CBI cashes $47 million in Tuesday's currency auction..expert: cash sales hinder depreciation

Shafaq News/ The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auctioned more than $200 million in foreign currency today, Tuesday.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that the CBI sales of foreign currency in today's auction amounted to 202,629,408, 5.16% below yesterday's $213,071,890. The transactions were made at a weighted average of 1460 dinars to every dollar.

Our correspondent explained that 18 banks and 217 exchange companies cashed out $47.94 million, while the remaining $154,689,408 went to boost funds abroad in the form of credit and non-cash transactions, with 25 banks meeting those demands.

In a statement to Shafaq News Agency, financial expert Hilal Tahhan, "the CBI cash sales suffices the domestic market. The commercial activity and imports are funded by the non-cash and credit transactions, which amount to the bulk of the CBI sales."

"The CBI cash sales restricted the rise of the dollar exchange rates," he said, "the cash sales average $50 million a day, which is enough to meet the market's daily demand."