Tehran, Iran, Nov.19
Trend
According to an Iranian official, Iraq is going to pay for Iran exports in Dinar, due to lack of support by the European countries.
"Iraqis insist to pay for Iran gas and electricity exports in Dinar, while in previous contracts they had vowed to pay in euro and US dollars. Their excuse is to avoid US new sanctions,“ the Secretary General of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce Sayed Hamid Hosseini, told Trend.
"Unfortunately, the European Central Bank (ECB), is not cooperating to convert the dollar into euro in Iraq, therefore Iraqi officials refrain from sending the euro to Iran under such excuses," he said, responding to the question of Iraq's possible euro payment for Iran's supplies.
EU foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini has told Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi during a telephone call in Friday that the EU would help Baghdad "to deal with the consequences" of US sanctions on Iran. According to statement issued by the Iraq's prime minister’s office, Mogherini said that EU is ready to support Iraq in politics, finance and security.
According to Hosseini, in the current economic situation, Iran needs foreign currency and Iraq's insistence to pay in Dinar, will create problems for the country.
“Of course, Dinar can be converted to other currencies and this proposal is being reviewed by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI),” said Hosseini.
Hosseini also noted Iraq's long overdue debt to Iran over electricity exports.
"Iran has been exporting electricity to Iraq for over 15 years and during these years, Iraq faced liquidity problem that led to delay in money transfers,” he said.