American Banks Convert Iraqi Dinars

BSP currency exchange facility benefits 1575 OFWs from Libya

MANILA, Philippines - The currency exchange facility benefitted a total of 1,575 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were hurriedly repatriated from the strife-torn Libya, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement that 1,575 OFWs who were evacuated from Libya due to the political conflict exchanged P12.31 million worth of Libyan dinar under the currency exchange facility that was made available last March.

Tetangco said the facility that would be terminated starting today allowed OFWs from Libya to exchange their Libyan dinars up to a maximum of P10,000 each at the BSP’s head office, BSP branches in the regions, and with authorized agent banks.

OFWs were required to present documentary proof of their travel from Libya such as passport or valid travel papers issued and signed by the Philippine embassy and stamped with the date of arrival in the Philippines. They were given seven banking days from date of their arrival or from the date of the issuance of the BSP memorandum to all banks on the implementation of the facility.

“The BSP Cash Department, its regional offices or branches, and authorized agent banks shall no longer accept Libyan dinars for conversion to pesos effective July 1,” he stressed.

Prior to the launch of the Libyan dinar currency exchange facility, the local currency in the war-torn country led by the former strongman Moammar Gadhafi was not convertible to Philippine pesos.

The BSP introduced the facility last March as part of the efforts of the government to assist OFWs displaced by the conflict in Libya.

The central bank had previously established a currency exchange facility during similar emergency situations in the Middle East. The first was in the 1990s during the Kuwait-Iraq war, the second in 2003 in connection with the US-Iraq conflict, and the third in 2006 in connection with the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed that there are about 26,000 Filipinos in Libya wherein protests calling for the replacement of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi continue to mount. The government has earmarked P130 million for the repatriation of about 13,000 OFWs displaced by the conflict in Libya.

There are only 16 foreign currencies convertible with the BSP including the US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Australian dollar, Bahrain dinar, Kuwait dinar, Saudi Arabian rial, Brunei dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Thai baht, the United Arab Emirates’ dirham, the European Monetary Union’s euro, the Chinese yuan, and the Korean won.

American Contractor: Dr. Shabibi Meets Council of Ministry - Short ...

There has been some notable progress in Iraq this week. The single and only state run media, the Al-Iraqiya News channel, has been broadcasting highlights of the meetings of the Iraqi Government. In particular, the meetings of the Council of Ministries. In attendance and in charge is Prime Minister, Nuri Maliki and the rest of his inner council who listened to speeches and reports from various members of the Iraqi Government. Each member who attended the meeting gave his ministry or department a report that is then forwarded to the Ministry Council. The meetings agenda was to report to PM Maliki what they were going to accomplish for the Iraqi people. One individual who was summoned by the Council of Ministry to give a detailed report was Dr. Sinan Al-Shabibi, the Governor of the Central Bank. There was no advance notification for the Governor of the Central bank to report to the Council of Ministry. Dr. Shabibi learned of his requested presence from a sealed envelope delivered by an Iraqi Army Officer of the Elite Peshmerga. Dr. Shabibi received the envelope and was surprised of its contents summoning him to the Council of Ministries. The letter did not give a reason as to why he was being summoned only that his presence was required at 3:15 PM. Naturally, Dr Shabibi grabbed several various reports on different topics and also included the Re-denomination Revaluation Report of 2011. After being searched by PM Maliki body guards (the Peshmerga Soldiers) he entered the side entrance of the Council chambers. As the meeting began he was asked specifically by PM Maliki what his Central Bank was doing for the Iraqi people in the coming months. His actual time inside the Ministry meeting was very brief as Dr. Shabibi read from a prepared document that his research and economist section had written just for meetings like these. He steered away from mentioning anything about the Re-denomination and Revaluation report that he carried inside his leather brief case. Dr. Shabibi did not mention any rates of the currency or any of the remaining year currency projections. He kept it brief and did not reveal anything to anyone on that topic. The Council of Ministry members did not ask about that topic either as the agenda of the meeting was to only find out what the intentions were in terms of progress for the Iraqi people.

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