Iraq May Legislate on Currency Exchange

[double_duce_duce]

Mar 11 2011

Hundreds of forex offices are found in Iraq and they work almost daily and have links with the most countries in the world.

According to a report from AKnews, a number of bankers in Baghdad have demanded that the Iraqi parliament legislates to regulate and protect their businesses from market changes because of the sudden decisions taken by the Iraqi government.

Ali Abdul-Zahra, owner of an foreign exchange bureau, told AKnews that banking in Iraq is still precarious and that regulation is needed on the opening of forex services.

“The law is supposed to prevent any economic decision that may disrupt the currency market which negatively affects the work of the offices.”

“The circulation of hard currency (dollar) at the present time follows the decisions taken by the Iraqi government in particular with regard to the entry of goods into the country.”

fadil Taher, the owner of Qusour Exchange office in Baghdad told AKnews that “the exchange work in Iraq is subjected to unjustified controls and in need of great facilities by the concerned authorities.”

“The banking offices suffer from the problem of mobile money-changers who affect the Iraqi market and this must be addressed by the Iraqi government to prevent the currency exchange outside of regulated offices.”

“The well-known banks do not deal with unknown external financial dealers and they work according to the regulations of money laundering law, which is adopted by the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB).”

The CBI proposed a new law earlier this month to combat money laundering in coordination with other government institutions, in order to provide greater protection for Iraq’s economic system and improve its international trade.

The Anti-Money Laundering law adopted in 2004 specifies a fine of up to 40 million Iraqi dinars, or twice the value of the property, for everyone who initiates illegal financial transactions with his knowledge, with respect to the issue of financing crime and terrorism.

The ICB monitors the financial institutions for compliance with the regulation, and issues a list of suspicious financial activities.

The anti-money laundering law authorises the ICB to control the financial institutions and check their documents and accounts.

MP Haidar al-Yasiri told AKnews that the parliament will work to organize the work of banks after the completion of some important laws for the Iraqi economy.

“The exchange offices do not need legislation, but non-governmental actions that coordinate with the government to organize its work.”

“The parliament is considering the formation of a council for foreign exchange services to change the work.”

Hundreds of forex offices are found in Iraq and they work almost daily and have links with the most countries in the world.

The Iraqi dinar (IQD) currently trades at around 1170 to the US dollar.

http://dinartrade.org/iraq-may-legislate-on-currency-exchange/

Edited March 14, 2011 by double_duce_duce

[tjmunson]

Thank you for the post. About the third time it's been posted in the last few days but a good read none the less.

[k98nights]

What other reason would they have of being worried about Forex unless the IQD was going to become trade-able in the very near future? Sounds like good news to me.

[HYDRANT]

What other reason would they have of being worried about Forex unless the IQD was going to become trade-able in the very near future? Sounds like good news to me.

YOU COULDNT BE MORE RIGHT IMO

[Jac]

What other reason would they have of being worried about Forex unless the IQD was going to become trade-able in the very near future? Sounds like good news to me.

God Bless America!

[onerighthand]

I had not seen this, but to me it sounds good and interesting in deed. At least they are looking at their currency and related issues. This is the subject titles I like to see.

GO RV

[mark_mich266]

Thanks for the post, 3D. I hadn't seen it before either......... agreed, Woody!

[aferriss]

What other reason would they have of being worried about Forex unless the IQD was going to become trade-able in the very near future? Sounds like good news to me.

Sounds like good news to me too. It seems like things are beginning to move now, but we shall see. Thanks for the positive note, k98nights.

[coldwarvet]

Have you all noticed how all this seems to be moving in the right direction all at once? Chapter 7, seating the GOI this week (hopefully!), and now this. Makes one wonder what's going on behind the scenes to have this all happen so fast, doesn't it? Maybe someone finally put Maliki's n**s in a vice and said "Do It!" Hope so. GO RV!

[ronbo]

Sounds like the Big Banks and or Big Currency Traders are exerting pressure on the Ministries to eliminate Mobile Currency Traders and force all currency trading to go through one of the Government sanctioned Currency market maklers. This would make it easier to manipulate the relationship between the IQD and the Dollar US. Does anyone have an opinion or articles on the Dinar Hedge Funds held on deposit at the Warka Bank in Iraq?

[brbrlocke]

Come on.....you can do it