The Central Bank of Iraq revealed that foreign exchange reserves rose to more than 85 billion dollars, the highest level since 2003. While the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank had indicated that the reserves would reach more than 80 billion dollars, and he expected them to reach 90 billion dollars by the end of the year.
The Association of Iraqi Private Banks announced that the percentage of financial coverage had risen to 33.5 percent, as a result of the measures taken by the Central Bank, especially supporting the project to localize employee salaries, increasing the opening of bank branches, and supporting digital transformation, electronic wallets, payment points and ATMs.
The increase in the financial inclusion rate was reflected in the confidence in the banking sector, which will reflect positively on the economy's growth in general. The number of employees who settled their salaries until the end of last year amounted to about four million employees, which contributed to the number of banking branches reaching 905. Noting that the increase in financial inclusion is related to focusing on increasing financial transactions for individuals or companies and benefiting from various banking services.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
