Part 5 of 9
Where to exchange money in Basra: the Jazair Street cluster and the port city’s dollar
Basra has the second-largest number of licensed exchange companies in Iraq, and most of the ones a visitor will use stand within two hundred metres of each other on Jazair Street.
Read the one before this?
Where to exchange money in Najaf: Exchange Street, Rawan Street and the companies headquartered in the city
Basra is Iraq’s port and its oil capital, and the Central Bank’s register counts 77 licensed exchange companies in the governorate, second only to Baghdad. Most of them serve the trade around the port and the oil companies rather than the street. For someone who simply needs to change dollars, the useful part of the market is far smaller and easier to find: a cluster on Jazair Street where the exchangers stand within two hundred metres of one another.
Jazair Street
Jazair Street is Basra’s commercial spine, and the block opposite Chanchal Mall is where the exchangers gather. Dollar1,597— Exchange Co. is here. Al-Rayan, the seven-city network run from Najaf, had its Basra branch on this block too; the company’s own list now marks it closed, and its open Basra branch is in Al-Zubair Mall, south of the city. A third office in the same run, Afaq Al-Fares, is on the map but its published phone number could not be confirmed, so DinarView does not list it; the two that answer the phone are in the table below.
Because the offices see one another’s customers walk past, the Jazair Street price is tight. A visitor who checks two counters and takes the better one has done all the comparison the street allows.
Tuwaisa and the chains
The Baghdad chains keep their Basra branches outside the cluster. Al-Qand is in Tuwaisa, reachable on the short number 7525 from any Iraqi mobile, and sells travel dollars at the official rate under the Central Bank’s conditions. Al-Fanjan keeps two Basra branches and answers on its national number. Al-Taif, whose Baghdad board DinarView reads, has a Basra branch too, without a published street address yet, so it is not on the Basra page until one is confirmed.
The offices DinarView lists
| Company | Where | Board online | Phone | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Rayan, Zubair branch | Al-Zubair Mall, ground floor, Rashidiya | No dollar rate published | +964 780 093 2932 | 09:00–22:00 |
| Dollar Exchange Co. | Jazair Street | No | — | Daily |
| Al-Qand, Basra branch | Tuwaisa | No | 7525 | Saturday–Thursday 09:00–21:00 |
| Al-Fanjan, Basra branch | Two branches | No | +964 780 900 0072 | Daily |
All four, with maps, are on the Basra page. None has a readable board, so the page shows no number and says so.
How Basra quotes
Dinars per $100, buy and sell, for new-series notes. Basra’s dollar follows Baghdad’s within the hour; the same chains trade in both cities and the distance is covered by a phone call. The counter spread on Jazair Street is 250 to 500 dinars per $100, the same range as Karrada.
Two things set Basra apart. The first is the Kuwaiti dinar3.24−0.15%, which changes hands here more than anywhere else in Iraq because of the border and the trade through it; the street quotes it against the dollar, and a good Kuwaiti dinar price is worth asking for. The second is the port economy: much of the city’s currency business is invoices and transfers in amounts no counter handles, and that trade runs through the companies’ back offices rather than Jazair Street. The retail price on the street is not affected by it on an ordinary day.
Before you go
- Check Baghdad’s board first. Al-Taif’s Baghdad board is on DinarView’s rate board every ten minutes. Basra’s counters will be within a few hundred dinars per $100 of it; if a quote is far off, walk to the next door.
- Kuwaiti dinar and Iranian toman. Both trade on Jazair Street. Toman is quoted per 100,000 or per million and moves quickly; ask for the number twice.
- Official-rate dollars. Al-Qand in Tuwaisa sells travel dollars at the Central Bank’s 1,310 with a passport and ticket, within the current cap. Ask what documents are needed before you go.
- Friday. Al-Rayan and Al-Qand close. Al-Fanjan and the Jazair Street counters open for part of the day; call first.
What would give Basra its own number
Basra’s figure on DinarView will be a real Basra figure the day one company in the city publishes a board the site can read. Al-Rayan’s public site does not carry a dollar rate yet, so the first Basra board will have to come from one of the Jazair Street companies or from Al-Qand. Until then, the Basra page lists the offices and their phones and shows no number, because a Baghdad figure under a Basra heading would be read as Basra’s price whatever the caption said.
A worked example: Kuwaiti dinars to Iraqi dinars
A Basra trader back from Kuwait with 500 Kuwaiti dinars walks into a Jazair Street office. The counter quotes the Kuwaiti dinar against the dollar first: at the rates on the day this guide was written, one Kuwaiti dinar bought about $3.24, so the 500 are worth roughly $1,620. The second leg is the dollar’s dinar price, near 154,600 per $100 on the buy side, which turns the $1,620 into about 2.5 million Iraqi dinars. The office takes its margin on each leg, typically 100 to 200 dinars per $100 of value on the cross, so the trader who asks for the all-in dinar figure and compares it with DinarView’s Kuwaiti dinar row knows within a percent whether the quote is fair. The same two steps apply to riyals, dirhams and euros; only the first leg changes.
Why the register says 77 and the street says four
The Central Bank licenses 77 exchange and transfer companies in Basra governorate, and DinarView lists four. The gap is not carelessness. Most of the 77 are transfer houses serving the port and the oil contractors, with an office upstairs and no counter, and a visitor would find nothing to buy there. Others are on the register with an address the census could not confirm, or a phone that rings out. The four listed are the ones with a confirmed street address and a number that answers. As each of the others is checked, it is added; the register is the map, and the directory is what has been walked.
Questions readers ask
Is the dollar cheaper in Basra than in Baghdad? No. The two cities quote within a few hundred dinars per $100 of each other, and the difference changes sign from day to day.
Where do I change Kuwaiti dinars? On Jazair Street; every counter there handles them. The price is quoted against the dollar first, so ask for both legs.
Can I change money at the port or the airport? The airport has counters at a worse rate; the port has none for the public. Jazair Street is a short taxi ride from either.
Does Basra have a currency souq like Sulaymaniyah’s? Not in the same form. Basra’s market is companies on a street, not dealers at tables, which is why the price is more uniform and the hours are longer.