subject: Will Iraqi Currency Revalue? (opinion) [print this page] For more than 10 years, the great debate about Iraqi dinar revaluation, whether it will revalue someday or not, has never ceased. There are plenty of arguments and these arguments even created two groups: Positive speculators and Negative individuals. So, where do you belong?
Why do negative individuals exist?
First of all, we cannot get rid of negative people who always have negative impressions on everything. I mean, by human nature, people are naturally negative especially when they have not yet seen it with their own eyes. Human nature is susceptible to an attitude we commonly call as, "to see is to believe" attitude.
Second, Iraqi dinar, though traded internationally, is not yet registered or considered by the world bank as an internationally exchanged currency. If we try to check the list of all currencies which are officially registered or considered in the foreign exchange market, we will not see Iraq money on the list. The United Nation and the World Bank Organization has not yet accepted or confirmed the currency as exposed in the vast foreign exchange market (though the Iraqi Government is continually pursuing to register its currency to be a part of the worldly renowned and exposed currency with the help of UN).
Third, the country has just experienced better peace and order situation in the premises from the war it had with the US led invasion and the Gulf War. In other words, the country is still on the verge of recovering or healing from its wounds. Individuals would normally assess that it would take more than 30 years for Iraq to fully recover from the scars and wounds.
Positive speculators rebut
We will take an illustration from Japan and Qatar. During the WWII or popularly known as the Pacific War, Japan greatly lost resources and lives. Although they had the confidence and patriotism, their conviction brought them to defeat. Lost and empty, the rest of the world thought that Japan would no longer recover (not including the lost they had with the Hiroshima Nagasaki Atomic Bomb incident). People thought that the country will lose its pride and will no longer recover. What the people considered at that time was the defeat of Japan and the scarcity of their resources (given that Japan is geographically smaller compared to Iraq). However, where is Japan today? Japan is one of the most powerful countries (smallest indeed) that dominated most of the high-tech ends of the modern world.
Another illustration that has kept positive speculators on the hype is Qatar. 32 years ago, anyone would hardly notice or know about Qatar. Why? This country was very poor and its currency was not even exposed compared to Iraq money today. During 1913 to 1971, Qatar was under the British rule. However, look at Qatar now? The considered poor people there even got at least 7 rooms in their homes.
Bottom line
I do not wish to present some facts about Iraq development that are happening today because I am sure, negative people always have their backup files to rebut. What I am trying to say is that, Iraq has all the resources that it needs, the support that it requires and the drive that it has to take. Being the second largest oil producer noted by OPEC just last August 13, 2012, Iraq is sure to hit new heights. If Japan was able to build its empire amidst the scarcity of resources then why cannot Iraq? If Qatar was able to build a name for itself amidst its geographical location, how much more for the once was called the great Babylon?
