Dagher: $ 58.7 billion in Iraq's hard currency reserves and 89 tons of gold

Economy News Baghdad - The director of financial operations and debt management at the Central Bank of Iraq, Dr. Mahmoud Mohammed Dagher, that Iraq's foreign currency reserves amounted to 58.7 billion dollars, noting that the net reserves of the Central Bank of 48.3 billion dollars, and the rest is the balance of the Ministry of Finance at the bank.

"It is natural that all the countries in the world hold financial assets, namely bonds and remittances, especially the US, because they are highly reliable and easy to compare with other assets," Dagher said in an interview with Al-Sabah Al-Jadeed newspaper.

He added that "the bank's reserves of 48.3 billion dollars distributed across eight countries to preserve the risks and comes in the forefront of the United States, Switzerland, France and Britain, while the distribution of these reserves on several types, including cash and bonds and gold," noting that "Iraq has 89 tons of gold And the depositor in London. "

"We can have a dollar bond and can change it into bonds in the pound sterling, euro or yen, but you can buy gold, and we have US deposits in dollars. All of these items are in our possession," he said.

"The citizen has the right to replace the local currency (dinar) in the US currency (dollar) through the window of the currency, which was called (auction currencies) to finance the import and this is applicable in all countries of the world, because the government alone has a dollar of exports Oil, and in return the dinar is withdrawn to pay salaries and finance projects in the sectors of construction, agriculture and industry.

He pointed out that "the Iraqi citizen can now travel for treatment or rest and recreation or even the acquisition of housing, all through the replacement of the national currency in foreign currency in the case of any citizen in any country in the world, while this was prohibited in the time of the former regime.

The director general of financial operations and debt management that "we funded the projects through banks, and here was the inability of contractors to pay the loans granted to them, because the government originally did not meet their obligations and did not pay the amount of the value of these projects and therefore the deficit, but the government "It started to pay off its contractors in 2017."

And the deletion of the three zeros of the Iraqi currency, he replied Dagher that "this issue purely technical and has nothing to do with the rise or fall of prices, and we are in the form of coins in our future projects, although it is high cost, but it is longer in circulation, The central bank will inject the paper currency category 250 and 500 dinars to the local market in quantities that eliminate the existing health to be within the reach of the citizen to trade.

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