2023-12-24T16:24:55+00:00
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/ An informed government source reported, on Sunday, that Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani directed the formation of a joint Iraqi-Turkish economic committee that includes several governmental parties and the private sector in the two countries, as well as the opening of a direct dialogue on the issue of the “equal deal.”
The source told Agency, “These Sudanese directives come in light of the positive developments witnessed in the US dollar exchange market in the interest of economic stability.”
He stated that the directive included “the formation of a joint Iraqi-Turkish committee representing market forces and Iraqi and Turkish economic organizations, and including on the Iraqi side the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, the Iraqi-Turkish Business Council, the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce, the Iraqi Contractors Union, and their counterparts on the Turkish side.”
He added, “The committee meets semi-annually and submits its reports to the Prime Minister, in a way that serves the strategic partnership between the two neighboring countries.”
The source pointed out that the directive also included “opening a direct dialogue on the issue of (the equal deal) through direct negotiation with the Turkish Exporters Union and the Central Bank of Turkey in coordination with the Central Bank of Iraq due to the high desire of the Turkish party to pay in the local currency.”
He concluded by saying, “And also to finance part of the four baskets supporting prices (food, pharmaceutical, construction, and spare parts), which were proposed by the Prime Minister in his policy of defending price stability in Iraq.”
The exchange rates of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar have witnessed a gradual decline since the beginning of this month after the price of 100 dollars approached about 170 thousand Iraqi dinars during the past month, falling today, Sunday, to 150 thousand dinars for every 100 dollars.
Against this background, the Iraqi government believes that the decline in the price of the dollar came for several reasons, including “the high capabilities of Iraq’s currency reserves.”
Mazhar Muhammad Salih, the financial and economic advisor to Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, told Agency, “Among the reasons for the decline in the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market is the high capacity of Iraq’s foreign currency reserves and the good management of foreign trade financing during the last period.”
Saleh stated that “the parallel market is gradually approaching the official central market, due to the presence of regular foreign trade by the private sector through the compliance platform and the great flexibility that banks have shown in dealing with this platform for the purpose of securing transfers.”
He added, “The openness to transfers through various methods, including payment cards in all their forms, importing foreign cash currency into Iraq, and financing foreign trade in various currencies, and not limiting this transaction to dollars only, led to a decrease in the dollar exchange rate in the parallel market as well.”