ARTICLE AD BOX
By John Lee.
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has issued a press release claiming extensive praise from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Jean-Guillaume Poulain, following meetings from 4th to 13th of May, 2025.
Flour factory
The CBI statement, widely reported in local and international press, cites the post-meeting report from the IMF, which Iraq Business News publicised here. The report takes a more nuanced view of achievements to date.
It does, however, commend the CBI for the successful transition to the new trade finance system, saying:
" Trade finance is now fully processed by commercial banks through their correspondent banking relationships.
"This has also supported the recent decline in the spread between the official and parallel market exchange rates.
"Nonetheless, further efforts are needed to further reduce the spread, including by imposing Iraqi dinar usage for car and real estate transactions, improving customs controls to curb smuggling, and simplifying FX access."
Press release from CBI. [Arabic]
(Sources: CBI, IMF)
English (US) ·