The main objective of the Bank Of Iraq is to try and maintain domestic price stability and a completive market, a difficult task in a war torn country with black markets and other price and economic forces not under their control. The CBI is also to formulate and implement monetary policy including the currency exchange rate for the Iraqi Dinar.

The CBI is also to hold Iraqi gold and manage the reserves of gold for the country as well as issue and manage currency.

World's Largest Bank Robbery

The day before the United States and coalition forces began their invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein essentially robbed the Central Bank of Iraq of nearly $1 billion making this the largest bank robbery in history. More than $650 million of those dollars were eventually recovered by troops finding them hidden in the walls of Hussein's palaces. The other roughly $250 to $300 million was never found and claimed to be stolen by thieves other than Saddam Hussein and his sons.

A note was later found signed by Saddam himself ordering the withdrawal of $920 million from the bank. Funny how in times of great crisis national leaders think they own everything in the country.

At the current time the banking and financial situation in Iraq appear to be fairly stable. If a lasting peace does in fact happen in Iraq the value of the dinar will certainly climb and allow those who have bought Iraqi dinar to cash in on their investments.

Iraq Dinar Foreign Currency Trading

When the new Iraqi dinar Iraqi citizens were given 3 months to turn in the old dinars to be replaced by newer ones. Prior to Iraq's currency being unified, there were actually 2 different kinds or dinar circulating in the country. Before the first Gulf War and the resulting economic blockade of the country, Swiss printing equipment was available and banknotes were of very high quality, but during the blockade the high quality equipment was no longer available and neither were replacement parts. Consequently alternative printing presses had to be configured to print the bills that ended up being of inferior quality, but none the less still adequate for monetary exchange.

These secondary dinars printed after the economic blockade were known as Saddam Dinar and circulated in the southern part of the country. After the January 15th 2004 deadline for citizens to turn in their old dinars, only the new Iraqi dinars were officially used as a monetary exchange. Obviously not everyone complied with the replacement immediately and the old dinar was used for exchange well past the cut off date. And of course these older dinar were sought ofter by collectors and those interested in memorabilia left over from the time of the reign of Saddam Hussein .

Other sought after and very collectible dinars are those that are known as King Faisal dinars. These are quite rare and highly sought after by collectors and can be found in limited quantities on eBay and from private collectors.

If you are interested in collecting the King Faisal dinar, old Saddam dinars or the new Iraqi Dinar, please visit our buy Iraqi Dinar page where you can find several varieties.

Iraq Dinar Foreign Currency Trading