"With her misfortune" ... Economist: The government exaggerated the exchange of the dollar, but limited its smuggling

Time: 03/30/2021 21:42:12
 
{Economist: Al Furat News} The economic expert, Saleh Al-Hashemi, described the government's decision to raise the exchange rate of the dollar against the dinar as "sums".

Al-Hashemi told {Al-Furat News}, that "changing the dollar exchange rate is an urgent need, despite the damages and negatives and its impact on poverty, the income of the Iraqi citizen and unemployment, but the Iraqi monetary bloc has not been balanced with the foreign cash reserve in the Central Bank of Iraq."

He added, "There is a gap between the Iraqi monetary bloc, which is estimated at 97 trillion dinars, which is 10% of what the state owns and 85% of what the Iraqi street owns, but the government exaggerated the change of the price of the dollar and had to take a package of decisions regarding health insurance, protection of basic goods and preservation of prices." From the rise, especially since Iraq is a commercial and not an industrial country, which is a "banking office," the money comes from oil sales and then goes out and returns as goods and services. "

Al-Hashemi pointed out that "most of our goods are imported and it is the misfortune of the Central Bank of Iraq and the government together that international prices for some commodities have risen, especially oil that has risen globally, and there are auctions regarding the exchange rate, and Parliament can change Article Four of the budget by setting the exchange rate for the dollar and they do not complete it." .

He continued, "The decision to change the exchange rate, in its general form, is largely negative, but if the government had taken a parallel package of decisions that protect citizens, it would have advantages."

He noted that "the central bank's sales of the dollar have declined significantly, and there is no longer any feasibility and benefits from smuggling because of its high price, and this preserves the foreign monetary mass in Iraq, but the government must review itself in the aspect of protecting citizens and their strength."

Last Sunday, the House of Representatives failed to hold a session to vote on the 2021 budget bill for the continuation of differences between the parliamentary blocs, and changing the dollar exchange rate became one of the budget's dilemmas.

Parliament is scheduled to hold a session tomorrow, Wednesday, at one o'clock in the afternoon, to vote on the draft budget law.

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi said during the cabinet session held today, Tuesday, "We hope to stay away from auctions in the issue of the dollar exchange rate, as the decision was taken by the Central Bank according to a vision and a targeted strategy, and we began to see the results on the growth of monetary reserves, and on the classification of Iraq." Credit internationally. "

He added, "We look forward to speeding up the passage of the federal budget law, and the paragraphs it contains that address the needs of the poorest classes, and support service projects that affect the lives of citizens."

It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Central Bank decided on 19 December to amend the dollar exchange rate, as follows: 

1450 dinars per dollar, the price of buying foreign currency from the Ministry of Finance.

1460 dinars per dollar the selling price of foreign currency to banks.

1470 dinars per dollar is the selling price of foreign currency to the public.

The federal government attributes the decision to raise the exchange rate of the dollar to 1,450 dinars, after it was 1,190 dinars to fill the financial deficit that the state suffers from, which aroused the discontent of citizens as a result of the high prices in the local markets in general.

Ammar Al-Masoudi

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