CBI sales in forex auctions jump beyond $1 billion his week due to soaring food prices

Shafaq News/ The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auctioned more than one billion dollars in foreign currency (forex) this week.

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that the CBI foreign currency sales in this week's auctions amounted to $1,050,736,000 at an average of $210,147,300 daily, up by 23.76% from last week.

"Monday registered the highest sales with $216,196,141 while Wednesday was the lowest in terms of sales with $203,900,000," our correspondent said.

The transactions were made at a weighted average of 1460 dinars to one dollar.

Our correspondent explained that the majority of those sales went to boost funds abroad in the form of credit and non-cash transactions.

Financial expert Hilal al-Tahhan attributed the surge in CBI sales, particularly external remittances, to the rise in food prices worldwide.

"The prices of some food products have doubled," al-Tahhan said, "demand for US dollar increased to cover this surge."