| Dates |
Arrangement |
Legal
basis |
Remarks |
| 1500s
-March
1917 |
fixed; officially
used Ottoman currency, but in practice Indian
rupee was more widely used from mid or late
1800s |
|
Iraq was
part of the Ottoman Empire. The Indian rupee,
which did not suffer the debasement that
beset Ottoman coins, was widely used. Officially,
all foreign coins were banned in 1883 (Ottoman
Empire, circular of 25 January 1883), though
they were later accepted for some payments
(Ottoman Empire, circular of June 1894).
The Ottoman lira was a decimal currency
from 1881. |
| March 1917
-31 March
1932 |
fixed; used
Indian rupee |
|
The British
introduced Indian rupee, one of their colonial
currencies, upon conquering Iraq during
First World War. The rupee was already familiar
because it was widely used in trade. It
was not a decimal currency. |
| 1 April
1932 -17
December 1946 |
fixed; 1
Iraqi dinar = UK£1 |
Iraq, Iraq
Currency Law, No. 44, 19 April 1931; Law
No. 101, 12 December 1931 |
Iraq established
its own currency, which unlike the Indian
rupee was decimalized; it was divided into
1,000 fils. "Dinar" derives from
the Latin denarius, a silver coin
of ancient Rome. Through the April 1931
law, the Iraqi dinar was to have had a gold
value equal to the pound sterling, but the
pound sterling was floated against gold
on 21 September 1931, so the December 1931
law removed the planned gold parity. Indian
rupees were exchanged at 1 Indian rupee
= 0.075 Iraqi dinars from 1-28 April 1932,
1 Indian rupee = 0.074 Iraqi dinars from
29 April-5 May 1932, and 1 Indian rupee
= 0.0745 Iraqi dinars from 6 May-30 June
1932. These were equal to the prevailing
rates in London of the Indian rupee against
the pound sterling. |
| 18 December
1946 -30
June 1949 |
fixed; 1
Iraqi dinar = UK£1 = US$4.03 = 3.58134g
gold |
|
Iraq registered
a gold parity with the IMF. |
| 1 July 1949
-19 September
1949 |
hard peg;
1 Iraqi dinar = UK£1 = US$4.03 = 3.58134g
gold |
Iraq, National
Bank of Iraq Law, No. 43, July 1947; Law
No. 42 of 1947 |
Iraq replaced
its currency board with a central bank,
so the exchange rate changed from fixed
to a hard peg. |
| 20 September
1949 -22
June 1959 |
hard peg;
1 Iraqi dinar = UK£1 = US$2.80 = 2.48828g
gold |
Iraq, Law
No. 42 of 1947 |
Followed
the United Kingdom's devaluation of the
pound sterling on 18 September 1949. |
| 23 June
1959 -4
July 1964 |
hard peg;
1 Iraqi dinar = US$2.80 = UK£1 = 2.48828g
gold |
|
Switched
to the US dollar as the anchor currency,
at the prevailing cross rate with pound
sterling. RR:
De facto peg to pound sterling / dual
market. |
| 5 July 1964
-17 November
1967 |
hard peg,
multiple rates; official rate 1 Iraqi dinar
= US$2.80 = UK£1 = 2.48828g gold |
Iraq, Law
No. 87 of 1964 |
Introduced
excise taxes on transfers of foreign exchange
for Iraqis leaving the country. RR:
De facto peg to pound sterling / dual
market. |
| 18 November
1967 -22
August 1971 |
hard peg,
multiple rates; official rate 1 Iraqi dinar
= US$2.80 = UK£1.166 = 2.48828g gold |
|
Did not
follow the devaluation of the pound sterling
on 18 November 1967. The central bank suspended
foreign-exchange dealings on 16 August 1971
and resumed on 23 August 1971, but licensed
dealers were authorized to continue certain
transactions. RR:
De facto peg to pound sterling / dual
market. |
| 23 August
1971 -20
December 1971 |
hard peg,
multiple rates; official rate 1 Iraqi dinar
= UK£1.166 = 2.48828g gold (nominally) |
|
Gold convertibility
for all countries ended in practice when
the United States abandoned the gold standard
on 15 August 1971. Iraq remained pegged
to the pound sterling and in effect unpegged
from the US dollar. RR:
De facto peg to pound sterling / dual
market. |
| 21 December
1971 -31
March 1972 |
hard peg,
multiple rates; official rate 1 Iraqi dinar
= UK£1.166 = US$3.04 = 2.48828g gold (nominally) |
|
Repegged
to the US dollar after the United States
devalued the dollar against gold on 18 December
1971. Iraq adopted wider margins. The central
bank suspended foreign-exchange quotations
from 24 June-2 July 1972 after the United
Kingdom floated the pound sterling on 23
June 1972. RR:
De facto peg to pound sterling / dual
market. |
| 1 April
1972 -2
July 1972 |
hard peg,
1 Iraqi dinar = UK£1.166 = US$3.04 = 2.48828g
gold (nominally) |
|
Unified
the exchange rate by abolishing the exchange
tax on people leaving Iraq. After the United
Kingdom floated the pound sterling on 23
June 1972, Iraq's central bank suspended
foreign-exchange quotations on 24 June 1972,
resuming on 3 July 1972. RR:
De facto peg to pound sterling / dual
market. |
| 3 July 1972
-12 February
1973 |
hard peg,
1 Iraqi dinar = US$3.04 = 2.48828g gold
(nominally) |
|
Switched
to the US dollar as the anchor currency. |
| 13 February
1973 -31
March 1978 |
hard peg,
1 Iraqi dinar = US$3.3778 = 2.48828g gold
(nominally) |
|
Did not
follow the devaluation of the US dollar
on 13 February 1973. |
| 1 April
1978 -16
October 1982 |
hard peg,
1 Iraqi dinar = US$3.3778 |
International
Monetary Fund, Board of Governors, Resolution
No. 31-4, 30 April 1976 ("Second Amendment") |
The system
of gold par values officially ended by agreement
of IMF members. RR:
Managed float / parallel market from January
1982. |
| 17 October
1982 -1994? |
hard peg,
1 Iraqi dinar = US$3.2169 |
|
Devalued
by 5%. A currency confiscation occurred
on 5 May 1993 as Iraq withdrew 25-dinar
"Swiss print" notes from circulation
(Iraq, decision of cabinet and Revolutionary
Command Council, 2 May 1993). Notes were
exchanged at 25 new dinars = 25 old dinars
until 10 May 1993, but Iraq closed its borders
to prevent foreign holders from repatriating
the notes during the redemption period.
After the period was over, the notes became
worthless in areas controlled by the government
of Saddam Hussein. The 25-dinar Swiss-print
notes continued to be valid in Kurdish areas,
which since the Persian Gulf War of 1991
had become de facto independent.
RR: Managed
float / parallel market. Multiple rates
in 1982 and 1983. |
| 1994?
-29 June
2001 |
hard peg;
1,750 Iraqi dinars = US$1 |
|
The IMF
source shows this exchange rate as of 1994
but does not say when it began. Iraq released
little information to the IMF after the
1991 Persian Gulf War. RR:
Managed float / parallel market to December
1997, when data end. |
| 30 June
2001 -19
March 2003 |
managed
float |
|
The IMF
reclassified the exchange rate arrangement
in light of information that state banks
could buy and sell foreign currency at prevailing
market rates. The actual change of arrangements
was probably earlier. |
| 20 March
2003 -3
October 2003 |
clean float |
|
With the
US invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003, the
exchange rate arrangement became in effect
a clean float for a time. |
| 4 October
2003 -14
October 2003 |
managed
float |
|
Returned
to a managed float, with the central bank
determining the exchange rate using rates
resulting from foreign-exchange auctions. |
| 15 October
2003 -present |
(new) Iraqi
dinar, managed float |
|
Introduced
a new design of currency across the whole
country, including Kurdish areas that had
used the "Swiss print" dinar printed
from 1979-1989. Currency was exchanged at
1 new Iraqi dinar = 1 old Iraqi dinar, or
150 new Iraqi dinars = 1 Swiss print dinar.
Approximately 4 trillion old dinars are
expected to be exchanged. Old dinars ceased
being legal tender on 15 January 2004. |
