Iraqi Employees Criticize Decision to Ban Salaries and Transfer Payments in USD
(AWP) - Iraqis are expressing their dissatisfaction with the Iraqi Central Bank’s decision banning banks from paying salaries or issuing transfers in US dollars since the beginning of September.
The Central Bank’s decision obliges banks to issue salary and foreign transfer payments in Iraqi dinars, at an exchange rate that is way below its equivalent in the parallel market.
The decision similarly limits ATM withdrawals to Iraqi dinars only, without allowing the exchange of foreign currency. It comes as part of a package of measures adopted by the Iraqi Central Bank to control the price of the Iraqi local currency.
Hikmat al-Daqqaq, Vice-President of the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce, believes that the latest decision reflects the government’s desire to preserve hard currency while stabilising the Iraqi dinar. Nonetheless, others find the central bank’s measure to be unjust.
Ali Assad, an employee at a private company, said, "The employees in Iraq suffer a huge loss as a result of the difference between the official and parallel markets."
Assad’s comments were echoed by another employee, Anwar al-Musawi, who said that authorities need to come up with an exceptional measure that would diminish the losses of both company owners and employees resulting from the notable difference in exchange rates between the official and parallel markets.
Al-Musawi said, "As Iraqis, we are in favour of floating the Iraqi dinar and giving it priority over the dollar, but when the company owner is forced to exchange it in Iraqi dinars and faces a difference of 20,000 in each salary or in each transaction, we believe that an exception or a specific decision must be made."