There is an old Arabic saying that "gold is both for decoration and storing." Currently, Iraqis, particularly residents of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, are taking these words to heart. In the absence of a trustworthy banking system, they are converting their money into gold and stashing it in their homes. The Department of Standards and Quality Control for Gold and Minerals in the Kurdistan Region acknowledges that, indeed, large quantities of gold are being imported and distributed.
Bakr Aziz, the director of quality control for gold in the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Planning, revealed to Al-Monitor, "During the past six months, 49.4 [metric] tons of gold have been imported into Iraq through the Erbil and Sulaimaniyah airports." By comparison, according to Aziz, during the first seven months of 2012, some 34 tons of gold were imported.
