Iraq's Central Bank Denies Printing New Notes
Iraq's governor says there is no printing of new money. We reported the designs in August. Here is why the bank denies it, and what this week's attacks are for.
Friday, October 30. On Thursday the governor of Iraq's Central Bank, Nizar Nasser Hussein, sat with parliament's Investment and Development Committee and was asked about new money. Talk of new banknotes coming off the presses, he said, is inaccurate. There is no printing. He added a number: the gap between the bank's price for the dollar and the street's had reached 24%, and now stands at 9%.
You have heard this denial before. In August we reported the new series designed and ordered, and the bank denied it the next day. Thursday's version came from the governor himself, in front of lawmakers, at the end of a week the old financial systems spent under attack.
On Thursday attackers drained hot wallets at Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, and $2.54 billion was frozen within hours. The Pentagon is treating a run of freezer failures at its bases as a suspected cyberattack. Belgium's tax agency pulled its online services after an attack. Christine Lagarde said she will leave the European Central Bank 9 months early. Air defence missiles now guard Mar-a-Lago. Trump cancelled his weekend rallies. And Gulf allies were reportedly told to prepare for a short campaign against Iran after the November 3 midterms.
Today: the governor's denial and why a bank would say it, Binance and the trail, the week of attacks, Lagarde, Mar-a-Lago, Iran after the vote, al-Zaidi and the intelligence service, and the street.
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