Shafaq News/ The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has lowered the ceiling of bids in the daily forex auction it organizes, a government official revealed on Sunday, sending the exchange rate of the US dollar against the dinar spiraling.

The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Shafaq News Agency said that after reducing the bids, the market was not able to commensurate with the high demand amid shrinking supply, particularly during Ramandan.

"The ceiling for a class A exchange company was lowered to $1.5 million from $2.2 million weekly. For class B, it went down from $750 thousand to $500 thousand a week, while the ceiling for class C companies became $50 thousand per week. It was $75 thousand before," the source said.

"US dollars would not be traded at a rate higher than 150,000 Iraqi dinars to 100 since the CBI will continue to sell dollars in the daily auction," the source added.

Since 2016, the CBI has adopted a preferential criterion to determine the ceiling for the exchange companies' participation in the forex auction. Exchange companies were accordingly categorized into classes A, B, and C; class A companies having the higher ceiling, and C having the lower.