Financial experts call for the adoption of the slogan {Our Dinar}

[yota691]

Central Bank Governor: Dollar exchange rates will drop dramatically in the coming days

2023.06.10 - 12:35

 

 

Baghdad - people   

Today, Saturday, the Central Bank revealed its plans to raise financial and gold reserves, and while it specified its procedures for installing prepaid devices, it clarified its plans for restructuring government banks.  

   

  

The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, said in a statement to the official agency, followed by “NAS”, (June 10, 2023), that “packages of instructions for financing in foreign currencies abroad have been launched with the launch of the electronic platform,” noting that “the aim of this package is to meet the requests of All the needs of the Iraqi economic sectors, in addition to the needs of citizens for travel, treatment and study.  

  

Al-Alaq added, "These packages contributed to organizing a large part of the trade process in Iraq through the entry of various sectors into the official channels of transfer, and mitigated exchange rate fluctuations that reached approximately 160,000 dinars per dollar at the beginning of the launch of the platform in the market." , stressing that "there is a significant improvement in the work of the trade financing platform and the cash payment platform, and that proceeding in this framework will contribute to a significant decrease in the exchange rate in the coming days."  

  

And he continued, "There is no need to launch new urgent packages at the present time, as the operations are proceeding consistently through electronic platforms with the presence of some operational obstacles or obstacles related to international commercial operations related to financing. Each case is resolved separately, and therefore we see that the situation is going well." towards stability and there is no need to take additional measures.  

  

Regarding setting $2,000 as a maximum limit for spending on Visa and MasterCard cards abroad, Al-Allaq explained, “The aim of setting ceilings for cash withdrawals from payment cards is to avoid misuse of these cards by weak-minded people and currency speculation, since continuing with the previous situation exposes the financial sector to a great threat.” And pushes for more currency smuggling.”  

  

Regarding the operations of seizing cards at airports, the Governor of the Central Bank said: “We believe that this issue has ended or is nearing completion through the circulars issued by this bank, which obligated banks and payment companies to issue one card for each customer and to use the biometric fingerprint, and to set ceilings for cash withdrawals and the cooperation of the security services.” with this bank.  

  

Regarding the insistence of some merchants on buying dollars from the parallel market, Al-Alaq said: "The insistence of some merchants on such transactions despite the facilities provided by this bank constitutes a factor of instability in the exchange rate and also exposes the owners of these transactions to legal accountability," stressing that "The failure of small traders to turn into companies that were allowed to enter the window and their insistence on financing through informal methods by buying currency from the secondary market puts pressure on the exchange rate towards an upward trend, and therefore we urge these merchants to establish small companies to enter the window and obtain dollars at the official rate."  

  

He pointed out that "the Central Bank's procedures in monitoring the decision to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of dollars by investment companies and the sale of housing units in investment complexes are carried out through coordination with the National Investment Commission and the office of the Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the support of the Dinar and law enforcement agencies, as well as the facilities provided by these The complexes, all sides agreed to accept the Iraqi dinar.  

  

Regarding the central bank's plans to implement the government bank restructuring program, Al-Alaq explained, "The central bank's plans to implement the restructuring program continue, but the progress of this project is slow, because of its association with other parties related to the Federal Bureau of Financial Supervision and the Ministry of Finance, or because of the weak human capabilities available to it." Government banks," pointing out that "the Central Bank continues to provide support to these banks to improve the quality of data, including conducting an assessment of the quality of assets for the Rafidain and Rasheed banks, as an international auditing company was contracted for this purpose, and this bank bore the cost of contracting with this company."  

  

And he continued: “As for private banks, the control process continues through the supervisory tools of this bank, and at the same time work is being done to update the instructions and controls regulating banking work and in cooperation with international institutions in order to implement international standards and international best practices, and the most prominent of these projects are the following: -  

  

1- Draft supervisory work guide / risk management controls in commercial banks.  

  

2- Draft capital adequacy controls.  

  

3- The Scorecard Project for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Standards (ESC), where this bank issued the first report on the results of (ESC) on 1/23/2023, which is the first of its kind that reflects on the extent to which environmental, social and corporate governance standards are applied in the Iraqi banking sector.  

  

4- Work is currently underway to update the disclosures and financial statements of commercial banks, in cooperation with the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC).  

  

5- A project to develop regulatory tools to deal with systemically important local banks.  

  

Regarding the Central Bank's procedures for installing prepaid devices that were installed in a number of locations, Al-Alaq said that "based on the decision of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers No. 23044 of 2023, paragraph (2) thereof, this bank received a number of requests from ministries and government and private institutions, and it was completed." Addressing it to approach companies providing electronic payment services and request offers to supply, install and operate point-of-sale (POS) devices according to the mechanism and strategy of this bank.  

  

He pointed out that “the above entities were provided with the names of payment service providers licensed by this bank to actively (processor, collector) for the purpose of concluding the agreements required to serve the collection of funds electronically for financial dues through (POS) devices,” noting that “electronic payment service provider companies can Licensors collect amounts due for services provided by institutions and government departments electronically, whether in connection with electronic payment gateways or directly through the deployment of point-of-sale (POS) devices.  

  

He stressed that "the electronic bill payment project has already been launched for a number of billed departments affiliated to the ministries (construction, housing, public works, trade, electricity, interior - passports)."  

  

With regard to the procedures of the Central Bank regarding monitoring money laundering operations and recovering funds smuggled abroad, Al-Alaq stated that, “Based on Article 9 (9 / First / A) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39), the work of the Anti-Money Laundering Office And the financing of terrorism is receiving or obtaining reports or information about transactions that are suspected of including the proceeds of a predicate crime, money laundering, or terrorist financing from the reporting authorities. The use of prepaid cards by criminals.  

  

He went on to say, "Following the reports received, the office took the following actions:  

  

A- The Ministry of Finance / General Authority of Customs was approached for the purpose of preventing the issuance of any card that does not bear the name of the card holder (prepaid cards / cards).  

  

B- The office issued a circular to the companies and banks that issued these cards, which included the following:  

  

1- The ceiling of the aforementioned card is (10,000,000) dinars (ten million Iraqi dinars), and the holder of the aforementioned card may withdraw cash up to (3,000) dollars (three thousand dollars) or its equivalent in the currencies of other countries outside Iraq per month.  

  

2- Due diligence measures are taken when recharging, based on Article (10) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39) of 2015 and the controls and instructions issued thereunder.  

  

3- The company or the bank has the right to issue only one prepaid card for the same customer, with the necessity that these cards be issued in the customer’s name, and the customer’s name is recorded on the card.  

  

He pointed out that "the office carries out investigations and analysis of the information received from the above authorities, on the basis of which the defaulters are identified from individuals, companies and banks, and a number of suspicious transactions have been referred to the courts specialized in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, based on Article (9 / first / c). ) of the above law, which states: Reports that are based on reasonable grounds for suspicion of money laundering, terrorist financing, or predicate offenses shall be referred to the Presidency of the Public Prosecution Office to take legal action in their regard, and to notify the relevant authorities of that.  

  

Regarding plans to raise financial and gold reserves in the central bank, Al-Alaq indicated that “the two most important factors that determine the accumulation and depletion of foreign reserves are external, as the accumulation of reserves is mainly linked to the amount of oil exports and the price of a barrel, while the depletion of reserves takes place through importing goods and services as well as transfers.” Foreign Affairs," stressing that "under normal conditions, this bank aims to build a sustainable level of foreign reserves while ensuring high liquidity and relatively good returns."  

  

He continued, "With regard to gold, this bank places increasing its holdings of gold on a high level of importance, and by the end of this year, this bank aims to increase its holdings by at least the equivalent of $500 million."  

  

And about the housing loan initiative between Al-Alaq, that “the housing loans did not stop, as the circular of this bank No. 6/5/988 on 4/27/2023 in paragraph (5) of it indicated that the financing of applications submitted to the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund within the allocated allocation would continue.” To them, it is derived after that by reallocating 50% of the total loan installments previously granted, whose total loans financed by the Central Bank through its initiative amount to more than 10 trillion dinars.  

[yota691]

The Central Bank: Merchants' insistence on buying dollars from the parallel market exposes them to legal accountability

• Time: 06/10/2023 12:33:49
•  
• Read: 1,196 times

  

{Economic: Al Furat News} Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alaq confirmed today, Saturday, that the insistence of some merchants to buy dollars from the parallel market exposes them to legal accountability.

 

Al-Alaq said, in a press statement, that "packages of instructions for financing in foreign currencies abroad were launched with the launch of the electronic platform," pointing out that "the aim of this package is to meet the requests of all the needs of the Iraqi economic sectors in addition to the citizens' needs for travel, treatment and study."

 

Al-Alaq added, "These packages contributed to organizing a large part of the trade process in Iraq through the entry of various sectors into the official channels of transfer, and mitigated exchange rate fluctuations that reached approximately 160,000 dinars per dollar at the beginning of the launch of the platform in the market." , stressing that "there is a significant improvement in the work of the trade financing platform and the cash payment platform, and that proceeding in this framework will contribute to a significant decrease in the exchange rate in the coming days."

 

Repair packages

 

And he continued, "There is no need to launch new urgent packages at the present time, as the operations are proceeding consistently through electronic platforms with the presence of some operational obstacles or obstacles related to international commercial operations related to financing. Each case is resolved separately, and therefore we see that the situation is going well." towards stability and there is no need to take additional measures.

 

Regarding setting $2,000 as a maximum limit for spending on Visa and MasterCard cards abroad, Al-Allaq explained, “The aim of setting ceilings for cash withdrawals from payment cards is to avoid misuse of these cards by weak-minded people and currency speculation, since continuing with the previous situation exposes the financial sector to a great threat.” And pushes for more currency smuggling.”

 

Regarding the operations of seizing cards at airports, the Governor of the Central Bank said: “We believe that this issue has ended or is nearing completion through the circulars issued by this bank, which obligated banks and payment companies to issue one card for each customer and to use the biometric fingerprint, and to set ceilings for cash withdrawals and the cooperation of the security services.” with this bank.

 

Regarding the insistence of some merchants on buying dollars from the parallel market, Al-Alaq said: "The insistence of some merchants on such transactions despite the facilities provided by this bank constitutes a factor of instability in the exchange rate and also exposes the owners of these transactions to legal accountability," stressing that "The failure of small traders to turn into companies that were allowed to enter the window and their insistence on financing through informal methods by buying currency from the secondary market puts pressure on the exchange rate towards an upward trend, and therefore we urge these merchants to establish small companies to enter the window and obtain dollars at the official rate."

 

He pointed out that "the Central Bank's procedures in monitoring the decision to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of dollars by investment companies and the sale of housing units in investment complexes are carried out through coordination with the National Investment Commission and the office of the Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the support system" rel="">support of the Dinar and law enforcement agencies, as well as the facilities provided by these The complexes, all sides agreed to accept the Iraqi dinar.

 

Regarding the central bank's plans to implement the government bank restructuring program, Al-Alaq explained, "The central bank's plans to implement the restructuring program continue, but the progress of this project is slow, because of its association with other parties related to the Federal Bureau of Financial Supervision and the Ministry of Finance, or because of the weak human capabilities available to it." Government banks," pointing out that "the Central Bank continues to provide support system" rel="">support to these banks to improve the quality of data, including conducting an assessment of the quality of assets for the Rafidain and Rasheed banks, as an international auditing company was contracted for this purpose, and this bank bore the cost of contracting with this company."

 

And he continued: “As for private banks, the control process continues through the supervisory tools of this bank, and at the same time work is being done to update the instructions and controls regulating banking work and in cooperation with international institutions in order to implement international standards and international best practices, and the most prominent of these projects are the following: -

 

1- Draft supervisory work guide / risk management controls in commercial banks.

 

2- Draft capital adequacy controls.

 

3- The Scorecard Project for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Standards (ESC), where this bank issued the first report on the results of (ESC) on 1/23/2023, which is the first of its kind that reflects on the extent to which environmental, social and corporate governance standards are applied in the Iraqi banking sector.

 

4- Work is currently underway to update the disclosures and financial statements of commercial banks, in cooperation with the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC).

 

5- A project to develop regulatory tools to deal with systemically important local banks.

Regarding the Central Bank's procedures for installing prepaid devices that were installed in a number of locations, Al-Alaq said that "based on the decision of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers No. 23044 of 2023, paragraph (2) thereof, this bank received a number of requests from ministries and government and private institutions, and it was completed." Addressing it to approach companies providing electronic payment services and request offers to supply, install and operate point-of-sale (POS) devices according to the mechanism and strategy of this bank.

 

He pointed out that “the above entities were provided with the names of payment service providers licensed by this bank to actively (processor, collector) for the purpose of concluding the agreements required to serve the collection of funds electronically for financial dues through (POS) devices,” noting that “electronic payment service provider companies can Licensors collect amounts due for services provided by institutions and government departments electronically, whether in connection with electronic payment gateways or directly through the deployment of point-of-sale (POS) devices.

He stressed that "the electronic bill payment project has already been launched for a number of billed departments affiliated to the ministries (construction, housing, public works, trade, electricity, interior - passports)."

 

Money laundering operations

 

With regard to the procedures of the Central Bank regarding monitoring money laundering operations and recovering funds smuggled abroad, Al-Alaq stated that, “Based on Article 9 (9 / First / A) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39), the work of the Anti-Money Laundering Office And the financing of terrorism is receiving or obtaining reports or information about transactions that are suspected of including the proceeds of a predicate crime, money laundering, or terrorist financing from the reporting authorities. The use of prepaid cards by criminals.

 

He went on to say, "Following the reports received, the office took the following actions:

 

A- The Ministry of Finance / General Authority of Customs was approached for the purpose of preventing the issuance of any card that does not bear the name of the card holder (prepaid cards / cards).

 

B- The office issued a circular to the companies and banks that issued these cards, which included the following:

 

1- The ceiling of the aforementioned card is (10,000,000) dinars (ten million Iraqi dinars), and the holder of the aforementioned card may withdraw cash up to (3,000) dollars (three thousand dollars) or its equivalent in the currencies of other countries outside Iraq per month.

 

2- Due diligence measures are taken when recharging, based on Article (10) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39) of 2015 and the controls and instructions issued thereunder. 

 

3- The company or the bank has the right to issue only one prepaid card for the same customer, with the necessity that these cards be issued in the customer’s name, and the customer’s name is recorded on the card.

 

He pointed out that "the office carries out investigations and analysis of the information received from the above authorities, on the basis of which the defaulters are identified from individuals, companies and banks, and a number of suspicious transactions have been referred to the courts specialized in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, based on Article (9 / first / c). ) of the above law, which states: Reports that are based on reasonable grounds for suspicion of money laundering, terrorist financing, or predicate offenses shall be referred to the Presidency of the Public Prosecution Office to take legal action in their regard, and to notify the relevant authorities of that.

 

Regarding plans to raise financial and gold reserves in the central bank, Al-Alaq indicated that “the two most important factors that determine the accumulation and depletion of foreign reserves are external, as the accumulation of reserves is mainly linked to the amount of oil exports and the price of a barrel, while the depletion of reserves takes place through importing goods and services as well as transfers.” Foreign Affairs," stressing that "under normal conditions, this bank aims to build a sustainable level of foreign reserves while ensuring high liquidity and relatively good returns."

 

He continued, "With regard to gold, this bank places increasing its holdings of gold on a high level of importance, and by the end of this year, this bank aims to increase its holdings by at least the equivalent of $500 million."

 

And about the housing loan initiative between Al-Alaq, that “the housing loans did not stop, as the circular of this bank No. 6/5/988 on 4/27/2023 in paragraph (5) of it indicated that the financing of applications submitted to the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund within the allocated allocation would continue.” To them, it is derived after that by reallocating 50% of the total loan installments previously granted, whose total loans financed by the Central Bank through its initiative amount to more than 10 trillion dinars.

[yota691]

Merchants' insistence on buying dollars from the parallel market exposes them to legal accountability

 

June 10, 2023

Baghdad / Obelisk Al-Hadath: The Central Bank revealed, on Saturday, its plans to raise financial and gold reserves, and while specifying its procedures for installing prepaid devices, it clarified its plans for restructuring government banks.

 

And the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, said that “packages of instructions for financing in foreign currencies abroad were launched with the launch of the electronic platform,” noting that “the aim of this package is to meet the requests of all the needs of the Iraqi economic sectors in addition to the needs of citizens for travel, treatment and study.” .

 

Al-Alaq added, “These packages contributed to organizing a large part of the trade process in Iraq through the entry of various sectors into the official channels of transfer, and mitigated exchange rate fluctuations that reached approximately 160,000 dinars per dollar at the beginning of the launch of the platform in the market.” He stressed that “there is a significant improvement in the work of the trade financing platform and the cash payment platform, and that proceeding in this framework will contribute to a significant decrease in the exchange rate in the coming days.”

 

And he continued, “There is no need to launch new urgent packages at the present time, as the operations are proceeding consistently through electronic platforms with the presence of some operational obstacles or obstacles related to international commercial operations related to financing. Each case is resolved separately, and therefore we see that the situation is going well.” towards stability, and there is no need to take additional measures.”

 

Regarding setting $2,000 as a maximum limit for spending on Visa and MasterCard cards abroad, Al-Allaq explained, “The aim of setting ceilings for cash withdrawals from payment cards is to avoid misuse of these cards by weak-minded people and currency speculation, since continuing with the previous situation exposes the financial sector to a great threat.” And pushes for more currency smuggling.”

 

Regarding the operations of seizing cards at airports, the Governor of the Central Bank said: “We believe that this issue has ended or is nearing completion through the circulars issued by this bank, which obligated banks and payment companies to issue one card for each customer and use the biometric fingerprint, and to set ceilings for cash withdrawals and the cooperation of the security services.” with this bank.

 

Regarding the insistence of some merchants on buying dollars from the parallel market, Al-Alaq said: “The insistence of some merchants on such transactions despite the facilities provided by this bank constitutes a factor of instability in the exchange rate and also exposes the owners of these transactions to legal accountability,” stressing that “The failure of small traders to become companies that were allowed to enter the window, and their insistence on financing through informal methods by buying currency from the secondary market, puts pressure on the exchange rate towards an upward trend, and therefore we urge these merchants to establish small companies to enter the window and obtain dollars at the official rate.”

 

He pointed out that “the Central Bank’s procedures in monitoring the decision to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of dollars by investment companies and the sale of housing units in investment complexes are carried out through coordination with the National Investment Commission and the office of the Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the support of the Dinar and law enforcement agencies, as well as the facilities provided by these The complexes, all sides agreed to accept the Iraqi dinar.

 

Regarding the central bank’s plans to implement the government bank restructuring program, Al-Alaq explained, “The central bank’s plans to implement the restructuring program continue, but the progress of this project is slow, because of its association with other parties related to the Federal Bureau of Financial Supervision and the Ministry of Finance, or because of the weakness of the human capabilities available to it.” Governmental banks,” pointing out that “the Central Bank continues to provide support to these banks to improve the quality of data, including conducting an assessment of the quality of assets for the Rafidain and Rasheed banks, as an international auditing company was contracted for this purpose, and this bank bore the cost of contracting with this company.”

 

And he continued: “As for private banks, the control process continues through the supervisory tools of this bank, and at the same time work is being done to update the instructions and controls regulating banking work and in cooperation with international institutions in order to implement international standards and international best practices, and the most prominent of these projects are the following: -

 

1- Draft supervisory work guide / risk management controls in commercial banks.

2- Draft capital adequacy controls.

 

3- The Scorecard Project for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Standards (ESC), where this bank issued the first report on the results of (ESC) on 1/23/2023, which is the first of its kind that reflects on the extent to which environmental, social and corporate governance standards are applied in the Iraqi banking sector.

 

4- Work is currently underway to update the disclosures and financial statements of commercial banks, in cooperation with the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC).

 

5- A project to develop regulatory tools to deal with systemically important local banks.

 

Regarding the Central Bank's procedures for installing prepaid devices that were installed in a number of locations, Al-Alaq said that "based on the decision of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers No. 23044 of 2023, paragraph (2) thereof, this bank received a number of requests from ministries and government and private institutions, and it was completed." Addressing it to approach companies that provide electronic payment services and request offers to supply, install and operate point-of-sale (POS) devices according to the mechanism and strategy of this bank.

 

And he pointed out that “the above entities were provided with the names of payment service providers licensed by this bank to actively (processor, collector) for the purpose of concluding the agreements required to serve the electronic collection of funds for financial dues through (POS) devices,” indicating that “electronic payment service provider companies can Licensors collect amounts due for services provided by institutions and government departments electronically, whether in connection with electronic payment gateways or directly through the deployment of point-of-sale (POS) devices.

 

He stressed that "the electronic bill payment project has already been launched for a number of billed departments affiliated to the ministries (construction, housing, public works, commerce, electricity, interior - passports)."

 

With regard to the procedures of the Central Bank regarding monitoring money laundering operations and recovering funds smuggled abroad, Al-Alaq stated that, “Based on Article 9 (9 / First / A) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39), the work of the Anti-Money Laundering Office And the financing of terrorism is receiving or obtaining reports or information about transactions that are suspected of including the proceeds of a predicate crime, money laundering, or terrorist financing from the reporting authorities. The use of prepaid cards by criminals.”

 

He went on to say: “Following the reports received, the office took the following actions:

 

A- The Ministry of Finance / General Authority of Customs was approached for the purpose of preventing the issuance of any card that does not bear the name of the card holder (prepaid cards / cards).

 

B- The office issued a circular to the companies and banks that issued these cards, which included the following:

 

1- The ceiling of the aforementioned card is (10,000,000) dinars (ten million Iraqi dinars), and the holder of the aforementioned card may withdraw cash up to (3,000) dollars (three thousand dollars) or its equivalent in the currencies of other countries outside Iraq per month.

 

2- Due diligence measures are taken when recharging, based on Article (10) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law No. (39) of 2015 and the controls and instructions issued thereunder.

 

3- The company or the bank has the right to issue only one prepaid card to the same customer, with the necessity that these cards be issued in the customer’s name, and the customer’s name is affixed to the card.

 

He pointed out that “the office carries out investigations and analysis of the information received from the above authorities, on the basis of which defaulters are identified from individuals, companies and banks, and a number of suspicious transactions have been referred to the courts specialized in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, based on Article (9 / first / c). ) of the above law, which stipulates: Referring reports that are based on reasonable grounds for suspicion of money laundering, terrorist financing, or predicate crimes to the Presidency of the Public Prosecution to take legal action in this regard, and notify the relevant authorities of that.

 

Regarding plans to raise financial reserves and gold in the central bank, Al-Alaq indicated that “the two most important factors that determine the accumulation and depletion of foreign reserves are external, as the accumulation of reserves is mainly linked to the amount of oil exports and the price of a barrel, while the depletion of reserves takes place through importing goods and services as well as transfers.” Foreign Affairs,” stressing that “under normal conditions, this bank aims to build a sustainable level of foreign reserves while ensuring high liquidity and relatively good returns.”

 

And he continued: “With regard to gold, this bank places increasing its holdings of gold on a high level of importance, and by the end of this year, this bank aims to increase its holdings by at least the equivalent of 500 million US dollars.”

 

And about the housing loan initiative between Al-Alaq, that “the housing loans did not stop, as the circular of this bank No. 6/5/988 on 4/27/2023 in paragraph (5) of it indicated that the financing of applications submitted to the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund within the allocated allocation would continue. To them, it is derived after that by reallocating 50% of the total loan installments previously granted, whose total loans financed by the Central Bank through its initiative amount to more than 10 trillion dinars.

[6ly410]

Central Bank: Compliance with currency financing instructions packages will reduce the exchange rate significantly

Economic News Agency - Central Bank: Compliance with currency financing instructions packages will reduce the exchange rate significantly (economy-news.net)

   

Economy News - Baghdad

The Central Bank revealed on Saturday its plans to raise financial reserves and gold, while noting that compliance with the packages of foreign currency financing instructions will contribute to the decline in the dollar exchange rate significantly in the coming days.

Al-Alaq said in an interview with the official news agency, that "the instructions packages for financing in foreign currencies abroad were launched with the launch of the electronic platform," pointing out that "the aim of this package is to meet the requests of all the needs of the Iraqi economic sectors in addition to the needs of citizens for travel, treatment and study."

"These packages contributed to organizing a large part of the trade process in Iraq through the entry of various sectors into the official channels of transfer, and reduced exchange rate fluctuations, which at the beginning of the platform's launch in the market reached approximately 160,<> dinars per dollar," he said.

He stressed that "there is a significant improvement in the work of the trade finance platform and the cash payment platform, and that proceeding with this framework will contribute to the significant decline in the exchange rate in the coming days."

Regarding plans to raise the financial reserves and gold in the Central Bank, Al-Alaq said that "the most important factors that determine the accumulation and depletion of foreign reserves are external, as the accumulation of reserves is mainly related to the amount of oil exports and the price of a barrel, while the depletion of reserves is through the import of goods and services as well as external transfers," stressing that "under normal circumstances, this bank aims to build a sustainable level of foreign reserves while ensuring high liquidity and relatively good returns."

"In terms of gold, this bank places the increase in its gold holdings on a high level of importance, and by the end of this year this bank aims to increase its holdings by at least the equivalent of 500 million US dollars."

Regarding the housing loan initiative, Al-Alaq indicated that "housing loans have not stopped, as the circular of this bank No. 6/5/988 on 27/4/2023 indicated in paragraph (5) that applications submitted to the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund will continue to be financed within the allocation allocated to them, and then derived by reallocating 50% of the total installments of the previously granted refundable loans, whose total loans financed by the Central Bank through its initiative amount to more than 10 trillion dinars."

Views 37

Added 2023/06/10 - 4:19 PM

[6ly410]

Central Bank Governor: Dollar exchange rates will drop significantly in the coming days

2023.06.10 - 12:35

Central Bank Governor: Dollar exchange rates will drop significantly in the coming days (nasnews.com)\

Baghdad - NAS   

The central bank revealed on Saturday its plans to raise financial reserves and gold, and while outlining its procedures on the installation of prepayment machines, it clarified its plans on restructuring government banks.  

  

    

The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, said in a statement to the official agency affiliated with "NAS", (June 10, 2023), that "the instructions packages for financing in foreign currencies abroad have been launched with the launch of the electronic platform," pointing out that "the aim of this package is to meet the requests of all the needs of the Iraqi economic sectors in addition to the needs of citizens for travel, treatment and study."  

  

Al-Alaq added that "these packages contributed to organizing a large part of the trade process in Iraq through the entry of various sectors to the official channels in the transfer, and mitigated the exchange rate fluctuations that reached at the beginning of the launch of the platform in the market to approximately 160 thousand dinars per dollar," stressing that "there is a significant improvement in the work of the trade finance platform and the cash payment platform, and that proceeding in this framework will contribute to the decline in the exchange rate significantly in in the coming days."  

  

"There is no need to launch new urgent packages at the present time, as operations are proceeding consistently through electronic platforms with some operational obstacles or obstacles related to international trade operations related to financing that are resolved on a case-by-case basis, so we see that the situation is moving towards stability and there is no need to take additional measures," he said.  

  

Regarding setting a maximum of $ 2000,<> for spending from Visa and MasterCard cards abroad, Al-Alaq explained that "the aim of setting ceilings for cash withdrawal from payment cards is to avoid the misuse of these cards by the weak souls and currency speculation, as the continuation of the previous situation exposes the financial sector to a great threat and pushes more currency smuggling."  

  

Regarding the seizure of cards at airports, the governor of the Central Bank said: "We believe that this issue is over or is about to end through the circulars issued by this bank, which obligated banks and payment companies to issue one card for each customer, use the biometric fingerprint, determine cash withdrawal ceilings and cooperate with this bank."  

  

With regard to the insistence of some traders to buy dollars from the parallel market, Al-Alaq said: "The insistence of some traders on such transactions despite the facilities provided by this bank constitutes a factor of instability in the exchange rate and exposes the owners of these transactions to legal accountability," stressing that "the failure of small traders to turn into companies allowed to enter the window and their insistence on financing by informal means by buying currency from the secondary market puts pressure on the exchange rate to rise. So we urge these traders to set up small businesses to get into the window and get dollars at the official rate."  

  

He pointed out that "the procedures of the Central Bank in monitoring the decision to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of the dollar by investment companies and the sale of housing units in investment complexes are carried out through coordination with the National Investment Commission and the Office of the Chairman of the Board of the Supreme Committee to support the Dinar and law enforcement agencies, as well as the facilities provided by these complexes, all parties agreed to accept the Iraqi dinar."  

  

Regarding the Central Bank's plans to implement the restructuring program of government banks, Al-Alaq explained that "the Central Bank's plans to implement the restructuring program are continuing, but progress in this project is slow, due to its association with other bodies related to the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau and the Ministry of Finance, or because of the weak human capabilities available to government banks," pointing out that "the Central Bank continues to provide support to these banks to improve the quality of data, including conducting an asset quality assessment for Rafidain and Al-Rasheed banks, as a company was contracted with An international audit for this purpose and this bank bears the cost of contracting with this company."  

  

He continued: "As for private banks, the monitoring process is continuing through the supervisory tools of this bank, and at the same time work is being done to update the instructions and controls governing banking work in cooperation with international institutions in order to apply international standards and best practices, and the most prominent of these projects are the following:  

  

1- Draft manual of supervisory work / risk management controls in commercial banks.  

  

2- Capital adequacy controls project.  

  

3- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESC) scorecard project, where this bank issued the first report of the results of (ESC) on 23/1/2023, which is the first of its kind that is reflected in the extent of the application of environmental, social and corporate governance standards in the Iraqi banking sector.  

  

4- Work is currently underway to update the disclosures and financial statements of commercial banks in cooperation with the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC).  

  

5- Developing supervisory tools to deal with systemically important local banks.  

  

Regarding the Central Bank's procedures in installing prepaid machines that have been installed in a number of locations, Al-Alaq said that "based on the decision of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers No. 23044 of 2023, paragraph (2) thereof, this bank received a number of requests from ministries and government and private institutions, and they were addressed to approach companies of electronic payment service providers and request offers for equipping, installing and operating point of sale (POS) devices in accordance with the mechanism and strategy of this bank."  

  

He pointed out that "the above entities have been provided with the names of payment service providers licensed by this bank actively (processor, collector) for the purpose of concluding the required agreements for the electronic collection of funds for financial receivables through (POS) devices," noting that "licensed electronic payment service providers companies can collect the amounts due on the services provided by government institutions and departments electronically, whether in connection with electronic payment gateways or directly through the deployment of point of sale (POS) devices."  

  

"The electronic collection project (Bill Payment) has already been launched for a number of billed departments affiliated with the ministries (construction, housing, public works, trade, electricity, interior and passports)," he said.  

  

With regard to the Central Bank's procedures for monitoring money laundering operations and the recovery of smuggled funds abroad, Al-Alaq stated that "according to Article 9 (9/I/A) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Law No. (39), the work of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Office is to receive or obtain reports or information on operations suspected of involving the proceeds of a predicate crime, money laundering or terrorist financing from the reporting authorities. and the reports of the supervisory authorities in the Central Bank of Iraq, which showed the use of new methods for the purpose of misusing prepaid cards by criminals."  

  

"Following the reports received, the Office has taken the following actions:  

  

The Ministry of Finance / General Authority of Customs has been approached for the purpose of preventing the issuance of any card that does not bear the name of the cardholder (PREPAID/CARDS).  

  

The Office has issued a circular to companies and banks issuing such cards, which includes the following:  

  

1- The limit of the said card shall be (10,000,000) dinars (ten million Iraqi dinars) and the owner of the said card may withdraw cash up to (3,000) dollars (three thousand dollars) or its equivalent in the currencies of other countries outside Iraq per month.  

  

2- Due diligence measures shall be taken upon re-packing, based on Article (10) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Law No. (39) of 2015 and the controls and instructions issued thereunder.  

  

3- The company or bank has the right to issue only one prepaid card for the same customer, provided that these cards must be issued in the name of the customer and the customer's name is fixed on the card.  

  

He pointed out that "the office conducts investigations and analysis of information received from the above authorities, on the basis of which negligent individuals, companies and banks are identified, and a number of suspicious transactions have been referred to the courts specialized in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, based on Article (9/I/C) of the above law, which states: Referring reports that are based on reasonable grounds for suspicion of money laundering, terrorist financing or predicate crimes to the Presidency of the Public Prosecution to take legal action. in this regard, and notify the relevant authorities thereof."  

  

Regarding plans to raise the financial reserves and gold in the Central Bank, Al-Alaq pointed out that "the most important factors determining the accumulation and depletion of foreign reserves are external, as the accumulation of reserves is mainly related to the amount of oil exports and the price of a barrel, while the depletion of reserves is done by importing goods and services as well as external transfers," stressing that "under normal circumstances, this bank aims to build a sustainable level of foreign reserves while ensuring high liquidity and relatively good returns."  

  

"In terms of gold, this bank places the increase in its gold holdings on a high level of importance, and by the end of this year this bank aims to increase its holdings by at least the equivalent of 500 million US dollars."  

  

Regarding the housing loan initiative, "housing loans did not stop, as the circular of this bank No. 6/5/988 on 27/4/2023 indicated in paragraph (5) of it the continuation of financing applications submitted to the Real Estate Bank and the Housing Fund within the allocation allocated to them, and then derived by reallocating 50% of the total installments of previously granted recovered loans, whose total loans financed by the Central Bank through its initiative amount to more than 10 trillion dinars."  

   

 

[6ly410]

 

Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq sends an important message to the Iraqi people

Posted 41 seconds ago

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq sends an important message to the Iraqi people (iraqakhbar-com.translate.goog)

 

News Source /Iraq Today Agency

 

Baghdad - Iraq Today:

Central Bank Governor Ali Al-Alaq reassured the Iraqis on Saturday of an expected "significant" decline in the exchange rates of the dollar, considering that the situation is moving towards stability and there is no need to take additional measures, while warning traders of legal accountability if they insist on buying dollars from the parallel market.

Al-Alaq said in an interview with the official media, "Commitment to the packages of foreign currency financing instructions will contribute to the decline in the dollar exchange rate significantly in the coming days, and there is no need to launch new urgent packages at the present time," noting that "the situation is moving towards stability and there is no need to take additional measures."

"Setting a maximum of $2000, <> for disbursement of Visa and MasterCard cards abroad aims to avoid misusing them," he said, noting at the same time that "the insistence of some traders on buying dollars from the parallel market exposes them to legal accountability."

Al-Alaq stressed that "there is coordination to monitor the decision to deal in Iraqi dinars instead of dollars by investment companies and the sale of housing units," noting that "housing loans have not stopped."

[Officiallytook]

If they're announcing it believe it's only going to decrease by 100-200$ lol max 1100-1200 per 

[jake21]

Here we go again. And around and around we go!!

[rvmydinar]

2 hours ago, 6ly410 said:

Commitment to the packages of foreign currency financing instructions will contribute to the decline in the dollar exchange rate significantly in the coming days

Blah blah blah...😄

[rvmydinar]

1 hour ago, jake21 said:

Here we go again. And around and around we go!!

The wheels on the bus go around and around as long as they like to screw us up until we all give up our dinars.

[horsesoldier]

I woke up this morning, it all seemed okay. Fed the dogs, went for a walk on a sunny morning, had breakfast, got on my phone to check in to DV to see what was going on: then everything got blurry with a low vibration and humming noise in my head then got sucked right into the Iraqi Twilight Zone!

CRAP !!!!

[yota691]

Economists: Corrupt mafias manipulate the dollar and control the parallel market

 

 

WRITTEN BY: SOCIAL BAGHDAD

• 01-07-2023

• PAGE VIEWS 19

• 0 COMMENTS

Observers of economic affairs confirmed that it has been nearly 7 months since the start of the central bank’s work on the electronic platform and the international financial transfer system SWIFT, as the exchange rates of the dollar in Iraq have not witnessed stability despite the attempts of the government and the central bank to control the exchange rate in the black markets.

Observers, in their statements, confirmed that the exchange rate of the dollar in the parallel markets recorded a significant increase compared to the official rate set by the Central Bank at 1320. 

They stress that there are many questions about the reason for the continued rise in the price of the dollar, despite the government's insistence on working to reduce it, but it still maintains its high rate due to corruption, according to observers.

[yota691]

Economists attribute the dollar's rise to the continuation of the currency auction by selling it weekly

 

 

WRITTEN BY: SOCIAL BAGHDAD

• 01-07-2023

• PAGE VIEWS 16

• 0 COMMENTS

Experts in the field of economics confirm that the budget has nothing to do with the exchange rate, as it includes large financial expenditures funded in dinars, and these funds will be transferred to foreign goods and services denominated in dollars, which will increase the demand for dollars.

Economists said that approving the general budget for Iraq could not lead to a decrease in the exchange rate of the dollar as a result of the factors that control the Iraqi economy.

They expect the dollar exchange rate to continue to rise against the Iraqi dinar without any change, considering that the mechanism for managing monetary policy in the country is wrong, while they indicated that the currency auction continues to sell hundreds of millions of dollars per week, which raises many questions about the final beneficiary of the quantities of dollars sold.

[yota691]

Politicians: Parties and militias control the money market to maintain their influence and continuity

 

 

WRITTEN BY: SOCIAL BAGHDAD

• 06-30-2023

• PAGE VIEWS 30

• 0 COMMENTS

Political circles asserted that influential political and militia parties control the financial market and most of the influential private banks know very well how to maintain their influence and financial strength through hard currency smuggling operations.

Politicians mentioned that the use of Visa Cards and Master Cards issued by banks and electronic payment companies is one of the new methods for these operations, and it is difficult to control them by customs and border crossing police. They emphasized that the volume of money smuggled from Iraq since 2003 amounted to more than 350 billion dollars, and it constitutes very heavy losses for the Iraqi rentier economy, which depends mainly on oil.

[Jaygo]

Sounds like a float to me. 

[BETTYBOOP]

As long as there is Mafias running the parallel markets/ manipulating it... we ain't gonna see anything I don't think.

Edited July 1, 2023 by BETTYBOOP

[horsesoldier]

Perhaps Iraq is a using this Mafia manipulation as reason enough NOT to do what clearly needs to be done.

Like they need an excuse, but this does fit the criteria for a Crisis with foot dragging...

[WheresmyRV?]

Sounds like corruption is still king over there.  

[gregp]

12 hours ago, Jaygo said:

Sounds like a float to me. 

In the toilet

[yota691]

An economist bears speculators rising dollar exchange

• Time: 07/04/2023 14:49:37
•  
• Read: 429 times

  

{Economic: Al Furat News} An economist blamed the "speculators" in the parallel market for the dollar, the high exchange rate against the Iraqi dinar.

 

Basem Jamil Antoine told {Euphrates News}, that: "The problem of the high exchange rates of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar is not related to the government or its procedures, but rather to speculators."
He added, "There is an abundance of dollars in the local market, and it is available according to regular methods, and the solution to any economic problem cannot be solved by force, especially since the measures of the government and the central bank are very good."

It is noteworthy that the local markets are witnessing a rise in the exchange rate of the dollar, as it sometimes reaches 1490 dinars per dollar, while the official price set by the state is 132 thousand dinars.

And the reason for the rise in the dollar on local prices and sales, which caused a state of increasing stagnation with the lack of construction and the scarcity of investment projects that stopped years ago, in the hope that they will be initiated after the approval of the budget law that Parliament voted on on the 12th of last June.

 

Raghad Daham

[gregp]

This economist needs to take up growing flowers. 

[screwball]

42 minutes ago, gregp said:

This economist needs to take up growing flowers. 

economists and gurus are like butt holes! 🤣

[yota691]

The Iraqi dinar maintains its low price, and the budget provides liquidity in favor of the dollar

 

July 6, 2023

Baghdad / Obelisk Al-Hadath: The exchange rates of the dollar are rising in the local markets, while government measures are trying to absorb the national currency in the markets to preserve its value.

 

And he received the reasons for the rise in merchants and banking transactions, as this rise settled at 1460 dinars per dollar.

 

The liquidity of the dinar leads to an increase in the demand for the dollar, whether through the window of selling the currency to meet the consumables or through the parallel market.

Iraq spends no less than 109 trillion on salaries.

 

The exchange rate witnessed an unprecedented rise since the end of last year, in conjunction with the launch of the electronic platform that requires private banks to participate in it in exchange for obtaining their share in the currency auction, and the refusal of some of those banks to participate in the platform led to a deficit in dollar sales in the markets in conjunction with increasing of demands.

 

The exchange rates of the dinar, including its relative strength or weakness against the US dollar, are affected by several factors.

 

Iraq's general economic conditions play an important role. And with slower economic growth, high inflation, or political instability, it can undermine investor confidence in the dinar. As a result, the demand for the dinar decreases, causing its value to drop against stronger currencies such as the US dollar.

 

Different interest rate policies between countries affect exchange rates. And if the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates, it can attract capital inflows from foreign investors looking for higher returns. This increased demand for dollars can lead to a strengthening of the US dollar compared to other currencies.

 

The currency markets in Iraq are affected by speculators who anticipate future movements in exchange rates. Speculators can bet on the currency, which can lead to its depreciation if their actions are large enough.

[yota691]

Parliamentary Finance confirms the existence of a road map to curb the parallel market for selling dollars

Economy

14:38 - 2023-07-09

The Parliamentary Finance Committee confirmed the existence of a four-pronged roadmap to curb the parallel market for selling the dollar.

Committee member Mudar Al-Karawi said that the parallel market for selling the dollar is still high and the difference between it and the prices set by the Central Bank is clear, and it is exploited in speculation and perpetuating the price hike in the Iraqi markets.

He added that managing the country's fiscal policy file falls under the jurisdiction of the Central Bank, pointing out that its recent decision to increase the traveler's share to three thousand dollars comes from curbing the rise in parallel market prices by reducing demand for it by providing travelers' needs of hard currency at the official rate.

He pointed out that there is a roadmap of four axes approved by the government and its financial tools, starting to be applied in order to curb the parallel market for selling the dollar and pushing it to decline according to mechanisms that contribute to the stability of the markets and prevent any speculation.

[yota691]

The dollar is rising again and the markets are witnessing fluctuations in prices

Economical  2023/07/15

 

 

 Baghdad: Emad Al-Emara

Economic specialists have warned of the dangers of the continuing rise in the exchange rate of the dollar in the parallel market, indicating that this matter will negatively affect the overall economic life, especially the rise in prices of goods and services, and the increase in inflation rates, while they indicated that the Central Bank’s measures did not give results. sufficient to reduce the difference between the "official and parallel" exchange rates of the foreign currency, they emphasized that the tripartite budget includes high operational and investment spending, which could lead to an increase in aggregate demand.

Despite the continuous measures of the Central Bank, which greatly limited the rises witnessed by the dollar in previous times, however, the "green currency" began to rise again to record an exchange rate of 1449 dinars per dollar during the past two days, which portends an increase in material prices in local markets.

In a procedure that economic analysts described as “correct”, the central bank increased the share of travelers from the hard currency, while the head of “monetary policy” in the country, according to analysts, is expected to provide more solutions that could contribute to curbing the dollar, especially after it The difference with the official price of the local currency widened to about 16,000 dinars.
Dr. Mahmoud Dagher, a specialist in economic affairs, sees during his interview with "Al-Sabah" that "the general budget, and what is stated in its provisions, cannot limit price hikes, as its allocations, which amount to approximately 199 trillion dinars, will increase the volume of investment and operational spending." Thus, aggregate demand will go up.

Dr. Dagher expected price hikes in the medium or long term, noting at the same time that the increase in the number of those appointed to government jobs, whose numbers are close to one million, and their salaries will contribute to increasing the demand for the dollar and there will be a wave to raise the price of the dollar in Parallel market.

Contrary to the previous opinion, the specialist in economic affairs, Dr. Adnan Bahia, believes that the launch of the tripartite budget has a positive effect in curbing the price of the dollar in the parallel market, stressing the need to reconsider the nature of the measures taken by the bank and to tighten and develop them in order to create an effect that forces manipulators and dollar dealers and reduce their negative impacts
.
He explained that the most important of these procedures is the separation between citizens' needs for foreign currency and the needs of merchants and importers, as everyone knows that people's needs do not constitute more than 30 percent of the absolute dollar amount per day by the central bank.
Baheya explained that the measures taken so far by the Central Bank to rein in the exchange rate of the parallel dollar are few and have not given enough to reduce the difference between the official dollar exchange rate and the parallel dollar rate. Therefore, we need to reconsider these measures, improve them, and activate them more internally and at the economic level.

The speaker also called for a review of the importance of making it easier for the traveling citizen to obtain his need of hard currency, proposing to put a currency conversion stamp on the last page of the passport for one time in order not to allow the manipulators and spoilers to obtain more than one transfer, and to work to increase the outlets for pumping the dollar to citizens.

Baheya pointed out that there is a direct reason for the high price of the dollar in the parallel market, which is represented in the occurrence of severe crowding in many governorates to obtain the official dollar due to the lack of outlets in those governorates, which led the people of those governorates to go to Baghdad with the aim of obtaining the dollar, and thus Speculation and rises in the exchange rate.