SITREP 2: OPERATIONS RESUME AT THE CENTRAL BANK OF

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 000278 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2018 TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN SUBJECT: SITREP 2: OPERATIONS RESUME AT THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRAQ POST-FIRE Classified By: Economic Counselor Todd Schwartz ¶1. (SBU) The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has resumed operations following the January 28 fire by moving a skeleton staff to two separate buildings within the CBI complex, and the staff has already reconstituted its data center in a new building. The core banking system has been made operational with the Iraqi Commercial Banking System (ICBS) recovered from a disc drive. The CBI executed 18 transactions on January 29 through parts of its electronic funds transfer (EFT) system. The Swift system--needed to execute transactions with banks outside of Iraq--is fully operational. ¶2. (SBU) On January 30 Treasury Attache inspected both the main USD and Iraqi dinar vaults, and found no evidence of an attempted break-in. Water seepage into the vaults was minimal and no currency was spoiled. Monetary operations have proceeded uninterrupted, with a CBI Director General confirming to a Task Force for Business Stability Operations technical consultant two foreign currency actions have been held since the fire, with 129 USD million sold on January 29 and 121 USD million sold on January 30. These amounts are not uncharacteristic of the rates of sales over this month. A Ministry of Finance (MoF) Treasury Bill auction scheduled for today did not take place because the MoF elected to postpone it. The CBI is positioned to receive two Iraqi dinar currency shipments from London later this week, and a badly needed currency shipment was successfully made to Diyala province on January 28 ¶3. (SBU) TREASaTT plans to address the coordination of technical assistance to the CBI during his weekly Thursday Budget Execution Meeting held in Embassy. Econoff also has received confirmation the CBI is working closely with the IMF to minimize the impact of the fire on meeting its Standby Arrangement. ¶4. (S) The Ministry of Interior (MoI) investigation into the causes of the fire is proceeding, and MoI officials plan an announcement by the weekend. Both the FBI and ATF are assisting their efforts. BUTENIS