Protests in Iraq and Lebanon over currency exchange rates

Part of the demonstrations in Baghdad yesterday.

Reuters

Yesterday, Iraq and Lebanon witnessed protests due to the instability of exchange rates, as thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in front of the Central Bank of Iraq building, in protest against the speculation in the dollar exchange rate in the country for the third month in a row.

The demonstrators, who crowded Al-Rasheed Street and Al-Rusafi Square in the vicinity of the Central Bank of Iraq, chanted slogans calling on the bank’s management to work to control the exchange rate of the dollar at levels that do not reflect negatively on the prices of food commodities, which recorded a significant increase during the past months, and the security forces took strict security measures in the vicinity. the bank.

And the Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, decided, two days ago, to dismiss the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, Mustafa Ghaleb Makhaif, from his post, due to speculation in the foreign exchange market, which caused the dollar exchange rate to rise to 160 thousand Iraqi dinars per 100 dollars, which caused In a wave of rising prices of basic food commodities in the country.

Dealers in the foreign exchange market in Iraq suggested that the wave of fluctuations in the stability of the foreign exchange market will continue until the completion of the application of government measures on the movement of the US dollar, preventing its smuggling out of the country, and tightening control over imports from abroad.

And in Lebanon, dozens demonstrated in front of the Central Bank in Beirut to protest against the deteriorating living conditions, with the Lebanese pound recording a new record decline, and the rise in fuel prices, according to AFP correspondents.

Lebanon is witnessing a suffocating economic and political crisis, which was exacerbated during the past two days by a judicial debate over the investigation path of the Beirut port explosion.

In front of the Central Bank, young men burned tires and closed the main road in the crowded Hamra Street, amidst a heavy deployment of the Lebanese army, during the demonstration called for by the “Depositors’ Cry”, a civil initiative concerned with the rights of depositors and keeping pace with their movements.

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