Nour Al-Karmouti
Dar Al-Hayat
May 10, 2004

Faleh Dawood Suleiman, the deputy governor of the Iraqi Central Bank has assured that the Central Bank will not back off from its financial commitments inherited from the previous regime and will give everyone his rights.

Suleiman told Al-Hayat that Iraq has the full cooperation of all the Arab countries, and that the Central Bank will be independent and will not allow any government interference.

He added that the collaboration between the Arab banks and the Iraqi Central bank has been going on for a while now. Furthermore, this collaboration will not be affected by the events preceding, or following, June 30. Moreover, no obstacles will stand against this mutual collaboration.

As for the Iraqi debts to the Arab countries, he said that a strategic committee has been established and will soon solve the matter while serious studies are on the way to resolve the issue.

Suleiman said, “There are no intentions for substituting the new currency with another one.”

He confirmed that the Central Bank did not bring up this topic and what is being repeated is no more than rumors that have the intention of weakening the banking system. The currency has been approved since the first day of its printing. The change in the new currency is realistic and means that the policies of the Central Bank are continuous and not just temporary and we will not look into the issue of June 30 and what comes after.”