ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s security forces have dismantled an unlicensed currency exchange network and arrested five suspects accused of illegal dollar speculation in Baghdad, the interior ministry said Wednesday, as the Iraqi dinar continues to fluctuate against the US dollar. The Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Wednesday that the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency (FIIA) has “managed to disband a network involved in dollar speculation and arrest five suspects,” in Baghdad’s Rusafa side, adding that the suspects were “engaged in currency exchange and domestic and international money transfers without an official license in several areas.” The ministry said the group was covert and used social media platforms to engage in foreign currency speculation “outside the legal framework,” adding that the agency confiscated $240,000 and several mobile phones during the bust. The suspects were detained under Article 57 of Iraq's Banking Law, which criminalizes conducting banking activities without a licence. Iraqi authorities have also previously used Article 44 of the 2015 Anti-Money Laundering Law in cases involving alleged dollar-price speculation. The raid in the capital's Rusafa district comes amid heightened efforts by Iraqi authorities to curb black market trading after exchange rates approached 1,600 dinars per dollar earlier in the week before settling at 1,567 on Wednesday. The recent fluctuations in the Iraqi dinar have come amid increased demand for the US dollar. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) said Saturday that it has sufficient foreign reserves to meet dollar demand. The CBI attributed recent currency instability to market speculation and regional geopolitical conditions, reassuring the public that national foreign reserves remain sufficient while introducing tighter restrictions on foreign currency access for travelers. On Tuesday, informed sources told Rudaw that the CBI has reduced the frequency at which travelers can obtain US dollars at the exchange rate from once a month to twice a year. That was the second such measure following a July decision to cut travelers’ monthly dollar allowance from $3,000 to $3,000. RELATED: CBI limits traveler access to official-rate dollars twice yearly
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