Iranian traders can open accounts in Iraqi banks to facilitate trade transactions: official
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E-mail Xinhua, February 7, 2019
Iranian traders can open accounts in Iraqi banks to carry out their transactions under a new payment system recently agreed between the two neighbors, the governor of Iran's central bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, announced on Wednesday.
"According to an agreement reached with the Central Bank of Iraq, Iranian exporters can operate through Iraqi banks," Hemmati was quoted as saying by Press TV.
In this regard, Iranian banks can also have dinar-denominated accounts in the Iraqi banks, he said.
"Based on the agreement, the Central Bank of Iran will have euro- and dinar-denominated accounts in Iraqi banks, and gas and oil exchanges will be carried out via these accounts," he said.
On Tuesday, Hemmati and his Iraqi counterpart, Ali Mohsen Ismail al-Alaq, discussed a trade transaction mechanism in Baghdad that will enable the two neighbors to do business in the face of U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
On Wednesday, Hemmati met Iraqi bank directors, as well as members of the Iraqi chambers of commerce and traders, and announced that "good agreements" reached between Iraq and Iran over payment mechanism.
"Iraqi companies can also open accounts in the Iranian banks, and the Iraqi banks can open branches in Iran," he added.
"Therefore, with these agreements ... banking relations between Iran and Iraq will be much stronger, and the expansion of trade relations between the two countries will take shape on this basis," he added.
Hemmati arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss banking relations and payments backlog related to Iran's gas and electricity exports to the Arab country.
Iraq is Iran's biggest trade partner, but their relations are increasingly coming under pressure from Washington which imposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran last May after abandoning Iran's international nuclear agreement.
On Tuesday, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh complained about Iraq's overdue payments over Iran's sales of natural gas to the Arab country.
The United States has reimposed sanctions on Iran, including its oil exports and banking sectors.
However, Washington agreed to let eight countries, including Iraq, keep temporarily buying Iranian oil.
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