Originally Posted by
Wm.Knowles
Hello everyone. We know there is alot of controversy about the amount of dinars in print and what is the monetary policy of the CBI and if they are REALLY taking out money from circulation. Found this article on the Brand X forum. I thought I would hijack it and reprint it since it seems to be very relevant today. Supports the idea that they do have a plan... About the Hijacking.... Sooo sorry and if offended, you can bill me later... Thank you.
The Unique Situation of the Iraqi Dinar
A backgrounder on the Iraqi dinar, including details on why the Iraqi dinar is positioned for a huge rise in value.
* By: Roger Isaksson (email)
* Published: 09/11/2006
* this author's past articles
The Iraq Dinar is set up in a very simple, almost crude fashion. The set up was a quick fix after the invasion, seeing that the banking sector in Iraq was about as developed as a model T. Without a modern bank system in place, the "crude and simple" was chosen as a workable interim model.
A Brief History of the Dinar
With Saddam's face plastered all over it, the old dinar had to go. The Saddam dinar also was of very low quality, and could be easily forged on a simple copy machine.
After the invasion, new bills were immediately ordered, but due to the enormous amount needed, some of the old Saddam dinars continued to be printed and circulated until the new ones arrived.
The new dinar bills started to arrive, and they brought with them all the modern safety features one would expect. A wide spread of denominations was chosen, both to make the daily handling easier, and to cover for value variations in it's exchange. Finally, a reasonable time period was granted in order to allow the citizens of Iraq to swap the old Saddam, and "Swiss" dinar in.
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI)
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) was set up as an auction system, with the CBI sitting on the newly printed currency, auctioning older outdated dinars and other foreign currencies with Iraqi banks for new dinars. Now that the currency exchange has been completed, the CBI also sends nearly half of it's daily auction of dinars to foreign banks in Kuwait, Jordan and beyond.
If you go to the CBI official website you will see the daily auction, the currency is now primarily sold in exchange for US dollars. The CBI is slowly but surely acquiring US dollars to help back the worth of the dinar. Everyday the amount of dollars in it's vaults increases.
The exact number of dinars in print, in circulation or on hold at the CBI is exactly known. By doing some very simple steps, full control is achieved through:
1. Limit the amount a person can bring with him if he is leaving Iraq, to a very small amount (in this case, 100,000 dinar);
2. Knowing the exact amount sold to banks outside of Iraq.
Once you know the amount of dinars out there, viola, you have complete control over it's fate. The CBI simply sells more or less to hold the dinar in a position exactly where they want it to be.
Given this situation, the dinar will not strictly be pegged. It has been called 'pegged' by some, but in reality you will have some small fluctuations on the dinar value, which you have likely noticed if you have followed it over time. These fluctuations are a balancing act by the CBI.
Simply put, truly pegged currencies don't move from the currency it is pegged to.
This is the basic Iraqi dinar system. Now some may already be asking, that if the Dinar is endlessly sold, wouldn't it flood the market, making them worthless? No, because you have exchanged your US dollars for your dinar, which helps to back the dinar through the above explained CBI mechanism.
Now, this is a very temporary system. Interested readers will of course note that any currency that is not free flowing is a hindrance to full economic development. This fall, new Iraq investment laws are suppose to be passed by the elected Iraqi parliament, allowing international investment companies (read: Big Oil) to invest.At this very moment, oil company survey and geological teams are crisscrossing the desert, testing grounds, staking claims and hopefully not giving each other a black eye. Again, this is not Iraq government, US government, US Government contractors, US armed forces, etc. running around, this is oil companies. The future mega investment in Iraq which will help drive the economy forward...
