Some 80 banks in Baghdad have already received deliveries of the new Iraqi dinar. The new national currency will begin replacing Iraq’s existing paper money on October 15, 2003.
Baghdad International Airport received the final currency delivery of 16.5 billion Iraqi dinars ($8.25 million) on Monday, October 13, reported AFP. The shipment came in the form of about 30 wooden crates, each containing 50,000 bank notes in denominations of 25,000 or 5,000.
Printed in the UK, the new Iraqi dinar does not display the face of former President Saddam Hussein, as did the old currency. The bank notes were transferred from London to the Iraqi cities of Baghdad, Mosul and Basra several times a week for the past two weeks.
A total of 250 banks nationwide will be supplied with the new bank notes. The currency exchange will last from October 15, 2003 to January 15, 2004. One old Iraqi dinar will be exchanged for one new Iraqi dinar and one unit of Northern Iraq’s Swiss dinar will be exchanged for 150 new Iraqi dinars.
Bank accounts and financial contracts in Swiss dinars will also be converted at the rate of 150 new Iraqi dinars for every one Swiss dinar. Bank accounts and contracts in old Iraqi dinar will not change.
The new currency will have a larger number of denominations than the old currency, with 50, 250, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 dinar notes. The new notes include many anti-fraud features that will provide protection against counterfeiting. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
