The country’s central government agreed on a draft oil law early this year, under which control and revenue from Iraq’s oil reserves are to be shared among Baghdad and the provinces. But the law has since been stalled by political infighting.

“Most of the elements of the oil law are in place and if we were to decide to go to parliament and…present it any time soon, we probably can muster the political majority it needs to pass,” Salih said.

“But…we want this law to unify Iraqis, not to divide Iraqis. We will not want this law to pass (with) 51 percent of the vote. We have to have broad acceptance of this law and we have some work to do in that regard,” he added, during a discussion at international affairs think tank Chatham House.

Frustrated by delays and disagreements over amendments to the law, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) approved its own oil law in August and has signed several contracts. In response, Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has repeatedly said the contracts are illegal.

Asked whether he considered the KRG contracts to be legitimate, Salih, a Kurd, said: “It is not up to the ministry of oil to decide the legality of such contracts, it is for the constitutional court in Iraq to decide the legality or illegality of such contracts.”

Describing the oil law as “like a rollercoaster”, Salih said he believed Iraq could still succeed at courting investment from abroad in its oil sector, despite all the existing problems.

“The time has come for us to opt for a serious effort at drawing international investment in the Iraqi oil sector. We are still falling very, very short of the potential of Iraq in terms of production and export levels,” he said.

“Iraq, I believe, can do this thing. The way oil has been managed in Iraq has been no less than a disaster.”

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $11.150 million in cash and $105.990 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,232 dinars per dollar, the same for the fifth consecutive day.

The 15 banks that participated in Wednesday’s session offered to sell one million dollars, which the bank bought at an exchange rate of 1,230 dinars per dollar.

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the dramatic increase in the demand for dollar is attributed to the long period of closure because of the Eid al-Fitr (the Lesser Bairam) and the announcement made by the Central Bank to stabilize the dollar exchange rate until tomorrow’s session.

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $14.655 million in cash and $67.290 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,232 dinars per dollar, the same for the sixth consecutive day.
None of the 14 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell the dollar.

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the demand for the dollar had not decreased below the general rate. It actually remains above it and the decrease is significant when compared to the last session’s demand which witnessed a dramatic increase in the demand for the dollar resulting from the long period of closure for the Eid al-Fitr (the Lesser Bairam).

London Brent also reached a new all-time high of $84.5 during trading and closed on $84.2.

The drop was evaluated by 20% less than the actual value of real estates due to security deterioration in the city.

Concerns over possible military action by Turkey in northern Iraq and falling stockpiles in the US have stoked prices.

It is also feared Opec’s recent 500,000 barrels per day production hike will not be sufficient to meet US winter demand

Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that “the Iraqi Central Bank has decided to stabilize the dollar exchange rate at 1,232 dinars per dollar for buying dollar and 1,230 for selling since yesterday until next Thursday.”

“The daily auction will be off next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday,” al-Yasseri said, noting that the international trading continues in the Iraqi dinars and the stabilized exchange rate is the one being used internationally.

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $18.445 million in cash and $52.830 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,232 dinars per dollar, the same for the third consecutive day.

None of the 15 banks that participated in Thursday’s session offered to sell dollars.

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the significant increase in the demand for dollar is attributed to Eid al-Fitr (the Lesser Bairam) as the auction will be closed for several days.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday