Iraq's Foreign Reserves Exceed $80 Billion

  • Baghdad, Republic of Iraq
  • 22 August 2022
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The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Ammar Khalaf, revealed that foreign exchange reserves exceeded 80 billion dollars, and expected them to reach 90 billion by the end of the year. He disclosed that the central bank's gold reserves increased by 30 tons, to record more than 131 tons in total.

Iraq's foreign exchange reserves were less than 50 billion dollars two years ago, and reached the end of July (July) 76 billion dollars, while it is expected to reach 90 billion dollars by the end of the current year.

The oil price jumps contributed to saving the Iraqi economy from collapse, as the drop in oil prices when the price of a barrel reached about 20 dollars, led the government to withdraw large amounts of cash reserves, and relied on internal and external borrowing, as well as changing the exchange rate and providing an austerity budget. The rise in oil prices enabled the Iraqi economy to regain its monetary activity, raise reserve rates, and pay large sums of debts owed internally and externally. This will result in the government benefiting from the rise in oil prices, and allocating the resulting surplus to support the investment side.

Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)

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