Iraqis Unknowingly Waste Their Money For 3 Reasons

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Aug 30

Iraqis unknowingly waste their money for 3 reasons: the most important of which is the disappearance of small cash denominations!

2021-08-29 Yes Iraq: Baghdad For days, media and economic circles have been discussing a very important issue, related to the amount of individual waste of money and the continuous cumulative waste without feeling, while this waste comes due to 3 different reasons, the most important of which is the absence of small cash groups.

No matter how simple the commodity is and its cost price or import does not exceed 100 or 50 dinars,
for example, it will not be sold for less than 250 dinars because it is the smallest category available in Iraq. It cannot be retrieved or exchanged for anything, which drives the citizen to leave it, a process that is repeated frequently and causes a great waste of money if it is accumulated.

Other reasons for the hidden multiplier spending are the purchase of goods more than the actual need, as there is a weight restriction on its minimum, while the third reason is the use of direct cash, with its torn, damaged or forged categories.

Hussain Al-Khaqani, an economic specialist, says that “the absence of small denominations of currency constitutes a burden on all consumers, and is the first manifestation of wasting individual money,” noting that

“in the event of purchasing goods whose price is less than the smallest traded category, the rest of the amount cannot be recovered, because The existence of smaller denominations of the currency, and this situation has no remedy except for the Central Bank to provide the smaller denominations, as was the case 3 decades ago in order to achieve justice and reduce the waste of individual expenditures.

He added, "There is another form of individual waste that we see in the weighted purchases of vegetables and fruits, and adheres to a minimum weight represented in the kilogram and its multiples, as the consumer is forced to always buy more than his immediate need, which causes a waste of money and a waste of goods."

He stressed that "the solution to this problem comes through the technological development of digital weight-measuring devices with memory that are able to store the names of goods and their prices, and give weight and price accurately on a printed sheet, which facilitates the purchase of one orange, an apple, a tomato, and so on, so that the consumer can diversify his basket of purchases." necessary in the least amount and better control over its expenses.

Al-Khaqani continued, "As for the third manifestation of individual financial waste, it is represented in the electronic payment card holders of employees and retirees, who quickly go to receive their salaries in cash from the exchange offices minus the commission."

And he indicated that "the reason for this is the lack of electronic payment card readers, which are supposed to be available at all official agencies and shops to collect their debts, such as departments that collect fees, taxes for example, malls, large and small commercial markets, taxi drivers, stores selling vegetables and fruits, ovens and restaurants, in order to avoid The citizen deals with damaged and counterfeit currencies and pays more than what is required and greatly reduces the use of paper currency.”

Al-Khaqani called on the entity that imposed the electronic card on employees and retirees, to impose the use of devices that read this card to collect its debts while supporting it with incentives, and to impose fines for not using it, thus preserving the use of paper currency for the longest period, and helping the citizen to control his expenses and pay his debts without Waste, in order to achieve justice and reduce waste.”

It suggests economic experts on the central bank, re-work and small cash groups digitally, including would provide funds to the public, after adjusting the digital banking system.,

Where they see the small cash categories, which is smaller than 250 dinars, if collected and clumping annually, the citizen He will get good savings from it, instead of wasting it on buying goods whose real value is not worth 250 dinars.”

delete zeros

According to the economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, one of the reasons for the disappearance of small groups is “the unbridled inflation that hit the Iraqi economy in the nineties of the last century, which added three digits to the Iraqi monetary unit (that is, one dinar became equal to one thousand dinars, and ten dinars became ten thousand dinars).

And so for the rest of the categories) while the small categories completely disappeared from circulation, but every 250 fils became equal to 250 dinars and was considered the smallest monetary unit in circulation today, which raised the cost of micro-transactions that mostly affect the poor segments.

He added, "In this way, monetary systems aspire to remove the burden of historical inflation from the folds of the monetary unit by resorting to deleting three zeros from the old currency to equalize the new currency with lower numbers, but with the same value. Let’s say, for example, that one new dinar equals 1,000 old dinars without any change in value or rights..

The accounting books, statistics, numbers and computer systems are also modified with the value of the new currency within an easy and easy reform strategy, and the countries believe that the slimming of the currency system facilitates the circulation of mathematical numbers and helps to issue smaller cash denominations for very small transactions whose monetary values have been destroyed by historical inflation in our country such as the dirham and others.

He said: “The project to delete zeros in Iraq is still technically prepared by the Central Bank of Iraq, which is the official sectoral authority and the monetary authority concerned with this matter and in cooperation with all three state agencies and authorities,

but the project is postponed at the present time until the appropriate conditions are achieved and remains part of the currency system reform strategies. and cash payments in Iraq.