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By Martin Asser
BBC News Online
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The regime may have gone, the statues and other
paraphernalia of Saddam Hussein's rule may lie in ruins, but there is
an ever-present reminder for Iraqis of their former dictator - printed
on the bundles of near-worthless banknotes.
The Iraqi dinar - which in its heyday could fetch more
than two pounds sterling but which plummeted in value during years of
war and economic embargo - now comes primarily in 250 dinar notes each
worth about $0.12.
Iraqi dinars come in blocks, rarely in single notes
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The large pink-and-green notes are printed on
poor-quality paper, easily torn and often frayed at the edges, bearing
a portrait of a benevolent-looking Saddam Hussein in a business suit
and stripy tie.
A smaller, better-quality 250 dinar note was introduced
in 2002, with an identical portrait of Saddam on one side and a picture
of Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock on the other.
The appearance of the holy Muslim shrine and symbol of
Palestinian struggle was clearly a way of asserting the regime's
Islamic and Arab credentials (though the message is rather spoilt by
the English caption - "Rock Dome" - on the left-hand side).
But it is the larger note, with its more secular
appearance (a hydro-electric dam and a Baath party monument in Baghdad)
that still predominates.
Devalued money
Clearly such a strong affirmation of the defunct regime
cannot be expected to last long into the post-Saddam era, but Iraq's
American conquerors have not yet unveiled plans to overhaul the
currency.
It may be that in time the US dollar becomes the de
facto currency - though that is hardly a good advertisement for
Washington's professed intention to hand Iraq back to the Iraqis having
liberated the country from a tyrannical government.
So Iraqis are left to manage with their horribly
inflation-stricken money, wondering when it will finally lose its value
altogether.
The lucky ones receive hard currency (invariably dollar
bills) sent by relatives from among the millions of Iraqis living
outside the country.
These bills they exchange at open-air bureaux de change,
operating from the bonnets of cars and makeshift tables and chairs -
the black market being the only market in these days of chaos and
anarchy.
Exchange rates soured to about 4,000 dinars to the
dollar during the war, though they have stabilised at about 2,000 in
the post-war period.
Meagre wages
The unlucky Iraqis are those who have no way of getting
their hands on a supply of dollars, either because they have no way of
contacting those on the outside in these troubled times, or because
there is no one to send cash.
Civil servants and those who received government pensions are the worst off.
Black market money exchange is the only kind
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Inflation has rendered salaries almost absurdly small. I
met a teacher whose official monthly income was 3,500 dinars (unpaid
since the fall of the regime of course).
That was about the same amount that I had just paid for
lunch at a fast-food restaurant just around the corner from her house
in the Mansour area of Baghdad.
"The only way teachers can survive is by taking on
private lessons, which naturally means they have little time or energy
to do their proper jobs teaching pupils at school," the teacher said.
I also met a former soldier who told me with a wry smile that his army pension was a measly 600 dinars a month.
"We're living off our savings at the moment," he said.
"But when our money runs there'll be blood running in the streets, I
warn you."
Cash conundrum
Perhaps the most bewildering fact about Iraq's
foundering currency concerns the only other note in circulation, the
10,000 dinar note.
The 10,000 dinar note is only worth 8,000
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This recently-introduced bill is what higher-salaried government employees had been paid in before the fall of the regime.
"Most shops won't accept 10,000 dinar notes for small
items," said a man out shopping in Karada, southern Baghdad - until
recently a soldier on a salary of 50,000 dinars a month.
"But the money-changers will only give
you 8,000 dinars in 250 dinar notes for them, because they say they're
difficult to get rid of," he said. "It's just another way in which
we're losing out."
Something has certainly got to be done about the Iraqi
currency - but with so many other problems to deal with in this
shattered country, Saddam's face may be beaming out at shoppers and
wage-earners for some time to come.
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We're living off our savings at the moment But when our money runs there'll be blood running in the streets, I warn you
