Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Announcement No.(813)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 813 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Monday 2006 / 11/ 27 so the results were as follows :

Details Notes
Number of banks 9 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1439 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ ------ -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 20.580.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) ------
Total offers for buying (US $) 20.580.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) ------ -----

Cash amounts sold to the bank and its customers were USD(3.280.000) at a rate of(1439+1+10=1450)IQD\USD .
The amount sold to make transfers abroad was USD (17.300.000) at a rate of (1439-2)+ one dinar as a bank fee and exempt the transferred amount from conversion fee.

Man, a day late and a dollar.... oops a couple of dinars shorter...

Woo woo here that train a comin..

Originally Posted by Adster

Still droppng though, good news, can't see this lasting too much longer.....

Times up......there is no "too much longer" left. Turn any news station on this morning.....Iraq economy is being discussed and the fact that they are out of time.....1439 isn't going to cut it.

Report says Iraq insurgents are financially self-sufficient
27 November 2006 (Independent)

The insurgency in Iraq has become a financially self-sustaining enterprise, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling and kidnapping, according to a classified US report.

Armed groups responsible for almost 180 daily attacks against coalition troops are annually raising between $70m (pounds 36m) and $200m from illegal activities, the report says. It says that between $25m and $100m comes from oil smuggling, while some $36m is raised from holding hostages to ransom.

"If accurate [these estimates indicate] these sources of terrorist and insurgent finance within Iraq - independent of foreign sources - are currently sufficient to sustain the groups' existence and operation," says the report, obtained by The New York Times. "In fact, if recent revenue and expense estimates are correct, terrorist and insurgent groups in Iraq may have surplus funds with which to support other terrorist organisations outside of Iraq."

The classified report, completed in June and commissioned by a working group within the White House National Security Council, offers little hope that much can be done in the short term to end insurgent financing. It also suggests that the Iraqi government is either unwilling or unable to tackle the problem.

Today, members of the Iraq Study Group, established by President George Bush and headed by the former secretary of state James Baker, will meet in Washington for two days of discussions over its proposals for achieving progress in Iraq. Its report is due to be completed by mid-December.

Report says Iraq insurgents are financially self-sufficient | Iraq Updates

The return to normalcy in Baghdad
Baghdad - (Voices of Iraq)

Eye witnesses reported today, Monday, that life is returning to normal in Baghdad after the lifting of the curfew, which started last Thursday.

The eyewitnesses News Agency (Voices of Iraq) that the independent schools, universities and government departments opened their doors as traffic began on the streets.

He said one eyewitness, "Iqbal students and staff at schools and universities, and government departments, the average, while some of the main streets in the degree of traffic congestion. "

On the other hand, The invisibility of newspapers suspended for the fourth consecutive day as a result of the curfews, which lasted until the evening of yesterday, Sunday, and to prevent journalists and journalists from going to their places of work.

ÈÛÏÇÏ - ÃæÖÇÚ :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

Originally Posted by CharmedPiper

What do you make of the post yesterday (I think) about Chase selling at 1335 range. I think it was Neno who also verified this.

The less dinar they can give you for your dollar, the more profit they make.
They would sell in the 1235 or 1135 range if people would buy at that rate.

the CBI rate is the important rate.

Originally Posted by explorerhot

The less dinar they can give you for your dollar, the more profit they make.
They would sell in the 1235 or 1135 range if people would buy at that rate.

the CBI rate is the important rate.

but we have seen in the past that the cbi will fax the rate out to banks without posting. i can see how any rate that comes up would make someone question. its all good.

Iraq declares war on petroleum smuggling
BAGHDAD, Iraq, 27 November 2006 (AFX News Limited)

Smugglers were loading gasoline on a ship at an illegal port in southern Iraq when police surprised them with a raid that ended with five smugglers and two policemen dead.

The October clash at Abu Flus was one of many attempts by security forces trying to stop smuggling of Iraqi petroleum products to neighboring countries, a practice that is costing the country billions of dollars every year.

Smugglers are selling millions of gallons of Iraqi gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel outside the country every year. They then reap huge profits by selling the petroleum products back to the government for import.

"The most serious challenges facing the oil industry are smuggling and terrorism. They are both hitting the national economy, robbing Iraq and blocking development," said Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.

Despite the fact that Iraq has the world's third largest proven oil reserves, the government is forced to import refined oil products to cover domestic demand. As recently as September, the country's three main refineries were working at half their pre-invasion capacity, processing only about 350,000 barrels day compared with about 700,000 barrels a day before March 2003.

Aging refineries, corruption and attacks by insurgents on infrastructure, such as pipelines, have been blamed for the production shortage.

In September, the oil ministry estimated that it would spend $800 million on imported oil products in the last four months of the year.

Many people try to subsidized their meager incomes through purchasing government-priced oil products and selling them to smugglers who take the products by boat or tanker trucks to Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Jihad said Iraq buys oil for about 54 cents a quart and sells it within the country for between 7 and 13 cents, subsidizing the remainder.

"This is encouraging smuggling to neighboring countries," Jihad said.

Jihad said it was impossible to calculate how much petroleum is smuggled. Sabah al-Saidi, who heads the Iraqi parliament's anti-corruption committee, said the Oil Ministry inspector general has listed 13 Iraqi companies smuggling oil and says they are backed by Iraqi political groups.

"We are losing an average of $700 million a month. Most of the products are smuggled by sea."

In a report two weeks ago on smuggling, Iraqi government said security forces had captured two tanker trucks in the southern province of Basra while trying to smuggle kerosene.

"The main mission at the oil ministry is to eradicate this phenomenon," said Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani in a recent television interview.

Amer al-Baldawi, who serves on the Iraqi parliament's economic committee, said one solution would be to raise prices in Iraq to those in neighboring countries.

Gasoline at some Baghdad gas stations costs about a dollar a gallon, but it takes hours of waiting in the line to fill up. On the black market, gasoline costs about $1.40 a gallon.

In the United Arab Emirates, by contrast, it costs about $1.76 a gallon and in Syria and Jordan it's about $2.40 a gallon.

More than 90 percent of the Iraqi government's income comes from oil exports.

Iraq's oil industry losses since Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003 stand at about $15 billion, Jihad said.

Before the war, the Beiji refinery, the country's largest, produced more than 2.5 million gallons a day, nearly half what the country needed. But, Jihad said, the refinery currently produces only about 400,000 gallons a day.

Oil smuggling first began in the 1990s when Iraq was under U.N. sanctions. The government was in dire need of hard currency, and smuggling oil to Iran and selling it to international markets as Iranian oil was the easiest way to get cash.

The chaotic security situation and continuous attacks on pipelines, tanker trucks and refineries have had an enormous impact on Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In a bid to curb the smuggling, the government has stopped supplying some gasoline stations near the border and is forcing fishing boat owners to prove they truly are fishing before they can buy gasoline. All boats using the Shatt al-Arab waterway that leads to the Persian Gulf now must be registered.

Iraq declares war on petroleum smuggling | Iraq Updates


Raising the oil prices to neighbour countries is the statement that we heard before. It also falls in line with the statement that the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar must be in line with neighbouring countries.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they only can do that if they improve the purchasing power of the iraqi people at the same time!

Originally Posted by Gloribee

$1.23 Eruo, just remember this is not confirmed, I'm still checking. Hoping by the end of Monday to have more Info from my source, who is low level banking in Iraq. Please!!! No Pm's

Thanks, gloribee

i hunted all over the rumor thread lookin for this post coz everyone told me to look there. lol

good god woman, thank you for checkin into this for us indeed!!

sorry neno, it was in this thread, go ahead and move it if you must...

Impatience with Iraqi government grows as Bush heads toward Middle East meeting
27 November 2006 (AP Worldstream)

Congressional leaders displayed eroding patience in the Iraqi government, adding pressure on President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to find a faster path to peace when they meet this week.

"It is not too late. The United States can still extricate itself honorably from an impending disaster in Iraq," Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, a potential presidential contender in the 2008 elections, said in urging for a planned withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"If the president fails to build a bipartisan foundation for an exit strategy, America will pay a high price for this blunder _ one that we will have difficulty recovering from in the years ahead," Hagel wrote in Sunday's Washington Post.

As the U.S. involvement in Iraq surpassed the length of America's participation in World War II, lawmakers have dwindling confidence in the U.S.-supported Iraqi government. It was the deadliest week of sectarian fighting in Baghdad since the war began in March 2003.

"I think what we've got to do is go around the Maliki government in certain situations," said Republican Senator Sam Brownback, another possible presidential candidate. "Let's work with other groups, and let's get regional buy-in into this."

The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan 10-member commission led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Democratic former Congressman Lee Hamilton, is working on a set of strategies for Iraq. The New York Times reported Sunday that the commission's draft report recommends aggressive regional diplomacy, including talks with Iran and Syria.

Anonymous officials who had seen the draft report told the Times it does not specify any timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, although the commissioners are expected to debate the feasibility of such timetables.

Bush, after a NATO summit in Europe, plans to meet with al-Maliki on Wednesday and Thursday in Jordan. That summit, coupled with Vice President Dick Cheney's trip to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, is evidence of the administration's stepped-up effort to bring stability to the region.

The host of the meeting, Jordan's King Abdullah, said Sunday the problems in the Middle East go beyond the war in Iraq. He said much of the region soon could become engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly.

The king said he was hopeful the leaders will find a way to reduce the level of violence.

"We hope there will be something dramatic. The challenges, obviously, in front of both of them are immense," he said.

Iraq's leaders promised Sunday to track down those responsible for the recent attacks, and al-Maliki urged his national unity government of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to curb the violence by stopping their public disputes.

The Iraqi prime minister is under pressure from Shiite politicians loyal to the radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who have threatened to boycott parliament and the Cabinet if al-Maliki meets with Bush.

"This is all political posturing. It's all red herring. It's an anti-threat. This is a very stable government," responded Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie. He said he had no doubt the prime minister would meet with Bush in Jordan.

As for Bush, some of the toughest criticism is coming from within his own party.

"We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam," said Hagel, a combat veteran of that war. "Honorable intentions are not policies and plans."

Senator Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, called Iraq the worst U.S. foreign policy decision since Vietnam. He said Democrats do not have a quick answer and any solution must be bipartisan.

"It is time to tell the Iraqis that unless they're willing to disband the militias and the death squads, unless they're willing to stand up and govern their country in a responsible fashion, America is not going to stay there indefinitely," Durbin said.

That theme _ pressuring al-Maliki and his government _ seemed to unify Republicans and Democrats.

"I think we're going to have to be very aggressive and specific with him," said Senator Trent Lott, the incoming No. 2 Republican leader. "And if he doesn't show real leadership, doesn't try to bring the situation under control _ if, in fact, he becomes a part of the problem _ we're going to have to make some tough decisions."

Yet Congressman Duncan Hunter, the outgoing chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the United States will win the conflict in the long run by supporting a free government in Iraq. Before any decisions are made on reducing U.S. troop levels, he said, more U.S.-trained Iraqi battalions should be moved into the heavy-fighting areas of Baghdad.

"Saddle those guys up," Hunter said. "Move them into the fight."

Impatience with Iraqi government grows as Bush heads toward Middle East meeting | Iraq Updates

Originally Posted by kiko

Iraq declares war on petroleum smuggling
BAGHDAD, Iraq, 27 November 2006 (AFX News Limited)

Smugglers were loading gasoline on a ship at an illegal port in southern Iraq when police surprised them with a raid that ended with five smugglers and two policemen dead.

The October clash at Abu Flus was one of many attempts by security forces trying to stop smuggling of Iraqi petroleum products to neighboring countries, a practice that is costing the country billions of dollars every year.

Smugglers are selling millions of gallons of Iraqi gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel outside the country every year. They then reap huge profits by selling the petroleum products back to the government for import.

"The most serious challenges facing the oil industry are smuggling and terrorism. They are both hitting the national economy, robbing Iraq and blocking development," said Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.

Despite the fact that Iraq has the world's third largest proven oil reserves, the government is forced to import refined oil products to cover domestic demand. As recently as September, the country's three main refineries were working at half their pre-invasion capacity, processing only about 350,000 barrels day compared with about 700,000 barrels a day before March 2003.

Aging refineries, corruption and attacks by insurgents on infrastructure, such as pipelines, have been blamed for the production shortage.

In September, the oil ministry estimated that it would spend $800 million on imported oil products in the last four months of the year.

Many people try to subsidized their meager incomes through purchasing government-priced oil products and selling them to smugglers who take the products by boat or tanker trucks to Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Jihad said Iraq buys oil for about 54 cents a quart and sells it within the country for between 7 and 13 cents, subsidizing the remainder.

"This is encouraging smuggling to neighboring countries," Jihad said.

Jihad said it was impossible to calculate how much petroleum is smuggled. Sabah al-Saidi, who heads the Iraqi parliament's anti-corruption committee, said the Oil Ministry inspector general has listed 13 Iraqi companies smuggling oil and says they are backed by Iraqi political groups.

"We are losing an average of $700 million a month. Most of the products are smuggled by sea."

In a report two weeks ago on smuggling, Iraqi government said security forces had captured two tanker trucks in the southern province of Basra while trying to smuggle kerosene.

"The main mission at the oil ministry is to eradicate this phenomenon," said Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani in a recent television interview.

Amer al-Baldawi, who serves on the Iraqi parliament's economic committee, said one solution would be to raise prices in Iraq to those in neighboring countries.

Gasoline at some Baghdad gas stations costs about a dollar a gallon, but it takes hours of waiting in the line to fill up. On the black market, gasoline costs about $1.40 a gallon.

In the United Arab Emirates, by contrast, it costs about $1.76 a gallon and in Syria and Jordan it's about $2.40 a gallon.

More than 90 percent of the Iraqi government's income comes from oil exports.

Iraq's oil industry losses since Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003 stand at about $15 billion, Jihad said.

Before the war, the Beiji refinery, the country's largest, produced more than 2.5 million gallons a day, nearly half what the country needed. But, Jihad said, the refinery currently produces only about 400,000 gallons a day.

Oil smuggling first began in the 1990s when Iraq was under U.N. sanctions. The government was in dire need of hard currency, and smuggling oil to Iran and selling it to international markets as Iranian oil was the easiest way to get cash.

The chaotic security situation and continuous attacks on pipelines, tanker trucks and refineries have had an enormous impact on Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In a bid to curb the smuggling, the government has stopped supplying some gasoline stations near the border and is forcing fishing boat owners to prove they truly are fishing before they can buy gasoline. All boats using the Shatt al-Arab waterway that leads to the Persian Gulf now must be registered.

Iraq declares war on petroleum smuggling | Iraq Updates


Raising the oil prices to neighbour countries is the statement that we heard before. It also falls in line with the statement that the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar must be in line with neighbouring countries.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they only can do that if they improve the purchasing power of the iraqi people at the same time!

No sympathy at all, they know the way round it, they need to get on and do it. A reval cures inflation, takes out black market selling, improves the economy and gives their people more buying power, how much easier can it be for facks sake??? Also find it will improve security.