Iraqi traders close Baghdad markets after dinar devaluation

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Shops and traders’ warehouses in Baghdad’s Al-Shorja and Jameela wholesale markets, along with several currency exchange and money-transfer companies, closed Wednesday after the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) raised the official exchange rate of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar from 1,320 to 1,520 dinars per dollar.

Located in central Baghdad, Al-Shorja is the capital’s largest and most important commercial center for a wide range of goods, including food, household items, clothing, cigarettes, and other daily necessities. Jameela wholesale market is a major source of dry and agricultural food products and a key supplier to Baghdad and neighboring provinces.

Shafaq News correspondents reported that both large and small traders shut their businesses after the Central Bank’s decision caught them off guard, leaving them uncertain about how to price goods under the new exchange rate.

For Iraqi traders, the dollar-to-dinar exchange rate is a key factor in pricing imported goods and settling related financial transactions.

The decision disrupted trading activity, prompting businesses to suspend financial transactions until conditions stabilize and they can determine whether the new rate will remain in effect or be reversed in the coming days.

Several small traders and shop owners told Shafaq News that many large merchants are holding billions of dinars worth of goods in warehouses that were imported before Wednesday’s exchange-rate change. They said some merchants could use the new rate as a basis for raising the prices of those goods.