IslamicFinance.de

Private banks in Iraq have almost utterly ceased to fulfill their traditional functions, e.g. giving out loans, lending credit and issuing letters of credit. The reason is the risk of default. That is why Iraqi private banks resort to participation in the currency auction regularly held by the Iraqi Central Bank instead. In order not to face defaults on payments, they demand exaggerated guarantees for the granting of any loans to local investors. Banking experts say that the value of some loans is not able to cover more than 40% of the guarantees which are demanded by the banks.