Foreign reserves drop 11.6% in H1 2026

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s foreign reserves fell by $11.257 billion, or 11.6%, in the first half of 2026, reaching $86.175 billion at the end of June from $97.432 billion at the end of 2025, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) said on Monday.

The reserves initially rose to $101.082 billion in January and $102.131 billion in February before declining to $100.341 billion in March, $97.809 billion in April, $93.673 billion in May, and $86.175 billion in June.

Over the first half of the year, investments within the reserves fell 12.1%, from 93.266 trillion dinars ($71.195 billion) at the end of 2025 to 81.998 trillion dinars ($62.594 billion) in June. Cash held in the CBI’s vaults dropped 67.8% over the same period, from 1.907 trillion dinars ($1.456 billion) to 614 billion dinars ($468.7 million).

On a monthly basis, investments declined by 6.116 trillion dinars ($4.669 billion) in June, while gold holdings fell by about 3.88 trillion dinars ($2.962 billion). Cash, however, rose from 366 billion dinars ($279.4 million) in May to 614 billion dinars ($468.7 million) in June.