A parliamentarian reveals: A Jordanian bank accounts for 75% of dollar transfers in Iraq

Hussein Arab, a member of the House of Representatives, stated on Sunday that a Jordanian bank had obtained 75% of dollar transfers in Iraq, and while exposing the extent of “forbidden” trading, he issued a warning about the dollar’s ascent.

Arab stated in an interview with Al-Sumaria TV’s Twenty program that “there are many and major failures in the issue of the dollar and the parallel market, and we pointed this out a lot with the presence of information confirming the acquisition of the National Bank of Iraq (a Jordanian bank) of the total of 75% of foreign transfers,” emphasizing the importance of “working to The basis for holding this bank accountable and knowing the reasons for its acquisition of this percentage.”

A member of the House of Representatives inquired if the National Bank of Iraq’s liquidity is comparable to the number of dollars withdrawn from the Central Bank. Noting that the Central Bank supplements this bank with dollars from outside the platform, he continues, “We want to know the mechanism for transferring dollars through the central bank.”

“Limiting financial transfers to one bank out of 73 banks is a real disaster,” he thought, and wondered, “Why do we give the National Bank of Iraq (Jordan) this amount of dollars?” Is the whole Iraqi economy tied to this bank?”, disclosing that “the Central Bank did not transfer any funds.” The dollar is for this bank both within the electronic platform and outside of it via what is known as

Arab went on to say, “We sacrificed the Iraqi private banking sector in order to revive the foreign banking sector inside Iraq,” pointing out that “the Iraqi private banks will soon close their doors due to the central bank’s blunders, extortions, and arbitrary measures, stressing that what comes next will be difficult.”

He was of the opinion that “dollar prices will continue to rise if this issue is not addressed,” and pointed out that “the dollar crisis that Iraq’s neighboring countries are suffering from has had a negative impact on our country,” and pointed out that “former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi had permission from America to grant the dollar to… Iran and these tolerances have now ended.”

Concerning illegal commerce, Arab stated that “its volume reaches 10 billion dollars annually,” emphasizing the “necessity of drying up the sources of smuggling and swift government measures.”

He goes on to say, “Alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and gold are imported through the border crossings at a zero percent rate, even though their taxes are 200%, indicating that most of them are smuggled through the crossings in Kurdistan,” pointing out, “There are operations of currency smuggling and tax and customs evasion from the border crossings.”