Baghdad – WAA – Wissam Al-Mulla
The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Financial Affairs, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, confirmed today, Monday, that the upcoming visit of the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, to New York will support the protection and stability of the banking system, while he indicated that the file of the sanctioned banks requires negotiation due to the possibility of an error or exaggeration in issuing the decision to sanction them.
Saleh said in a statement to the (INA): “The Central Bank is a strategic institution that works to support the value of the dinar, its stability, and build balances in the Iraqi balance of payments, regularity of payments, and international reserves that support Iraq’s foreign trade.”
He added, “Because of the rentier nature of the economy, the Central Bank and its reserves have become the feeder and financier of foreign trade for the private sector.”
He pointed out that “Iraqi oil sales are in dollars, and are deposited with the US Federal Reserve through an account opened in the name of the Central Bank, which is managed by the bank on behalf of the Iraqi government.”
He added, “The upcoming visit of the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, to New York City in the United States of America comes to protect the Iraqi banking system and support its stability.”
He explained that “the Central Bank, by virtue of its work and responsibility to preserve the financial system of Iraq, must negotiate with the American side regarding the file of the sanctioned banks to alleviate the severity of the deprivation on the banks, as there may have been an error or exaggeration that preceded the decision to sanction them by the American side,” stressing that “there is insistence and communication from the Central Bank of Iraq in a good and positive way to protect the Iraqi banking system.”
Earlier, the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, confirmed in an interview with the (INA), that “there will be meetings held with the Federal Bank and the US Treasury Department at the end of this August to review aspects related to external transfer operations and discuss sanctions on some banks.”