02/20/2020 13:10
Baghdad today - Baghdad
The Central Bank of Iraq issued, on Thursday (20 February 2020), a clarification statement regarding the performance of foreign reserves in 2019, indicating that the annual report of foreign reserves showed a positive performance in 2019 compared to 2018.
The Central said in a statementreceived (Baghdad today), that the data of the annual report of foreign reserves showed a positive performance in 2019 compared to 2018, as these reserves grew by 5.52% in 2019 compared to 2018, as a result of the increase witnessed by the Central Bank purchases from The US dollar from the Ministry of Finance compared to its sales through the currency sale window, as well as the profits accrued from the returns of the investment portfolio in its various segments.
The statement added: "On the level of investment portfolios, the value of these portfolios achieved net growth in 2019 by 18.4% compared to 2018, accompanied by a growth in returns on these portfolios in 2019 by 59% compared to 2018, and the ratio of these returns to investment portfolios reached In 2018, it was approximately 1.7%, while the percentage of returns to investment portfolios increased in 2019 to reach 2.3%.
He continued: "As for the gold segment, it grew in 2019 by 18.8% compared to 2018, despite the fact that this bank has not increased its investment in this asset during this year, but the increase in the value of these holdings came as a result of the significant increase witnessed in the price of Gold globally, with Iraq ranked 38th globally with its gold holdings, and 5th in the Arab world, for a total of 96.3 tons.
And as the statement added, "As part of this bank's plan to enhance returns on reserves and build capacity in the field of reserves self-management, this bank established during the year 2019 many international banking relationships and entered into agreements and memoranda of understanding with a number of international banks and major financial institutions, such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development And the Arab Monetary Fund, as well as international institutions concerned with investment management. "
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