Hundreds of protesters returned to Tahrir Square, the point of origin for anti-government protests that spread across central and southern Iraq in October 2019, this time demanding that the government reverse its decision to decrease the value of the Iraqi dinar against the US dollar.
“We are here to get rid of corruption,” one protestor in Tahrir Square told Rudaw’s Halkawt Aziz.
“The increase in the value of the dollar is a colonial plan against the people of Iraq, we want the price to return to normal," the protester said. "They bring us crisis after crisis without letting us breathe.”
“Look at the street and look at these people," another protester said. "These militias have taken all the money for themselves.”
The Tahrir Square protesters were met with a heavier than usual security force presence, Aziz told Rudaw English from the scene.
"Even though the protesters are planning to stay the night, it is highly unlikely that the security forces will allow them to do so," Aziz added.
The Central Bank of Iraq announced on Saturday that it would be devaluing the country’s currency in an effort to combat a liquidity crisis and bring in much-needed cash.
According to a statement published by state media outlet Iraqi News Agency (INA), the Central Bank will sell the dinar to the country’s finance ministry at 1,450 Iraqi dinars per US dollar. The public will be able to purchase the dinar at 1,470 Iraqi dinars, and other banks at 1,460 Iraqi dinars.
Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr voiced his skepticism of the measure’s ability to alleviate public suffering.
“The Central Bank and all other banks are prisoners of corruption and corruptors. The government and parliament must seek specialized methods to end this and liberalize it immediately. It is not sufficient (to float the currency),” Sadr tweeted.
In alignment with the widespread backlash to the devaluation decision, the Iraqi parliament’s Economy and Investment committee announced the need for dollar prices to be returned to their previous level.
“We, as members of the parliament believe that the exchange rate of dinar for dollar should be returned to 120,000 dinars per 100 dollars. or slightly more,” committee member Falah Khafaji told Iraqi state media on Monday. “This devaluation will effect the poor in the country, and they will be the people hurt by it the most.”
On Monday evening, $100 cost approximately 136,000 dinars at money exchange offices in Erbil.
