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Azzaman, January 4, 2012
Iraqis’ per capita income will double in three years, the Central Bank said.
The bank’s deputy governor, Mohammed Saleh, said the per capita income in the country will shoot to $10,000 from the current $5,000.
“Iraq’s GNP will be between $300 to $350 billion in 2015 with average per capita income reaching $10,000,” he said
Saleh said Central Bank’s holdings of hard cash have never been so high in the country’s history
“The bank enjoys strong foreign cash reserves of about $60 billionwhich are the highest in Iraq’s history,” he said.
The hard cash reserves have enabled the bank to keep the national currency, the dinar, stable.
But in December last year, it had to intervene heavily to save the currency from a plunge, selling hundreds of millions of dollars on the open market every day to withdraw liquidity.
However, Saleh admitted that demand for hard cash was very high in Iraq. He did not say whether the bank will keep pouring dollars into the markets to stabilize the dinar if the demand did not slacken.
For some time in December, when the currency plunged to lows unseen since it was launched in 2003, Saleh put the demand for dollars at $400 million a day on the open market.
The sum, he believed, was massive and he had no specific interpretation for the sudden rise in demand.
The bank has increased the sum of hard cash it sells every day at a special rate by nearly 30 percent.
Up to $200 million are currently sold daily from nearly $150 million before the hike in demand.
It is not clear whether the bank will be able to keep selling dollars at such a rate for a long time, particularly if demand increases.
At the rate of $400 a day, the bank will empty its hard cash coffers in in about 150 days.
There are fears that many Iraqi traders are trying to cash in by trading with both Syria and Iran – the countries facing economic difficulties due to trade sanctions.
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Iraqis’ per capita income will double in three years, the Central Bank said.
The bank’s deputy governor, Mohammed Saleh, said the per capita income in the country will shoot to $10,000 from the current $5,000.
“Iraq’s GNP will be between $300 to $350 billion in 2015 with average per capita income reaching $10,000,” he said
Saleh said Central Bank’s holdings of hard cash have never been so high in the country’s history
“The bank enjoys strong foreign cash reserves of about $60 billionwhich are the highest in Iraq’s history,” he said.
The hard cash reserves have enabled the bank to keep the national currency, the dinar, stable.
But in December last year, it had to intervene heavily to save the currency from a plunge, selling hundreds of millions of dollars on the open market every day to withdraw liquidity.
However, Saleh admitted that demand for hard cash was very high in Iraq. He did not say whether the bank will keep pouring dollars into the markets to stabilize the dinar if the demand did not slacken.
For some time in December, when the currency plunged to lows unseen since it was launched in 2003, Saleh put the demand for dollars at $400 million a day on the open market.
The sum, he believed, was massive and he had no specific interpretation for the sudden rise in demand.
The bank has increased the sum of hard cash it sells every day at a special rate by nearly 30 percent.
Up to $200 million are currently sold daily from nearly $150 million before the hike in demand.
It is not clear whether the bank will be able to keep selling dollars at such a rate for a long time, particularly if demand increases.
At the rate of $400 a day, the bank will empty its hard cash coffers in in about 150 days.
There are fears that many Iraqi traders are trying to cash in by trading with both Syria and Iran – the countries facing economic difficulties due to trade sanctions.
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