The Iraqi parliament's finance committee stated yesterday that applying its proposal submitted to the Central Bank of Iraq ( ICB ) about increasing the number of agencies responsible for the sale of hard currency has contributed to raising the value of the dinar against the US dollar.
The presence of Rafidain and Rasheed banks has increased the number of agencies responsible for the sale of hard currency.
Finance committee member Hadi Amin said: "This action contributed to raising the value of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar and the central bank will keep, in its procedures, the stability of this state."
The ICB acknowledged earlier the presence of an imbalance in the Iraqi dinar exchange rate and confirmed its quest to unify the exchange rate between it and the local markets. The ICB at the same time denied any deterioration in the value of Iraqi dinar.
The price of the Iraqi dinar witnessed a decline during the last few weeks, with the exchange rate reaching about 1,127 dinars for one US dollar in the local market.
Officials in local banks attributed this to the ICB 's further procedures in the auction sale of foreign currency.
Local media reports stated that the issue of smuggling hard currency from Iraq to Syria and Iran on the border crossing points is increasing but this was not confirmed by the ICB .