CBI foreign reserves rise to $81.5B in August

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's foreign reserves rose to $81.538 billion at the end of August 2026, up from $80.633 billion a month earlier, according to Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) data released on Wednesday.

The gain of about $905 million followed four straight monthly declines from April through July, according to the data reviewed by Shafaq News. Reserves are still $15.894 billion below the $97.432 billion recorded at the end of 2025, a drop of about 16.3% over the first eight months of the year.

At the end of January, reserves stood at $101.082 billion. The CBI data puts them at $100.341 billion in March and $97.809 billion in April. They then fell to $93.673 billion in May, $86.175 billion in June and $80.633 billion in July.

Gold rose sharply in August even as CBI investments declined. Its value rose to 32.655 trillion dinars (about $25.1 billion) from 29.665 trillion dinars (about $22.8 billion) at the end of July, putting gold holdings above the $24.2 billion recorded at the end of 2025. CBI investments fell over the same month to 72.926 trillion dinars (about $56.1 billion) from 75.034 trillion dinars (about $57.7 billion).

The dollar equivalents in the data are based on an exchange rate of 1,300 dinars per dollar. The figures predate the government's decision to raise the official rate to 1,520 dinars per dollar, which took effect on Oct. 7.

Read more: CBI pledges unrestricted dollar supply after devaluation