New restrictions imposed on sale of greenback in Iraq

New restrictions imposed on sale of greenback in Iraq


By Adel Kadhem

Azzaman, April 22, 2013

To stem a rush on the U.S. the dollar, the government has forbidden banks from selling the currency at official prices, restricting the trade to two branches of the state-run al-Rasheed Bank.

The restrictions follow a surge in demand for the greenback and what the Finance Ministry has described in a statement “manipulative moves” to cash in on foreign exchange trade.

The statement said Deputy Finance Minister Ali al-Shukri has prevented banks from selling the dollar at government-imposed rates, confining the sale to the main al-Rasheed Bank headquarters in Baghdad and another branch in Shorja, the capital’s commercial center.

Previously, Iraqis were allowed to buy as many dollars as they wanted as the Central Bank furnished both private and state-owned banks with millions of dollars every day.

But there has been an unprecedented demand for the dollar to the extent that the Central Bank feared it could no longer keep drawing on its hard cash reserves to meet local needs.

Iraqis willing to buy the dollar at official rates, which are lower than rates prevalent in the open market, will have to produce a passport and an air ticket to be legible to buy.

It is the first time the government introduces such restrictions on the trade of the dollar since the 2003-U.S. invasion.

www.azzaman.com

Thank you player...was not sure about the news source...I've never seen that one before...was hoping it was legit!

I brought this persons perspective over from ppl's dinar. This gentleman is in the banking industry like Shredd an usually has a very knowledgeable insight as the what a lot of the monetary articles mean...


GPCarter's April 17th posting



These auctions would not change the exchange rate, or value, of the IQD because it is not a totally operative or functional currency. The only rate that changes because of the auctions is the amount of IQD it costs to exchange for USD. That change strictly has to do with the value and availability of USD. Remember, the IQD is not moving. So, when you see the rates change what you are actually seeing is solely because of the USD. The ONLY thing that will cause the IQD value to change is the RV and establishment of IQD as a fully operative and internationally traded currency. Until then you can watch the auctions all day and nothing that happens there will give us the BIG change we are waiting for.



A reason these auctions are very important is because it allows them to exchange IQD for USD. When that happens (the exchange) it means more IQD is being taken out of circulation and replaced with USD. Remember, this is what we want to happen before a RV. They want as many IQD notes gone as possible. Naturally banks and individuals can only exchange IQD for USD as long as there is IQD to exchange.. As the supply of IQD starts to decrease there should be decreasing sales in these auctions. The demand for USD is still high in Iraq. People still want to use it over IQD but if there is less IQD to exchange the numbers in the auctions will drop off consistently. Consistency is what we are looking for. If these numbers keep dropping or staying low consistently it means less and less USD is being bought. In order for the country to function properly they would need MORE and not less since we know they can't rely on THEIR currency YET. There is no way they can function with BOTH a limited amount of USD and their own currency at it's current value. Something needs to change SOON.

thanks for bringing that over , the amount of dinar to dollar , must be getting really small now if they are down to just these two banks handling the transactions of dinar for dollars { hahhhaha dialing for dollars } i`m inclined to beleive we are very close now , 6 months for the lid to blow on the re-value , and should soon start to see more news on printing of smaller notes i would suspect ... steps on a microphone { wonder where this came from ?