US dollar exchange rate slightly increases in Iraq
A currency exchange agent counts US dollars in a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. Photo: Hussein Faleh/AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The US dollar exchange rate against the Iraqi dinar slightly increased in Baghdad and the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Erbil, on Thursday with the closure of the two main stock exchanges in the country.
The US dollar exchange rate rose with the closure of Baghdad’s Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, where the US dollar exchange rate reached 1,457.5 dinars compared to 1,455 dinars on Thursday morning.
The exchange rate in currency exchange shops in Baghdad ranged between 1,467.5 dinars and 1,447.5 dinars, Shafaq News reported.
In Erbil, the US dollar exchange rate ranged between 1,455.5 dinars and 1,454.5 dinars.
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) announced in February 2023 that it started applying the new exchange rate of the US dollar, which is 1,300 dinars against one US dollar.
The previous official exchange rate was 1,450 dinars to one US dollar, which was being exchanged in the parallel market at a rate of 1,550 dinars.
In January 2023, the exchange rate of the US dollar against the local currency reached 1,610 dinars, while the official exchange rate remained 1,450 dinars per dollar, with a gap between the two exchange rates of more than 10 percent.