Iraqi parliament says dollar reserves "less than 50 billion"IQCB.UL - BBC Monitoring Service
15-SEP-2016
08:25:18 AM
By BBC Monitoring


Iraq's foreign reserves "have declined to less than 50 billion dollars", private Al-Mada Press reported quoting a statement by the parliament's Financial Committee.


Al-Mada also quoted the statement as stressing that the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) refrains from unveiling the real amount of its reserves "for fear of creating new crises".


According to the website, committee's member Hossam al-Aqaby said that the government borrowed about 15 billion dollars from state-owned Rasheed and Rafidain banks in 2015 and 2016, adding that "it did not pay off the money or its interests to the banks so far".


On 11 September, CBI Governor Ali al-Allaq said that the International Monetary Fund "was surprised to know that Iraq's reserves are 10-billion dollars above its expectations", stressing that the amount of reserves "are up to international standards".


Source: Al-Mada website, Baghdad, in Arabic 1158 gmt 15 Sep 16


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