SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s central bank foreign currency reserves rose to $96 billion, the country’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, said in remarks carried by the state news agency on Monday.

The government has asked the central bank to take urgent steps to compensate for a dollar shortage in local markets, Sudani added.

In early December,  Ihsan al-Yaseri, Iraq’s Central Bank advisor said “The financial reserves (of foreign currency) in the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB), for the first time in history have surpassed such a massive number.”

“This is the sign of the Iraqi economic revival despite the increasing of the Iraqi currency value,” he added.

Iraq’s economy heavily relies on crude oil exports, which account for more than 90 per cent of the country’s revenues.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased thanks to the rise in oil prices in the global markets since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, benefiting Iraq as an oil exporter country, according to al-Yaseri in September.