Baghdad – WAA
The Central Bank of Iraq revealed, today, Wednesday, the mechanism for ending the electronic platform, while confirming that the status of foreign transfer operations and meeting requests for the dollar are on sound tracks and consistent with international practices and standards and the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law.
The bank stated in a statement received by the (INA), that “the electronic platform for foreign transfers managed by the Central Bank of Iraq at the beginning of 2023 AD began as a first stage by reorganizing financial transfers in a way that ensures proactive oversight of them instead of subsequent oversight by the Federal Reserve auditing daily transfers.
He pointed out that “this is an exceptional procedure, as the Federal Reserve does not usually do this, and plans have been made for a gradual shift towards building direct relationships between banks in Iraq and foreign correspondent and approved banks, with an international auditing company in the middle to conduct a preliminary audit of the transfers before they are executed by the correspondent banks.”
He added: “During the year 2024 and until now, 95% of the transfer process from the electronic platform to the correspondent banks mechanism directly between it and Iraqi banks has been achieved, which means that only about 5% of it remains within the platform, which will be transferred using the same mechanism before the end of this year and according to the plan.”
He said: “Therefore, some expectations about potential impacts on the exchange rate and transfer operations are baseless, because the process will not be sudden or in one go at the end of this year, but rather it was originally achieved during the past period with effort and careful follow-up, except for a small percentage that will be accomplished in the coming short period.”
The Central Bank of Iraq confirmed, according to the statement, that “trade with the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India and China represents about 70% of Iraq’s foreign trade as (imports), which prompted the Central Bank of Iraq to find channels for transfer in euros, Chinese yuan, Indian rupees, and Emirati dirhams, through approved correspondent banks in those countries, and (13) Iraqi banks have actually begun conducting transfer operations with a pre-audit mechanism that has been agreed upon and approved, in addition to transfers in dollars.”
He explained that “with the provision of channels for personal transfers for legitimate purposes and external purchases through electronic payment channels and international money transfer companies and cash sales to travelers, and the payment of cash dollars for incoming transfers to the parties and purposes specified in the Central Bank’s published instructions.”
The Central Bank of Iraq stressed, according to the statement, “putting foreign transfer operations and meeting dollar demands on sound paths consistent with international practices and standards and the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law.”
He pointed out that “providing the aforementioned channels for all purposes at the official dollar price makes this price the true indicator of economic practices, which is proven by the reality of price stability and control of inflation, and any other price traded outside of these channels is an abnormal price that those with unorthodox or illegal practices resort to, who avoid official channels in their dealings, and bear the additional costs alone by purchasing at a higher price than the official price to delude others with the difference between the official price and the other.”