$200 Mil in ASSETS !!!!

[rockfl9]

The $200 Mil in assets  ( aka loans) IS NOT to be construed as  RESERVES of the central bank.   It is simply the sum total of the total banking system activity.   In contrast a single large US bank will book assets of 2+ Billion dollars.

[rockfl9]

Bank assets are not RESERVES !  When a bank makes a loan It is a conversion from bank capital to a bank ASSET. The amount of a banks asset account is an indicator of its fiscal activity. More is good. The taker of the mortgage is responsible for repayment so it becomes future income for the bank. 

If $200 Mil is the total of ALL banks in Iraq it is not really a good sign of banking activity for the country !!!

BUT Paying or taking interest is forbidden in the Quoran[?}. So Islamic banks get around this by arranging a sort of "rent-to-own " agreement where the payments avoid using the term interest. Those transactions wont get booked as assets to the bank .