypt, China, France, and the Netherlands mainly in the energy and telecommunications sectors. Because of UN Sanctions during the period, the contracts were not executed. It is uncertain if these contracts will be honored in the future.

Iraq’s total foreign debt compared to GDP from 1989 until 2003 was not sustainable (Figure 12). Iraq was borrowing much faster than it was producing for over a decade (see Figure 13).

Balance of Payments/Exchange Rates

The Balance of Payments (BoP) is an account of all transactions between one country and all other countries—transactions that are measured in terms of receipts and payments. From the US perspective, a receipt represents any dollars flowing into the country or any transaction that require the exchange of foreign currency into dollars. A payment represents dollars flowing out of the country or any transaction that requires the conversion of dollars into some other currency. The CBI Department of Research and Statistics provided statistics on Iraq’s Balance of Payments, which are summarized (Figures 14 and 15).

Exchange rates are important during these transactions because they represent the linkage between one country and its partners in the global economy. Exchange rates affect the relative price of goods being traded (exports and imports), the valuation of assets, and the yield on those assets. The CBI pegged its official rate between $3 to 3.38 per dinar in the 1970s. The last official exchange rate of $3.11 per dinar was set in 1982. During the 1970s the official and market rates generally corresponded and by 1980 the country had $35 billion in foreign exchange reserves. Because of the war with Iran that figure had fallen to $2 billion by 1987. The currency depreciated rapidly in the unofficial market during the Iraq-Iran war and after the first Gulf War the pace of depreciation increased further. During 1997 to 2003, the exchange rate fluctuated between 1500 -2000ID per $1 and was fairly steady at about 1950 ID to $1 in recent years. Although the Regime did not alter the official exchange rate after 1983, it acknowledged the rate differential in 1999 by allowing state run banks to exchange hard currency at the rate of 2000 ID to $1."According to the statistical bulletin published by CBI (Figure 16) the numbers projected by sources in the US are consistent, with numbers reported internally. It is important to note that the validity and reliability of the data provided by CBI has not yet been evaluated.

[keepmwlknfny]

Ok, so by 1987 the reserves were down to 2 billion and the "unofficial market rate" dropped, the CBIs rate stayed the same cause thats what Saddam set it at and it wasnt an internationally recognized rate.....

And the value dropped even more through the gulf war and beyond (also the time of the excessive printing)......seems to me that you can still correlate the value dropping with reserves being spent and an increased money supply being introduced....

Thanks for the feedback and the good info. you added in. Your logical explanations make a lot of sense (Occam's Razor).

I had not read anything on the gold coins before so it looks like I have some more work to do. Your explanation of the sanctions, again, is very reasonable.

Take care.

WW.

No prob....

[truthful1]

that could be ..like i said i could be just mis understanding that , but any way we look at it . its still a program rate for monitoring purposes .. its not the true rates .. at least i dont think so .. of the new dinar thats about to be released in the next year sometime ..or sooner i hope like the rest of you ..

who knows .. im hoping for a 3 or 4 dollar dinar rv to go along with the lop .. if its a lop .. i dont see an equal exchange .. i know thats what they are saying ..

but i am still hopful of a 30 cent rv .. just straight up .. thats what i want the most . straight up rv.. around 30 cents will be fine by me

this rate only indicates iraqi foriegn currency reserves value .. not anything else .. i believe theres alot more to currency valuations than just how much foriegn reserves you have .. thats why im hoping for that straight up rv .

and i dont think if they were going to rv .. they would broadcast it world wide .. i think it would be covert

If they lop, the rate will be what it is. There would be zero reason to add value to a currency they are replacing. they would add value only to the new currency.

And given we know....whether they rv or lop....they want to be at a dollar. so 1000:1 is very easy and simple. adding value during that phase would be unneccesary. the current reform process would be confusing enough for citizens.

[sandyf]

If they lop, the rate will be what it is. There would be zero reason to add value to a currency they are replacing. they would add value only to the new currency.

And given we know....whether they rv or lop....they want to be at a dollar. so 1000:1 is very easy and simple. adding value during that phase would be unneccesary. the current reform process would be confusing enough for citizens.

I assume you mean redenominate.

When a country redenominates a new currency is introduced, not just new notes, there will be a new code assigned. I this case it would be IQx where x is some other letter as they have already used the currency initial.

The new code for Zambia was issued on 31st Aug.

31 August 2012

[b]ISO 4217 AMENDMENT NUMBER 154[/b]

1) Effective from 1 January 2013, the following change will be made to

“Table A.1 – Currency and funds code list” for ZAMBIA:

Entity Currency Alphabetic code Numeric code Minor unit

ZAMBIA Zambian Kwacha ZMW 967 2

The change is due to the deletion of three zeros. The conversion rate is 1000 (old) Zambian Kwacha to 1 (new) Zambian Kwacha (1000:1).

The new currency will have a fixed relationship to the old, eg 1:1000, so if there was any change in the value of the new currency it would also be reflected in the old.

The new currency would become the national currency and the old currency would coexist for a specified period of time. Stores etc would show prices in both old and new currency.

Edited November 29, 2012 by sandyf

[dontlop]

If they lop, the rate will be what it is. There would be zero reason to add value to a currency they are replacing. they would add value only to the new currency.

And given we know....whether they rv or lop....they want to be at a dollar. so 1000:1 is very easy and simple. adding value during that phase would be unneccesary. the current reform process would be confusing enough for citizens.

i dont think so ..its realy not that hard to understand ... hey guys your new dinars are worth $ 3.50 now .. really .. yep ..

what about these old ones ....? ,, uh .. ya just go cash those in for new ones .. .. they are worth 1000 for one new one.

see its easy

[TomRiddle]

Dontlop,

Thank you for the information.

[boomer113189]

sandyf and truthful1 have got it right

[cheevo]

So zambia announced their new currency code and exchange procedure back a good 3-4 months a head of time.....wouldnt iraq have announced their rd abd new currency code by now if it was going happen beginning 2013???

[boomer113189]

yeah IF it was going to happen in 2013

[Roadrunner]

yeah IF it was going to happen in 2013

Plus 1 for the big "IF". Iraq has never done what they say they are going to do, and I don't really expect them to start now. All we can do is wait and see what happens and hope for the best.

Roadrunner

[sandyf]

So zambia announced their new currency code and exchange procedure back a good 3-4 months a head of time.....wouldnt iraq have announced their rd abd new currency code by now if it was going happen beginning 2013???

It is not up to Iraq to announce a code. The codes come from ISO.

ISO - International Organization for Standardization

This is why redenominations are planned and not secret.

[Hawaii 50]

i dont think so ..its realy not that hard to understand ... hey guys your new dinars are worth $ 3.50 now .. really .. yep ..

what about these old ones ....? ,, uh .. ya just go cash those in for new ones .. .. they are worth 1000 for one new one.

see its easy

Oh no!!! I guess the ride is over.: ( maybe we all make enough to have a pizza party.

[Darin]

saddam notes were deemed worthless .. zero worth .. they were exchanged for the bremmer .. which is the notes we hold .. they were given an inflated rate 3000 for one dollar was their worth till the exchange was over because they had no idea how many saddam notes their were going to be ....they floated it down till it eventually is given a program rate set by the imf .. the set rate of 1170 is not something that is going to change .. its temporary . although it did change to 1166 this past year .. but its only a program rate set for monitoring purposes .. the new notes "the bremers" are not tied to any of iraqs historical dinars as far as value .. they are set on a program rate .. PROGRAM RATE ..... SET ... BY ...THE ...IMF .. iraq sells oil it converts those dollars into dinars .. AT ...THE PROGRAM .. RATE .. most people got it backwards .. the rate is not set by how many dollars they have in the cbi reserves .. .. they just have that many dinars .. after exchanging the dollars at the program rate 1166 ...... the rate doesnt change .. its a set rate .. they judge its value by comparing it to the dollar . at the program rate 1166 dinars per dollar..remember the new dinars value hasnt been set yet .. we are still under the program rate used to monitor the situation .. no other currency in the world is under a program rate right now .. just iraq

One thing that Iraq was known for was heavy counterfeiting. The Saddam notes were heavily counterfeited and that was one thing that they were looking for during their 1:1 exchange. They had expected a high number of counterfeits but were actually shocked how many notes that were exchanged were not really counterfeited. This was information I read from a very long PDF file about how the money was brought into Iraq. Information included how the money was dipped into a certain type of ink so it would not be recycled and exchanged again, how the convoys went from bank to banks to do the exchange, and how it was all planned.

The argument of the $3 per dinar, is basically how the public of the people who held the dinar during that time period of what they believed the value was worth. Internationally, it likely never held that value, but what people exchanged it for within the country can obviously be different. Which is one thing to watch for, is simply the market value versus the CBI value. As we can see, the market value is much less than what the CBI has the value set at. Going off of memory, I think the figures were in the 1200 to 1300 range while the CBI maintains their 1166.

Econ101 informs us that supply & demand sets the value. If the market value is less than the CBI rate, we can conclude that the demand for using IQD within their own country is not very high. So, one would think that the people of the country prefer to use dollars over dinars. Really makes it very hard to fathom the idea of so many trillions in existence, with that being the case huh?

Inflation has been low & steady for quite a few years. I know some articles have referenced Turkey and what they did with their currency. If you follow the history, they got inflation low and soon re-denominated shortly after breaking below the 10% inflation barrier.

People need to remember that the dinar and its value is simply based off a piggy-back system. Its pegged to the dollar....

Anyways, in my opinion the true value of the dinar is not 1166:1 or even 1.16:1 (if they were to R/D). I truly believe that they have room to increase the value. The big question is when and by how much?

Than the following questions will include what type of currency system will they use to value their currency, such as a dirty float, free float, pegged rates, etc.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head! And you are at the same conclusion that a lot of members have reached....the giant elephant in the room, above all else is the inflated money supply. That appears to be the only way to see a good return on our investment....is if the CBI can significantly reduce the money supply (without lopping). There were articles about introducing gold coins in order to pull in some of that currency in circulation and that could help reduce numbers. Just no action on it yet. And that of course could take some time....but Im up for anything besides taking the easy way out and deleting the zeros....

I do believe if you look into those sanctions placed on Iraq, it mentions that because of this, imports and exports were limited which would hurt GDP which hurts the money coming into the country so they were basically going broke. Im just assuming that because they had no money, Saddam spent what reserves they had, probly depleted them all together so there really wasnt anything backing the dinar anymore. And that would explain why he just starting printing more dinar. I know dontlop says that he spent them all by 1985, but would like to see anything that would indicate thats the case.

Kuwait pretty much fkd them over too by flooding the market with oil and so Iraq was losing billions in oil sales....

The sanctions are hurting them with their GDP. It is not helping them trade as freely as other nations. It causes numerous hurdles for potential investors to jump over to step foot into a country, causes doubt, and limits trade. But, another thing to consider is that the country itself should learn to become more self-sufficient and not rely on imports. A country has a better chance to stand on its own if it can produce its own goods (i.e., beverages, food, clothes, electronics, etc). Ideally, they should only import as a stop-gap to fill in what they are short on. The U.S. was really good about being self-sufficient, but now we obviously import way more than we export.. (Which is not really a good thing).

But the M.E. is a unique case, because Iraq has to be friendly with their neighbors to increase trade. Iran has restrictions with sanctions and a falling value in their money supply while Kuwait is also not to happy with them. But over the years, the relationship with Kuwait has been rebuilding. I like reading how many Kuwaiti companies are investing in Iraq. More investments help flourish the country and expedites their potential to be quite prominent.

No doubt that the country of Iraq is a great opportunity to invest in... But the biggest question is where and what to expect.

It is not up to Iraq to announce a code. The codes come from ISO.

ISO - International Organization for Standardization

This is why redenominations are planned and not secret.

And is also something that I check in on frequently to keep an eye out for. Basically once we see that a new code is announced, we can expect a changed in the very near future. When the detailed plans are laid out with a date, we will know the result. A new code is likely a "game over situation" as we can likely expect some form of re-denomination. The reason I intend to keep an eye out on this is not to miss any short window of exchanged even if the value never increased in my favor. I would hate getting stuck with numerous notes of worthless paper.

[jackster]

yes the rate was artificially lowered by saddam .. to what extent they didnt know .. so an artificial rate was established till things are ironed out ,, they call it a program rate .. it is not to be determined by how much oil they sell in the future after the new currency was established backed by how much oil they sell and how much they can save up in the cbi as they rebuild their infrastructure . many things are concidered what the wealth was before they sold oil and put money in reserves at cbi ... how much was it worth the day they exchanged it from saddam dinars to the bremmer dinar ...when the cbi had zero in the reserves ..iraqs wealth was not zero that day ... tottaling up iraq wealth was somrething they had to do from start to finish .. their were no records of realestate and its value.... i believe they are coming to a close on that.. they have decided how to value real estate .. and are applying it ..

all this zero talk has been a diversion ..ive seen no real rates . and how they determined the wealth of iraq .. just because saddam printed up billions of dinars .. doesnt mean anything .. that was short term ..

ya just cannot erase the wealth of iraq and tell them to start selling oil and put the money in the reserves and thats how much your country is worth .. the money in the reserves came from oil sales after the invasion .. its new wealth .. not the lost wealth ,, the true value of every port building road bridge ..every city ,, in iraq is not worthless and only worth what is in the cbi reserves .. thats just cash from oil in the last 10 years .thats on top of the true dinar value

I think what Keep was saying is that Saddam artificially "raised" the value of the Dinar. Then it dropped in value.

And if that it true, then the current value of the IQD is the real value. That would be a bummer.

[zul]

Wow! Zambia announced their plan in Jan 2012, and by Jan 2013 they will be without their 3 zeros.

Iraq, on the other hand, started planning in 2005 (with a 5 year plan) ~ but 7 yrs later....they are still planning...

[hame55]

saddams currency reserves "foriegn reserves ",, were depleted halfway through the iran iraq war by 1985 .. yet the value was held at over 3 bucks for one dinar,, when saddam invaded kuwait , he was warned to pull out of kuwait .. he didnt listen ,, . , any way , after saddams reserves were gone he started borrowing funds in 1985 from many countrys to fight the war against iran .. .. after the war he invaded kuwait , the loans were called in and he had nothing to pay the loans with ..so he printed money to use inside iraq .. a local currency

I believe the street value of the dinar then was $1.90 and the nominal, official set at $3.20

Did you realize (maybe not, who knows...) That a large percentage of folks don't want to hear your socialist BS either and consider it offensive. But that hasn't seemed to stop you. Perhaps you could spread some of your wealth to the Gangsta boy so that he is properly attired!

SLB - not sure if you or the wife, but please be courteous to fellow members. Umbertino is a thoughtful poster who is not a "socialist" in the sense you think. His country is capitalist, but has social democratic principles. Stop watching FOX and read up on this. You are criticizing way too much for someone who does not have a grasp of political terms such as 'socialist."