Central Bank of Iraq Auctions $196,868,397 on 01 March 2018
Iraqi Dinars – File Photo
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) currency auction on March 1 registered $196,868,397 in sales, a 6.95% volume increase from the US $184,067,625 sold by Iraqi Dinar, credit and transfer at the previous auction held on February 28.
The latest auction was attended by 45 banks and 9 remittance companies. The same institutions attended the auction held on March 1 compared to the previous auction.
Data for the March 1 auction was made public by CBI Announcement Number 3646.
Dollar sales in the in the period January 1, 2018 to March 1, 2018 saw an increase of -1% compared to the sales of US $6.25 billion in the same period in 2017. The total amount of US currency sold by CBI in the calendar year 2017 was US $15.7 billion.
An analysis of the monthly dollar sales by CBI since January 2016 reveals highly fluctuating volumes. During the period from January 2016 to March 2018, sales of US dollars averaged US $1.89 billion per month. Peak volumes were reached in May this year when sales touched US $2.3 billion.
| Year | Month | US dollar sales in billions | Increase/(decrease) compared to the previous month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | January | 2.2 | – |
| 2017 | February | 2 | -9% |
| 2017 | March | 2.1 | 5% |
| 2017 | April | 1.8 | -14% |
| 2017 | May | 2.3 | 28% |
| 2017 | June | 0.6 | -74% |
| 2017 | July | 2.2 | 267% |
| 2017 | August | 2.1 | -5% |
| 2017 | September | 1 | -52% |
| 2017 | October | 2.2 | 120% |
| 2017 | November | 1.9 | -14% |
| 2017 | December | 1.9 | 0% |
| 2018 | January | 2.2 | 16% |
| 2018 | February | 2 | -9% |