Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Shakhawan Abdullah addressed the Iraqi government, the ministry of finance, and the Iraqi Central Bank in a statement, calling on them to reconsider their fiscal policy in a bid to “prevent the rise in the exchange rate of the US dollar, which has recently negatively affected markets and basic food commodities”.
The value of the Iraqi dinar plummeted to its lowest exchange rate in more than a decade over the week.
Abdullah emphasized “the need to implement precautionary fiscal policies to maintain the exchange rates of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, and to enhance the demand for the national currency through the continued state spending on infrastructure projects, the acceleration of economic growth rates and the increase in domestic demand.”
The deputy speaker’s statement came after earlier this week, members of the Iraqi parliament signed a petition asking to hold a special parliamentary session over the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar.
The value of one USD was placed at 1,460 IQD at the Iraqi central bank on Monday, however a hundred dollars was exchanged in the markets at over 153,000 dinars on Wednesday. The exchange rate went as far as 1,600 dinars per dollar during the week.
The depreciation of the Iraqi dinar has been attributed to the New Year holiday, the closure of banks, as well as pressure from the United States.
“The increase in the value of the dollar is no longer just an economic matter, but rather a crime against the poor and a genocide committed by America and its arms in Iraq through prohibiting the entry of the dollar into the market,” read a tweet from MP Ahmad al-Musawi.
In December of 2020, Iraq’s central bank announced devaluing the country’s currency in an effort to combat a national liquidity crisis and bring in much-needed cash to the government’s coffers.
The devaluation of the dinar struck the public hard as government employees get paid in dinar, and they would be able to afford less with their salaries given that many imported goods are paid for in dollars.
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