Parliament suspends agenda to debate dollar rate hike
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s Parliament set aside its scheduled agenda on Wednesday to hold a general debate on the government’s decision to raise the official US dollar exchange rate against the Iraqi dinar, the parliamentary media office reported.
Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi approved the change after numerous lawmakers requested a session to discuss the currency adjustment.
Under the new rates introduced on October 7, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) buys dollars from the Finance Ministry at 1,500 dinars per dollar and sells them to banks at 1,510, while the public selling rate has risen from 1,320 to 1,520. The adjustment comes as the dollar trades at around 1,680 dinars on the parallel market.
Read more: Banking without trust: Why Iraqis still keep their money in cash
