"It's clear that Iraq is economically dominated by the US, & our government does not truly control or have access to its own money."
Via The Cradle: The Iraqi government will ban all cash withdrawals and transactions in the US dollar
as of January 1st 2024, according to Mazen Ahmed, director-general of
investment and remittances at the Iraqi Central Bank (CBI).
The
CBI official says that people who deposit dollars into banks before the
end of 2023 will still be able to withdraw these funds in dollars next
year. However, dollars deposited in 2024 will only be available in local
currency at the official rate of 1,320 dinars.
"You
want to transfer? Transfer. You want a card in dollars? Here you go,
you can use the card inside Iraq at the official rate, or if you want to
withdraw cash, you can at the official rate in dinars… But don't talk to me about cash dollars anymore," Ahmed told Reuters.
He also claimed the move is meant to "stamp out the illicit use" of about 50 percent of the $10 billion that Iraq imports in cash each year on semimonthly cargo flights from the New York Federal Reserve.