The Ledger
What the Central Bank refused
From January 2013 to February 2015 the Central Bank's committee turned down $24.6 billion of the banks' requests for dollars, 27% of what they asked for in 2013. The committee wrote down the reason for each refusal in its daily minutes. This page shows those reasons as they were written.
Year by year
| Year | Banks asked for | Committee refused | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | $270.2 million | $0.2 million | 0% |
| 2013 | $64.58 billion | $17.70 billion | 27% |
| 2014 | $40.94 billion | $5.97 billion | 15% |
| 2015(January to February) | $2.19 billion | $889.6 million | 41% |
Source: The Central Bank committee's daily minutes; rows that pass the arithmetic checks onlyTier A
The reasons the committee wrote down
A single refusal can carry more than one reason, so the amounts here add up to more than the total refused. 9.9% of the reasons cannot be read in the surviving scans.
- Held back for audit$8.08 billion
- Other reasons$5.33 billion
- Missing or faulty documents$3.46 billion
- No reason given, or unreadable$2.83 billion
- Penalty on, or suspension of, the bank$2.58 billion
- Bank's funds did not cover the request$1.66 billion
- The same customer at more than one bank$1.55 billion
- Withdrawn at the bank's request$1.27 billion
- Customer in breach of anti-money-laundering rules$1.06 billion
- Problem with the import licence$880.4 million
- Names or details do not match$849.5 million
- Company's activity does not match the goods$345 million
- Bank below the capital requirement$335.2 million
- The bank's whole request excluded$328.7 million
- Old or invalid invoice$322.6 million
- Timing or procedure$312.9 million
- Duplicate or reused invoice$200.1 million
- Ministry of Trade letter$59.6 million
- Licence issued in the Kurdistan Region$28.9 million
Every refusal, as written
Largest first. Company names are given as the committee wrote them. They are not accusations.
2 rows
| Date | Bank | Refused | Of a request for | Reason | The committee's words |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| undated | MEAB Bank SAL | $2.8 million | $2.8 million | Held back for audit | 2,800,000 الاغراض تدقيقية |
| undated | MEAB Bank SAL | $2.8 million | $2.8 million | Missing or faulty documents | لمخالفة تعليمات 288 لعدم وجود طلب الشراء |
Download:refusals.csv.xlsx
Company names in the Central Bank's notes are shown as the bank wrote them. They are not accusations. If a bank appears on this page, it means only that the committee refused part of its request on that day.