Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said his country has engaged in discussions in Washington with representatives of the US Treasury Department to address issues of dollar restrictions.
Hussein described the meetings, during a press conference broadcast by the official Iraqiya channel, as “very useful,” noting that they will continue, and the topics scheduled for future discussions include further talks on the list of Iraqi banks subject to US sanctions and the status of Iranian funds accumulated in Iraq.
Hussein said that there are serious steps to resolve these issues.
The Iraqi News Agency quoted Hussein as saying that the US Treasury Department evaluated the efforts of the Central Bank positively.
dollar shortage
Iraq experienced a dollar shortage last year after the Federal Reserve in New York began examining transfers to Iraqi banks, as Iranian companies and individuals used banks in Iraq to access dollars and circumvent US sanctions.
The Central Bank of Iraq has pledged to restrict all domestic commercial transactions starting this year, in an apparent attempt to limit dollar transactions outside the Iraqi banking sector and limit its smuggling abroad.
Last week, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar rose in the unofficial market from 1,450 dinars to nearly 1,500 dinars per dollar, and local news agencies, quoting a lawmaker, attributed this increase to the measures taken by the Federal Reserve, which stopped transactions from the dollar to the yuan in order to support Iraq’s foreign trade.
