Measuring the Impact of Some Macroeconomic Variables on the Volume of Foreign Exchange Reserves in Iraq for the Period (2000 -2020)

Foreign exchange reserves are one of the variables that play an effective role in the national economy of any country. It is one of the tools used to achieve economic stability, whether by achieving balance in the balance of payments or controlling the exchange rate. Many countries have sought to form huge international reserves and properly control their quantities and maintain optimal levels of them, to keep the national economy away from external shocks and fulfill international obligations. Therefore, the research aims to measure the impact of some macroeconomic variables represented by (inflation rate, budget deficit, trade balance, money supply, exchange rate, external debt, gross domestic product) on the size of foreign exchange reserves in Iraq for the period (2000-2022). The research was based on the hypothesis that some macroeconomic variables have a significant impact on the size of foreign exchange reserves in Iraq. To demonstrate this, the standard method of the autoregressive deceleration model for lags (ARDL) was used. The research reached several conclusions, including the significance and consistency of the relationship for most of the independent variables included in the standard model, except the inflation variable, in addition to the high value of the coefficient of determination (R2) for the model, which reached 98%. In light of this, the research presented a set of proposals related to the research.