BAGHDAD Iraq’s central bank has increased the sale price of U.S. dollars to banks and currency exchange companies by 16 dinars, or 1.37 percent, as the government seeks to compensate a decline in oil revenue, a government official and the central bank said.
The sale price of the dollar “has been adjusted to 1,182 dinars,” the central bank said in a statement on Monday.
The previous price was 1,166 dinars for a dollar, Mudher Saleh, a top economic adviser to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and former deputy central bank governor, told Reuters.
“This is a small adjustment, it’s not a devaluation. It will increase government revenue to meet local needs,” said Saleh.
A global oversupply of crude oil has pushed prices to below $40 a barrel from more than $100 a barrel in June 2014. The government depends on oil sales for 95 percent of its revenue.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed- Writing by Maher Chmaytelli- Editing by Hugh Lawson)
0 comments
Share
