Chairman of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce said that Iraq’s new forex policies will have no effect on trade exchanges with Iran and there is no concern in this regard.
Yahya Al-e Eshaq said on Thursday that there has been no halt in exports and imports between the two neighboring countries.
In order to regulate the rate of the Iraqi dinar and the US dollar, Iraqi government has adopted policies in trade with all countries so as to be able to keep the rate of these two currencies stable, he said.
Businesspeople from the of the two countries have so far used the free market to conduct bilateral exchanges, Al-e Eshaq said, adding that with the application of new restrictions, the free dollar rate will be 20% more expensive than that of the Central Bank of Iraq, and this process will cause damage to Iran's trade.
He noted that countries like Turkey have engaged in talks with the Central Bank of Iraq to remove the new problems by using local currencies and they have been somewhat successful.
Al-e Eshaq said that there is no need for concern as he believed that bilateral trade between Tehran and Baghdad has increased so much that the removal of problems is a priority and the two neighbors have witnessed no halt in exchanges.
Referring to a 34% increase in Iran-Iraq trade in the first Iranian calendar months to November 22, he said that reaching an $11 billion trade by the end of the year to March 20 is not out of reach and the exchanges may even exceed $12 billion.