The latest news on CBI (Central Bank Iraq) – banking, capital, government and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News
Iraq's cabinet has named an interim replacement as governor of the country's central bank. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Mussawi said, "the cabinet decided to authorise Abdelbassit Turki, the head of the Board of Supreme Audit, to run the central bank indefinitely". The former head of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), Sinan al-Shabibi, […]
By John Lee. Iraq's core inflation rate rose to 5.2 percent year-on-year in September, up from 5 percent year-on-year in August. Speaking to Reuters on Tuesday, Mudher Kasim [Mudher Saleh], deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), blamed the increase on higher food prices and the start of the school year. Core inflation strips […]
By John Lee. Investigators in Iraq have opened an inquiry into alleged manipulation of the exchange rate between the Iraqi dinar (IQD) and the US dollar, and arrest warrants have reportedly been issued for several officials including the head of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI). Hassan Karim Aati, spokesman for the Commission on Integrity, […]
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has ruled out deleting the three zeros from the Iraqi currency in 2013 because it needs time and a new fiscal year. The Deputy Chairman of the CBI, Mudhir Mohamed Salih, told AIN on Wednesday: "The project of crossing out zeros from the Iraqi currency takes time ... The […]
Last week the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) announced that it was authorizing the two largest state-owned banks, Rafidain Bank and Rashid Bank, to sell US dollars at auction. The CBI’s goal is to reduce the spread between its own auction rate and the unofficial “street” exchange rate, which has recently been as wide as […]
Iraq's Central Bank says it will not allow the Iraqi dinar to depreciate and has been selling hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the currency stable, according to a report from Azzaman. The dinar weakened in December, prompting the bank to sell dollars in a bid to withdraw cash from Iraqi markets. The bank […]
Last month the Central Bank of Iraq co-hosted a conference with USAID’s Iraq Financial Development Project on “Integrating the Banking and Financial Services Sector in Iraq.” This event, which was held in Istanbul from November 18-19 covered two upcoming changes to the payments system that have the potential to revolutionize Iraq’s banking sector. The first […]
Azzaman news agency reports that the Iraqi Central Bank’s budget forecast for 2012 is based on and oil price of $80 per barrel. Muatasem Akram, a consultant with the bank, said the forecast was reasonable, though much below the 2012 forecasts for oil prices on international markets. He acknowledged the bank’s budgetary estimates for oil […]
The deputy governor of Iraq's central bank has announced that foreign currency reserves have risen to close to $58 billion, and are expected to increase further thanks to a rise in oil revenues. Mudher Kasim said higher global oil prices could result in a budget surplus for 2011. Reuters quotes him as saying, “(The amount […]
Iraq's core annual inflation rose to 6.3 percent in May from 6.1 percent in April, a senior official at the Central Bank of Iraq told Reuters on Sunday. The agency reports that the figure is driven by the cost of imported goods and services, especially healthcare. Inflation had previously risen from 5.5% in February to […]
By the end of next month, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) is requiring all private-sector banks to increase capital to IQD 100 bn. The banks were originally supposed to have reached this target by the end of last year but so few could have managed it that the CBI had to give them an […]
On April 24, the ISX website reported that Mosul Bank (BMFI) will hold a general assembly meeting on May 22 to discuss a possible merger with Union Bank (BUOI). A capital increase via a rights and bonus issue is also on the agenda. The evident objective of such a merger would be to satisfy the […]
