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Iraq
Iraqi parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi on January 26, 2023. Photo: Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker's office
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Measures taken by the central bank and the government will bring the exchange rate back to normal, Iraq’s parliament speaker said on Saturday as the dinar continues to lose value against the dollar.
“It is not the first time exchange rates have witnessed changes accompanied by the regulatory and legal measures of the Central Bank that aligns with international requirements and monetary policies,” Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi said in a tweet.
The Iraqi dinar has lost nearly 20 percent of its value in recent months, attributed to corruption, smuggling dollars into Iran, and pressure from the United States.
The depreciation of the dinar’s value has strongly impacted a majority of Iraqis who receive their salaries in dinars that are worth less in the market where the prices of many imported goods have increased. Retailers say they have to raise prices since they buy from wholesalers using dollars.
“The exchange rate will return to normal in accordance with the Central Bank’s court procedures and the supportive government efforts to control trade, prevent manipulation and smuggling, and maintain its stability,” Halbousi said.
The parliamentary speaker’s tweet comes after dozens of Iraqis gathered in the capital city of Baghdad on Friday, protesting the high price of basic goods.
The Iraqi dinar slightly rebounded late Friday after Iraqi Central Bank Governor Ali Mohsen Ismail met with Brian Nelson, the US Department of the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in Istanbul.
Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesperson for Iraq's foreign ministry, told Rudaw on Friday that an Iraqi delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, will discuss the unstable dinar-dollar exchange rate with US officials in Washington in the next few days.
Sahaf added that that the government has taken several steps to restore the value of the dinar, including cracking down on places that smuggle the dollar out of the country.
Local authorities in the Kurdistan Region have taken similar measures as well.
"The spike in the value of the dollar has affected the whole of Iraq. We closely monitor the market, storehouses, and companies that import goods because they are the source of distribution. If any place exploits the increase in the dollar, they will face legal consequences," Nabaz Abdulhamid, mayor of Erbil, told Rudaw.
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