0 Drop in the demand for the dollar

Baghdad, 21 February 2008 (Voices of Iraq)

Demand for the dollar dipped sharply in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Wednesday, registering at $27.940 million compared to $127.325 million on Tuesday."The demand hit $1.870 million in cash and $26.70 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,210 Iraqi dinars per dollar, unchanged for the eleventh session in a row," according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).The nine banks that participated in the auction offered to sell $1 million, which the bank bought at an exchange rate of 1,208 Iraqi dinars per dollar.Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that cash bids and remittances significantly dropped during the session as traders lost hope that the exchange rate will decline.The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.