Iraq will ban cash withdrawals and transactions in US dollars as of January 1, 2024 in the latest push to curb the misuse of its hard currency reserves in financial crimes and the evasion of US sanctions on Iran, a top Iraqi central bank official said.
The move aims to stamp out the illicit use of some 50 per cent of the $10 billion that Iraq imports in cash from the New York Federal Reserve each year, Mazen Ahmed, director-general of investment and remittances at the Iraqi central bank (CBI), told Reuters.
It's also part of a broader push to de-dollarize an economy that has seen the greenback preferred over local notes by a population weary of recurring wars and crises following the 2003 US invasion.
People who deposit dollars into banks before the end of 2023 will continue to be able to withdraw funds in dollars in 2024, Ahmed said. But dollars deposited in 2024 could only be withdrawn in local currency at the official rate of 1,320.
Published 05 October 2023, 10:34 IST