Washington, Apr 16: With no government in Baghdad and the old currency not worth the paper on which it is printed, the United States is airlifting Dollars from the New York Federal Reserve Bank to temporarily replace the Iraqi Dinar, a news agency reported. The Dollar becomes the De Facto currency of Iraq for now. As an initial step, it said, American officials charged with the reconstruction of the country will use small- denomination bills (notes) to make "emergency" payments to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civil servants in an effort to quiet civic unrest and to stabilize the chaotic Iraqi economy. The use of the Dollar as the currency of Iraq till a new government decides otherwise could prove controversial in the Arab world, said the paper, but it will give the Iraqis a currency that will retain its value despite the uncertainties about the country's reconstruction.
American officials are working with finance and postal ministry officials from Saddam Hussein's government to figure out appropriate wages. Setting wages too high would worsen inflation that is already running at about 70 per cent annually.

At first, said the paper, the Iraqi workers will be given USD 20 each (about 950 Indian Rupees) in USD one and USD five Dollar bills. That is a large sum in Iraq, where a mid-level oil professional with a chemical degree used to make the equivalent of USD 50 a month in central and southern Iraq.

Bureau Report