Iraqi Government Seeks Control Over Central Bank
Some speculate that the deputy governor of Iraq’s central bank’s arrest for embezzlement is an attempt by the government to expand its control of the financial body, writes Omar al-Shaher.
Iraqi activists and journalists have tried to exert pressure on the authorities in Baghdad to release Mudher Mohammed Saleh, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) after he was arrested on charges of embezzlement of public funds.
Saleh, who has a PhD in economics from an American university, has been detained for over a month and a half at a police station in central Baghdad. The 65-year-old professor of economics at the University of Baghdad voluntarily turned himself in to Iraqi authorities after an arrest warrant was issued against him.
Saleh is seen as a person of rare value to the Iraqi economy, having contributed to the development of a monetary policy that brought about stability to the Iraqi currency market. He wrote dozens of economic studies on how to develop cash management and activate banks, which the CBI website continues to publish.
Economists in Iraq say that Saleh’s experience has contributed to ensuring the stability of Iraq’s monetary policy, despite ongoing political and security turmoil in the country. For instance, the Iraqi dinar has maintained a fixed exchange rate for years after the CBI directly intervened in the currency market through an auction offering the U.S. dollar at subsidized prices.
