Iraq's central bank has unveiled new measures to boost its foreign exchange reserves, including allowing direct settlement of the country's trade with China in renminbi.
The central bank of Iraq said in a statement on Tuesday that the direct settlement of trade with China in RMB will be achieved in two ways: one is to increase RMB reserves through RMB accounts opened by Iraqi banks in Chinese banks; The second is to increase banks' reserves of dollars, which can be converted into yuan, through the central bank's accounts at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Singapore's DBS Bank.
This will be the first time that Iraq will allow its imports from China to be settled in yuan, while its trade with China has been settled in US dollars, Iraqi government economic adviser Mudir Saleh told the media.
Amar Ibrahimi, an official of the Iraqi Supreme Audit Commission, told Xinhua that the measures announced by the Iraqi Central bank show the growing importance of the RMB in the international market and will facilitate trade between Iraq and China.
China is Iraq's largest trading partner, and Iraq is China's third largest trading partner among Arab countries.