US supports Iraq’s Central Bank measures to tighten dollar transfers, says foreign minister

“The system is in the interest of Iraq and its currency,” the minister added.
Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein speaking to Kurdistan 24 during an exclusive interview in Washington, DC, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein speaking to Kurdistan 24 during an exclusive interview in Washington, DC, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The US supports the Iraqi Central Bank’s efforts to regulate the transfer of dollars aimed at preventing siphoning the currency and other illegal transactions, the country’s foreign minister has recently told Kurdistan 24. 

The remarks by Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs came during an exclusive interview with Kurdistan 24’s Issa Chomani in Washington, DC, which is set to be aired soon.

Hussein is currently heading a high-ranking Iraqi delegation to the US, where he had held several meetings with the country’s officials, including Secretaries of State and Treasury.

In a bid to thwart money laundering and illegal transactions, the Iraqi CBI last year introduced an “electronic platform” through which traders who want to pay for their imports shall enter detailed information on the transaction as well as the end-recipient of the greenback.

“The US supports Iraq’s economy and the measures taken by the CBI,” Hussein told Kurdistan 24, adding the country’s officials had told him during the meetings.

“The system is in the interest of Iraq and its currency,” the minister added, saying it would “reduce” illegal transactions in the economy which is heavily reliant on imports.

At least 100 employees of the bank have been trained by the US Federal Reserve on the system, according to an Iraqi premier’s advisor.

Introducing the system, which had rejected about 80 percent of the requests in the beginning as they were not fitted with the new regulations, had caused a fluctuation in the IQD value for months.

For a while, a US dollar was being traded up to 1,750 IQD at some street exchange markets in the country, causing a public outcry as the prices of commodities were going up.

“It would take some time for the value [of Iraqi] currency to stabilize,” the minister said, adding the US dollar value has been depreciating since the delegation reached a “good deal” with the US officials during the visit.

The Iraqi government has recently revalued the currency, setting the new official exchange rate at 1,300 dinars to a US dollar. At the street vendors, the IQD is still traded at around 1,500 dinars to a dollar.