Photo: parstoday
As reported by Bloomberg, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced important negotiations in Washington with representatives from the US Treasury regarding dollar usage restrictions. He described the meetings as “very useful” and noted that discussions would continue.
One of the key issues for upcoming meetings is the review of the list of Iraqi banks under US sanctions, as well as the status of accumulated Iranian funds in Iraq. “There are serious steps being taken to resolve these issues,” Hussein stated.
Iraq faced a dollar shortage last year due to increased scrutiny by the New York Federal Reserve on transfers to Iraqi banks. Iranian businesses and individuals traditionally used banks in neighboring Iraq to access dollars and circumvent US sanctions.
The Iraqi Ministry of Finance has pledged to restrict all internal commercial transactions starting this year, apparently aiming to reduce the circulation of dollars outside Iraq’s banking sector and curb smuggling abroad.
Last week, the exchange rate for the dollar against the Iraqi dinar in the unofficial market rose from 1,450 to nearly 1,500 dinars per dollar. Local media attributed this increase to actions by the Federal Reserve, which suspended dollar-to-yuan transactions to support the Iraqi currency.
Stay tuned to our portal for updates on the development of this situation and its impact on the geopolitical environment.
