INA discusses 9 files with the CBI Governor, most notably the exchange rate and inflation

 
Baghdad-INA
 
The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ali Al-Alaq, affirmed on Saturday the success of monetary policy in reducing the inflation rate in the country.
 
“The Central Bank of Iraq-CBI considers the exchange rate as something directly related to the general level of prices in the country, and the bank has succeeded in covering the needs of importers with the official price,” said Al-Alaq in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency-INA." the monetary policy has succeeded in maintaining the overall level of prices through the most important indicators of inflation that have fallen, and this is CBI’s main focus on the success of its monetary policy. "
 
He added that "Maintaining the overall level of prices and the low inflation indicate the success of the monetary policy, especially after real traders engaged in the transfer at the official rate price that gave confidence in the conduct of foreign trade."
 
 
E- Platform
 
"At the beginning of its operation, the electronic platform experienced many difficulties that led to the reluctance of some to participate in it but the implementation rate on the platform has now risen from 20% to 95%, and this has given reassurance that access to the platform gives speed and security," he added."
"Access to the electronic platform in the external transfer process avoids the risk of domestic and international sanctions," he said. Warning that" some traders cannot operate in an orderly atmosphere and are looking for chaos, and that the central bank is working to encircling this challenge in coordination with the Government to pursue these groups that are being diagnosed and followed up”.
 
Al-Alaq stated that “90% of the Central Bank’s sales are for the purposes of remittances and external transfers, and they are proceeding smoothly and at the official price (1320), but the problem lies in the cash side, which represents 10% of internal daily sales,” indicating that “ten percent is sufficient to meet the needs of travelers, but some are trying to dominate by withdrawing the amount allocated to travelers, which creates pressure and an increase in the cash price, and these parties have been identified as carrying out illegal and criminal operations.”
Al-Alaq revealed the development process for the cash sales system allocated to the traveler within a system prepared by exchange companies, and it is being developed to fill the gaps, and does not accept repetition and the unreal traveler,” denying that there is a tendency to stop selling cash dollars to travelers, and that the Central Bank has no problem in covering the correct and legitimate requests within the categories (travelers - study - treatment - private transfers), as the bank provided this through financial transfer companies represented by (Western Union and MoneyGram).”

Direct Transfer
 
He explained that "E- Platform is now gradually moving to direct transfer between the Iraqi bank and the correspondent bank, brokered by an international auditing company, stressing that the central bank has cut the 60% that is not going through the platform, but rather a direct transfer."
 He also noted that "next year the central bank will finally come out of being the broker of the process, and the transfer will be directly as internationally approved. This is a major shift that will put things on track, accelerate transfers, and interconnect relations with global banks."
 
The truth about Iraq's loss of 27 trillion

He pointed out that “linking the exchange rate to filling the general budget deficit is an inaccurate view, and that CBI is responsible for determining monetary policy, determining the exchange rate within its existing indicators, and achieving the goal of monetary policy,” indicating that “The calculation process for those who say that Iraq lost 27 trillion from the exchange rate change difference is wrong, and 30 percent of oil revenues do not enter the Central Bank, because the Ministry of Finance uses them for external payments, while the second part is that the exchange rate should not be linked to achieving balance in the budget”.
 
U.S. Department of the Treasury
 
"During her visit to Iraq, the Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury lauded CBI actions to regulate external transfers, enforce compliance rules, combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and direct coordination between the Central and the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Bank,” he affirmed.
 
Penalties for the banks
 
He noted that "CBI is conducting a process of review and scrutiny of the diagnosis of irregularities on the 14 banks that have been restricted and denied access to the dollar", stating that "the Central Bank indicated a response and compliance from the 14 banks on the specified standards."
 
"The US side does not restrict the demand for the dollar, and there is coordination regarding cash on delivery through an annual agreement on the number and dates of delivery", he noted. stressing that the central bank prefers to use non-cash payment tools through the use of cards (Visa and MasterCard), which has risen considerably over the past months, and this is a good indicator that eases the focus on the use of cash and reduces the bother for companies to check for a cash dollar. "
 
Regulating trade with Iran

He stated that "There are ongoing discussions to regulate the import from the Iranian side so as not to expose Iraq to any problems in terms of violating the sanctions and agreements", stating that "the Central Bank will reach a clear formula in regulating the trade process, especially as part of it is done through barter".
He added that “an agreement was reached to settle the debts incurred by Iraq from Iranian gas imports through a new method by which these amounts are paid." 
 
Adopting new currencies

Al-Alaq noted that "There is work to accredit the Emirati dirham, Turkish lira, Indian rupee and euro as part of the process of facilitating external transfer by opening direct outlets in the currencies of the countries we deal with", noting that "the trade balance with India is $3 billion, as well as there are high figures for revenue from the Emirates and Turkey."
 
"The Central Bank has reached advanced stages of understanding in the adoption of those countries' currencies, which will facilitate the process of external transfer."

Dinar Support Campaign
 
CBI Governor affirmed that “The campaign to support the Iraqi dinar is multifaceted and multiparty and it is aimed to make the local currency prevail in the internal transactions rather than the foreign currency that is being scaled up. There is a gradual transition under the Prime Minister's directive to restrict internal trade to Iraqi dinar and to oblige companies to do so, as a large proportion of companies have responded to that decision.”
 
The industrial initiative and housing loans
 
Al-Alaq pointed out that “The industrial initiative has not stopped, but the amounts approved for it have been run out, and the volume of the lending initiatives has reached more than 13 trillion dinars,” noting that “the Central Bank raised the interest on the housing initiative to 2 percent, and this is a low price compared to international countries.”
He explained that "the stated interest does not include housing complexes that received previous payments, while it includes new complexes."