legislator accuses U.S. Federal Reserve of manipulating the forex market in Iraq

Shafaq News/ Iraqi lawmaker Moeen al-Kadhimi on Sunday attributed the Iraqi government's failure to control the U.S. dollar exchange rate against the Iraqi dinar to the restrictions the U.S. Federal Reserve has imposed on external transfers from Iraqi banks.

"The U.S. Federal Reserve is impeding the necessary daily transfers the merchants need to meet to complete their transactions," the member of the parliament's finance committee told Shafaq News Agency.

Traders, according to al-Kadhimi, "had to purchase green banknotes from the parallel market in order to complete their deals, which amounts to 150 to 200 million dollars daily."

"This, among other factors, sent the U.S. dollar exchange rate against the national currency soaring, despite the government's plans and measures undertaken by the Central Bank and relevant authorities," he explained.

The lawmaker said that Iraq should seek long-term policies to free its financial system from the U.S. growing financial restrictions, calling for depositing the revenues from Iraq's oil deals in the central bank instead of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Al-Kadhimi proposed using other hard currencies in oil deals in a bid to mitigate the Federal Reserve's financial restrictions, which he believes are rooted in political motives.

"Despite the fluctuations and increases in the dollar exchange rate, the Iraqi markets remain relatively stable when considering to the overall monetary situation," he said.