In a letter obtained by NRT Arabic, the Central Bank stated that it was agreed to put the new rules and procedures into place beginning on March 1, 2024, in order to organize financing operations for requests to improve external balances.
In order to improve their balance with correspondent banks in all currencies, he continued, banks should choose an external auditor to assess transfers prior to the process of sending them. Banks that want to increase the balance have until February 29, 2024, at the latest, to provide us the names of the businesses they want to enter into a contract with.
The statement emphasized that banks who maintain correspondent accounts with American banks exclusively at a rate of $1,310 are the only ones eligible to seek dollar strengthening.
According to him, applications for strengthening currencies other than the dollar will be accepted at the banks of the currency country, so long as these banks’ classifications are in line with Iraq’s import requirements from those countries, meaning that they must be either one rank below or identical to the country’s classification.
