US restarts cash transfers to Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Two Iraqi prime minister’s advisors have told the New York Times that the United States has restarted shipments of US dollars to Iraq after a suspension that lasted for several months. According to a report released by the newspaper on Thursday, Haider al-Aboudi, the spokesperson for Iraq’s prime minister, said that US dollar shipments to the country had restarted. Additionally, the prime minister’s financial adviser, Mudhar Salih, verified the restart of the transfer. In mid-June, sources connected to the Iraqi government revealed that the United States sent two shipments of US cash to Baghdad during the visit of the US Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq, Tom Barrack. The step follows a months-long pause in dollar shipments as part of US pressure on Baghdad to put all weapons under state control and disarm Iran-backed armed groups operating in Iraq. Since Iraq’s oil earnings, which account for about 90 percent of the federal budget, are routed via the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the pause in US dollar flows targets Iraq’s economic structure, providing Washington effective control over the country’s access to foreign currency. By restricting cash flows, the US has greater control over liquidity in an economy that relies heavily on foreign currency to pay for food, energy, and other essentials. While import orders continue, the interruption in US currency shipments exacerbates financial distress and societal discontent. The supplies were halted in the past few months amid suspicions that Iran manipulated the Iraqi financial system to avoid sanctions. In April, US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott cautioned that the Iraqi government’s inability to prevent faction-based attacks, as well as its support of political, financial, and operational cover for them, was hurting US-Iraq ties. The post US restarts cash transfers to Iraq appeared first on Iraqi News.