Economy News Baghdad
The Association of Iraqi Private Banks confirmed on Monday that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani’s support for the measures of the Central Bank of Iraq enabled the economy to rise with good growth rates.
The advisor to the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, Samir Al-Nusairi, said in a statement reported by the official news agency, and seen by “Economy News”, that “the government has implemented since taking charge measures that have developed a detailed road map to address the loss of methodology and previous dispersion in financial policies, chaos in the management of the economy and the imbalance that occurred as a result of the lack of coordination between fiscal and monetary policies.”
He added, “The map included a diagnosis of imbalances and developed solutions in coordination between the government and the Central Bank, accompanied by the bank’s reconsideration of the tools and applications of monetary policy and focusing in its plans on achieving priorities that are based on achieving financial and banking reform first.”
He continued, “These steps resulted in the issuance of joint reform decisions to enable the economy to promote good growth rates confirmed by international organizations, especially the reports of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and their recognition that the Iraqi economy in 2023 left the fragility to a gradual recovery and achieved an annual inflation rate of 3.7%, which is the lowest rate compared to 7%, in January 2023.”
He pointed out that “this rate is the lowest compared to inflation rates in the Arab and regional countries for the same period, and this is one of the objectives of monetary policy to reduce inflation and maintain the general level of prices despite the fluctuation in the exchange rate, in addition to the expectation of achieving growth in non-oil GDP by 5%.”
He stressed, “The measures also included regulating foreign trade financing and moving banks to build confidence relations with global correspondent banks, obtaining their approval by opening accounts for our banks, allowing commercial and banking dealings directly with them, leaving the electronic platform gradually, and introducing new foreign currencies to deal for foreign trade purposes with China, Turkey, and India, in addition to the US dollar, which will help stabilize the exchange rate in the trading market.”
Al-Nusairi pointed out that “the procedures also supported the serious orientation of the government and the Central Bank to move and transition from the monetary economy to the digital economy, focus on the development of electronic payment systems, securing the infrastructure for that, establishing a national company for payment systems, reviewing the structure of banking financing, preparing to launch the national lending strategy, establishing a Riyada bank to finance small and medium enterprises, and reviewing the structural, supervisory, supervisory of the bank’s specialized departments.”
He added, “The important and basic priority on which the Central Bank is working includes preparing to launch the financial inclusion strategy, as the number of accounts opened in banks grew by 14%, to reach more than 10 million accounts, while the number of credit cards issued reached more than 18 million cards.”
He pointed out that “all these reform measures were carried out in difficult and complex conditions during 2023, and with the continuity, support, harmony, cooperation and permanent support between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq, which enabled the economy to rise, which confirms the merit of the Council of Ministers and the Central Bank to call them (the two economic institutions that took the lead in 2023) for their leadership, supervisory and executive role in the pursuit of economic reform for 2023 as a first stage.”
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