The Saudi Central Bank has announced the opening of two branches of two Iraqi banks in Riyadh, and confirmed the signing of an agreement with Iraq to prevent double taxation.
The bank also indicated the allocation of more than one billion Riyals ($270 million) to the Sports City.
The Director of the International Affairs Department at the Saudi Central Bank Hisham Al-Aqeel, told the local media that “the financial and banking committee of the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council was established to strengthen relations and enhance cooperation between Baghdad and Riyadh.”
The Iraq-Saudi Coordination Council consists of eight committees is headed on the Saudi side by the Minister of Commerce Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, and from the Iraqi side by the Minister of Finance Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi.
He noted that “the most prominent achievements of the Financial and Banking Committee are providing training programs for the bank.”
The Central Bank of Iraq, where the first training program for the employees of the Central Bank of Iraq was presented in 2019 with 6 training courses and the goal is to exchange experiences and benefit from Saudi experiences.
In 2021, the second training program for employees of the Central Bank of Iraq was started with 8 training programs.
He added, “Iraqi banks were licensed to open branches in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where two Iraqi banks were opened in Riyadh, namely the Iraqi Trade Bank and the National Bank of Iraq,”
He noted that “the signing of an agreement between the two sides to prevent and avoid double taxation, between the Saudi Finance Minister and the Iraqi Prime Minister during visit to the Kingdom.”
Also, he indicated that “visits were arranged from the Iraqi side to the Saudi Central Bank to enhance direct cooperation between the two central banks and to benefit from the experiences of the Saudi Central Bank from several topics and fields.”
A visit was conducted in October 2021 under the chairmanship of the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq and the participation of a number of heads of Iraqi commercial banks’ councils, Discussing offers and exchanging views in specific areas within the tasks of central banks.
This aims to strengthen and stabilize the strength of financial institutions, and discuss the latest developments in the financial sector and digital banks.
Al-Aqeel stated that “there are very large qualitative projects such as the Sports City, for which more than one billion Saudi riyals have been allocated, in addition to the electrical connection project and many development projects.”