BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraq Central Bank Saturday unveiled new bank notes bearing scenes from Iraqi life and history in place of the face of ousted president Saddam Hussein. It also announced it had begun conducting auctions to try to bring stability to the wildly fluctuating exchange rates of the currency, the dinar.
In the auctions, banks bid to buy dinars, setting an exchange rate that will remain in effect for at least several days, said the bank’s deputy governor, Ahmed Salman.
Six new bank notes will enter circulation beginning Oct. 15, ranging from 50 dinars, about 4 cents at current exchange rates, to 25,000 dinars, about $18. The images on them include lions from the ancient city of Babylon and the face of a 10th-century mathematician.
Two local currencies are in use in Iraq, one known as the Saddam dinar because the notes bear his likeness, the other the Swiss dinar because it was once printed in Switzerland. It circulates in the mostly Kurdish regions in the north. The U.S. dollar is also widely used.
A Saddam dinar will be worth one new Iraqi dinar, and a Swiss dinar will be worth 150 new Iraqi dinars.
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