Shafaq News- Baghdad

Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) governor Nizar Hussein has informed parliament's Finance Committee that the new official exchange rate of 1,500 dinars to the dollar is fixed and cannot be changed, a parliamentary source told Shafaq News on Thursday.

Hussein told committee members that changing the rate in the budget law would mean redrawing every table and line item in the draft, which was built on 1,500 dinars to the dollar, the source said.

Neither the governor nor Finance Minister Falih Sari came to parliament. Hussein instead sent the bank's position to the committee.

The committee had planned to meet both officials to discuss the decision and its consequences and to review the draft federal budget. The parliament's presidency had already canceled Thursday's full session, which was meant to host the two officials, and left the matter to the committee.

The central bank set the new rates on Wednesday, effective October 7. It now buys dollars from the Finance Ministry at 1,500 dinars, sells them to banks at 1,510 and to the public at 1,520.

Iraq's government earns almost all its revenue in dollars from oil exports and sells those dollars to the central bank for the dinars it needs to pay public salaries.

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