Loophole in currency reforms allows profiteers to cash in $1,000 a day in parallel market
Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Central Bank's latest series of reform packages, aimed at addressing the dinar depreciation, appear to have had limited success in curbing parallel market profiteering.
Despite the measures, citizens continue to face difficulties obtaining foreign currency, with long queues at the transfer window in al-Taif Islamic Bank.
The Central Bank reduced the amount allocated per citizen from $7,000 to $2,000 for those wishing to travel, intending to tighten the noose on companies and entities collecting dollars at the state price and selling them in the parallel market at a significant margin of up to 22,000 Iraqi dinars for every $100.
One citizen in the queue told Shafaq News Agency, "Anyone can obtain dollars from al-Taif Islamic Bank, up to $7,400 in exchange for 9.768 million dinars, with an exchange rate of 132,000 dinars per $100."
He added that a citizen could potentially earn around $1,000 in profits from this transaction.
The exchange rate set by the Central Bank is 1,300 Iraqi dinars for purchasing dollars from the Ministry of Finance and 1,310 dinars for selling them to banks via the "electronic platform." The final beneficiary rate is set at 1,320 dinars.
Despite the Central Bank's efforts and a fixed exchange rate, the dollar's exchange rate in the market continues to fluctuate between 149,000 and 151,000 Iraqi dinars for every $100.
Citizens queuing at Al-Taif Bank complained of difficulties accessing foreign currency for travel purposes or paying for their relatives' education abroad. They said that the majority of the people in the queues were traders or those collaborating with them.
An employee at al-Taif Bank confirmed, "Any person can buy dollars by transferring the amount to Turkey and collecting it by an authorized person on behalf of the beneficiary."
