Iraq suffers Currency crisis in Iran
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| An Iraqi working on their homemade copper kettles at a market in Basra in southern Iraq. Both tourism operators and shop owners in Iraq suffer currency crisis in Iran, which has led to the pilgrims from neighboring are fewer. Photo: Atef Hassan / Reuters / |
Iran is the country with the largest Shia Muslims, and many of them often go on pilgrimages to the numerous Shiite shrines in neighboring Iraq. But rivalry has led to the pilgrim flow has slowed, while the Iranian state company for pilgrimages together owe $ 75 million, 430 million, to Iraqi creditors, writes AP.
Pilgrims from the neighbor to the east account for 95 percent of Iraq's tourist industry, but million debt has led some of the largest travel companies in Iraq and a number of hotels have completely stopped accepting Iranian pilgrims.
-The majority of our customers are Iranians, it is clear that it is bad for the time, admits Iman Rasool Nima, who runs a hotel in Najaf, one of the holiest cities sjiaislams. Rasool Nima has now decided to try to attract Shiite tourists from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Earlier there was between 3,500 and 4,000 Iranian pilgrims to Iraq every day. There are no official figures on the extent of the decline is, but the manager of the Hotel Owners Association in Najaf, Saeeb Abuqneem, estimates that there are now no more than 2,500 daily.
-Haggle hard life
For shop owners in Najaf is not the situation any better. Jassim Mohammed Yousif has a shop strategically located opposite the Imam Ali Mosque and could previously sell silver jewelry, prayer chains and other souvenirs for $ 1,000 a day. Now, the number of Iranian tourists fell drastically, and those who come, keep hard on the pocketbook.
-Now they bargain for their lives. It did not before, says Mohammed, who says he is lucky if he earns a tenth of what he did before. 60-year-old believes it is the international sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program that has led to the bad times in the neighboring country.
Western countries led by the U.S. has tightened sanctions against Iran because they fear the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons, something Tehran denies. -The sanctions have weakened their economy strong, and we also note, says Mohammed.
Three times as expensive
The Iranian Rials has fallen against the dollar in the past year, but the decline has been particularly sharp in the last month. This has made it three times more expensive for the Iranians to go on pilgrimage to Iraq, compared with the price level of a year ago.
-Everything has become more expensive because of the problems we face, says Nakhi Morteza from Tehran, who is leading a pilgrimage group outside Kazimiyah Shrine in Baghdad.
For Iraqi travel operators currency crisis leads to layoffs. The head of one of the largest travel companies in Najaf said he probably should say up half of the approximately 75 employees. The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that he has about five million U.S. dollars outstanding in Iran, and that he now only require payment in dollars. -For a businessman in Iraq, it is suicidal to operate with such an unstable currency rials, he stressed. Many Iraqi moneychangers have begun to decline rials for the same reason.
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