ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has reduced the frequency at which travelers can obtain US dollars at the official exchange rate, limiting access from once a month to twice a year, informed sources told Rudaw on Tuesday. The new measure took effect at noon on Monday through the CBI’s electronic application system for travelers seeking dollars, according to three sources in banks, airlines and travel agencies in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region who spoke to Rudaw's Hastyar Qadir. Under the revised procedure, travelers can obtain the subsidized dollars once every six months rather than monthly. “Previously, even if a passenger traveled at the end of a month and received the Central Bank's dollars, they could benefit from it again at the beginning of the following month,” an owner of a travel agency told Rudaw. “Under the new decision, they can only receive dollars twice a year, meaning once every six months.” Ahead of the reduction, the CBI sold US dollars to travelers at 1,305 Iraqi dinars per dollar, with each traveler eligible to purchase up to $2,000 at the official rate each month. The Iraqi dinar has been losing value against the US dollar in recent days, with the dollar trading at 1,575 dinars on the Kurdistan Region's local market on Tuesday. Ata Anwar, head of the Association of Tourism Companies in Sulaimani, said the sector had been informed of the change through partner companies in central and southern Iraq, although airports had yet to receive a formal written directive. “We were informed through our partner companies in central and southern Iraq that this decision was issued by the Central Bank; however, the directive has not yet been officially delivered in writing to the airports,” Anwar told Rudaw. However, Rudaw has learned that an internal notice circulated by an airline to its branch offices confirmed that the measure had taken effect. Staff were instructed to verify how many times a passenger had traveled during the year before processing travel and dollar applications, in order to prevent requests from being rejected. An official from a licensed bank told Rudaw that the measure was prompted by a shortage of cash dollars and the CBI’s effort to channel greater amounts of foreign currency toward trade and imports. “This Central Bank measure is driven by two reasons: first, a shortage of cash dollars available to the bank, and second, an effort to allocate larger amounts of dollars to trade and imports rather than to travel,” the bank official said. However, the CBI said Saturday that it has sufficient foreign reserves to meet demand for dollars, as the Iraqi dinar continued to lose value in local markets and the dollar approached 1,600 dinars last week. The bank attributed the dollar’s rise to “market speculation, expectations, and the exploitation of geopolitical conditions in the region” without identifying those responsible. In July, the CBI cut travelers’ monthly dollar allowance from $3,000 to $2,000 to promote electronic payments and ensure fairer foreign-currency distribution. The CBI's recent statement came as its foreign reserves fell to $80.633 billion at the end of July, down from $97.432 billion at the end of 2025, a decline of about 17.2 percent in the first seven months of the year. RELATED: CBI says it has enough reserves as Iraqi dinar falls to nearly 1,600 per dollar
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