Wednesday, 7 October 2026

Iraq’s cabinet devalued the dinar, raising the public dollar-selling rate from 1,320 to 1,520 dinars per dollar from Wednesday, after approving the change on Tuesday. The Central Bank now buys dollars from the Finance Ministry at 1,500 dinars and sells them to banks at 1,510. Banks, payment companies and exchange firms were ordered to stop using the old rates and update their systems. Each oil-export dollar now provides 200 more dinars for government salary payments. But the weaker currency also makes imports more expensive, potentially raising consumer prices. The parallel-market rate passed 170,000 dinars per $100 on Wednesday, prompting some exchange offices to halt conversions. MP Miqdad al-Khafaji called for an emergency parliamentary session to compel the government to reverse the decision.

Parliamentarians familiar with the 2027 draft budget said it envisages 217 trillion Iraqi dinars in spending, assuming an oil price of $58 per barrel. They put the resulting deficit at around 40 trillion Iraqi dinars. Parliamentary finance committee members said the draft assumes crude exports of around four million barrels per day, including shipments from the Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistan Regional Government announced that a senior delegation would travel to Baghdad on Wednesday for Finance Ministry talks focused on guaranteeing public-sector salaries. The talks are to cover civil servants, Peshmerga and internal security personnel, retirees and other benefit recipients. The delegation will seek explicit salary guarantees in the budget law, exemptions from spending restrictions and a fixed mechanism for transferring funds. The KRG says it has met its financial and oil obligations and that there are no grounds to delay, halt or cut its entitlements. The federal budget is scheduled to reach parliament on 10 October.

MP Falih al-Khazali (KSS — Muntasirun bloc head) demanded on Tuesday that PMF Service and Retirement Law No. 40 of 2016 be restored to the Commission’s proposed text without deletions or substitutions. He alleged that the government had changed it. The service-and-retirement bill follows the cabinet’s 30 September referral for a parliamentary vote. Reconstruction and Development Coalition spokesperson Firas al-Muslamawi said his coalition had asked parliament’s presidency to schedule the PMF law. Separately, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, citing unnamed sources, reported preparations to resubmit the PMF Authority bill after extensive amendments by officials selected by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. The reported changes remove provisions opposed by Washington and provisions that would make the Authority oversized. The Authority bill was frozen last year amid US opposition and Sunni Arab and Kurdish refusal to vote for it. These are reported preparations for resubmission, not an announced government submission.

Separately, Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced on Tuesday that security forces had arrested a suspected ISIS leader following Monday night’s ISIS attack on security personnel in Hawija. The attack killed one police officer. The New Region reported two others injured, compared with four wounded in Reuters’ earlier account. Marwan al-Ani, head of the Security Media Cell in Kirkuk, denied reports that a curfew had been imposed in Hawija. He described the district’s security situation as “stable and secure”.

Sadiqoun (AAH — parliamentary bloc) demanded government action on the dollar’s rise and goods prices on Wednesday through Al-Ahad TV (AAH — official), after the cabinet approved a public selling rate of 1,520 dinars per dollar on Tuesday. iNEWS (KSS — affiliated) had called the reported rate change a rumor that evening. By Wednesday, it was carrying the new public selling rate. MP Shaima al-Fatlawi demanded that the Finance Ministry reconsider the increase, in remarks carried by Al-Nujaba TV (Nujaba — official). MP Saba al-Saadi said the finance minister and Central Bank governor would face parliamentary interrogation. Sabereen News (KH — affiliated) alleged that the government had tipped off associates who bought dollars in advance. Al-Kornet al-Kata’ibi (KSS — affiliated) reported medicine depots stopping work in Baghdad. Press reports also described exchange offices halting conversions after the market rate passed 170,000 dinars per $100.

MP Falih al-Khazali (KSS — Muntasirun bloc head) demanded on Tuesday that PMF Service and Retirement Law No. 40 of 2016 be restored to the Commission’s proposed text without deletions or substitutions. He alleged that the government had changed it. Sabereen News alleged deletions including retroactive effect from 13 June 2014, the contracts directorate and the military appeals court. Former Hikma MP Hassan Fadum, appearing on Al-Ahad TV, said the Staff College and al-Muhandis Company may have been removed. On the PMF Authority bill, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported preparations for resubmission after extensive amendments by officials selected by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, citing unnamed sources. Reconstruction and Development Coalition spokesperson Firas al-Muslamawi said his coalition had asked parliament’s presidency to schedule the PMF law. He also said it was proceeding with incorporating PMF salary differences in the 2027 budget.

Separately in Hawija, Al-Janoub TV (Harakat al-Jihad wal-Bina — official) reported on Tuesday that large PMF reinforcements had arrived after ISIS attacks on security forces and the PMF. iNEWS said Federal Police and the PMF surrounded ISIS members at al-Arisha School in the al-Danadish sector. Al-Janoub TV credited Federal Police with killing four ISIS members inside a school near Barghuliya point. The PMF said the attack had been repelled without human losses, in a statement carried by Watan TV (Badr — affiliated). Kurdistan24 separately reported two suspected ISIS militants attacking a PMF base and destroying a thermal surveillance camera.

In Basra, Unit 10,000 (KH — affiliated) and Shabab al-Islam (Ashab al-Kahf — owned, non-official) alleged arrests in Basra on Tuesday over people burning American and Israeli flags and an image of US President Donald Trump the previous day. Al-Nujaba TV challenged al-Zaidi’s investigation into US-flag trampling at Baghdad’s 1 October Sovereignty Day parade, arguing that burning the American flag was not a crime even in the United States. Reconstruction and Development Coalition political-bureau member Muhammad al-Mutlaibi, a guest on Al-Ahad TV, called burning another country’s flag unacceptable. He said it could draw Iraq into an economic crisis.

Separately, iNEWS forecast a vote to complete the government on 10 October. Al-Nujaba TV described continued bargaining and said new positions were obstructing cabinet completion. Sabereen News relayed politician Izzat al-Shabandar’s accusation that an American veto over a deputy-prime-minister candidate had been lifted. He criticized an announcement that a deal for four deputy prime ministers was nearing completion.