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Iranian currency sank cause damage to business in Iraq
translation: Abdul Khaliq Ali : Associated Press
The gift shop is located which is owned by the merchant Yousef Jassem Mohammed against the golden dome of the shrine of Imam Ali (AS) in the holy city of Najaf, which is considered one of the holiest places that attract visitors buses Iranians, who make up the foundation of the tourism trade in Iraq. Before not long, Joseph was - 60 years old and the father of three sons - sell worth a thousand dollars a day of jewelry and beads and ornaments, but today Vioagd Few Iranians passing near his shop and even those they are very keen on what carrying money. Joseph no longer earn a tenth of what was earned before. Says, "The Iranians today haggling about prices unlike the previous period, because of international sanctions imposed on their country has harmed باقتصادهم lot and we began this is reflected."
We have decreased the value of the Iranian rial against the dollar over the past year because of European sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, and also because of the mismanagement of the government in Tehran.
Sharp collapse hurt Iranian citizens, where they now have to pay more money for imported goods, but also cause damage to the fragile tourism sector in Iraq, causing harm small traders and companies are forced to lay off a number of workers. Few Iranians can visit holy sites in Iraq since every dollar or every Iraqi dinars, equivalent to three times what it was in the past year, leading to an increase in prices largely organized tours and make the Iraqi traders do not accept payment in the currency of Iran.
$ 75 million
Owed by Iranians
Says Naji Murtaza - Visiting Iranian leads a group on a tour of the tomb of Imam Kadhim (AS) "Prices are high because of currency problems that we experience." Some tellers currency Iraqis refuse to accept paper currency Iranian saying they do not use volatile currency. Transportation company visitors Iranian government town to the Iraqis, including nearly $ 75 million in the form of lists request unpaid since last year, according to Mahmoud Abdul-Jabbar al-Zubaidi, head of tourism at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Iraq, prompting the largest travel agencies and many hotels in Iraq not to Iranian visitors Unless a solution is found to the dispute over payments.
Said Iman Messenger blessing, director of Paradise Hotel Paradise in the city of Kadhimiya, it had ceased to receive Iranian visitors in her hotel two months ago after debts tourist groups 50 thousand dollars, and is today focused on attracting visitors from Arab countries such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia instead of Iran, with Iranian visitors make up about 95 percent of the tourism trade in Iraq. Says Ms. Iman "has shrunk our business because the Iranians make up the bulk of them." On the other hand, said the President of one of the major travel agencies in Najaf - declined to be named because negotiations conducted by unpaid rolls around - that the Iranians are indebted to him five million dollars, it no longer receives visitors from the Islamic Republic. He added that he expects demobilization half workers from working end of this month due to loss of customers Iranians., And is adamant - like in the field of tourism - to be payment in dollars and not Riyals Iranian "For each traders in Iraq, the deal currency volatile, such as the Iranian Rial in time moment is tantamount to suicide. " For their part, officials refused the Organization of the Iranian Hajj and visit - which organizes trips to religious sites abroad - to comment on the subject. However, Iranian media quoted officials as saying that the cost of travel to Iraq has doubled, with acknowledgment came after days of losing Iranian currency to fifty percent of the value of the beginning of last October.
Before breaking down ..
Before the collapse of the rial was traveling to Iraq every day, about four thousand visitors by Iranian officials from both countries. For its part, did not record the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism no shrinking the number of visitors, but business owners and officials at the centers of the visit contradict, where they say that the number of Iranian visitors has dropped to 2,500 visitors a day. A hoteliers say that he could barely hold 10 percent of the hotel rooms these days and he began to demobilize some of his workers. Many hotel staff sit standardized uniforms in the lounge and are in a state of boredom waiting to visit someone. Says the owner of the hotel, "it is bad, and the private sector needs the support of the government, but we are here in Iraq crippled." Mohammed says Herr President of the Assembly of hotels and restaurants in Karbala that hoteliers in the city of Karbala suffering from the same thing, where they say that some business owners have boycotted Iranian visits totals until you resolve the issue of payments, and some institutions may close its doors if the crisis continues. Says Tariq Alkhajani member provincial council in Karbala "The situation is the cause of harm to the city's economy and the rising rate of unemployment, as most hotels and restaurants empty." Says Hussein Humairi, owner of a textile store and souvenirs, he now sells mostly to the Iraqis and to some visitors from other countries, and it is estimated that business dropped by 90% since the collapse of the Iranian rial, and adds that the market is stagnant at the present time. In a store next door has a visitor Iranians examines a necklace with his hands, and when the merchant told him what it was worth raising eyebrows surprised then put the necklace in place and hurried out of the store.
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