How the gold mithqal price is set in Iraq
Gold in Iraq is bought and sold by the mithqal, and the mithqal of the Iraqi gold market weighs 5 grams. Some websites use other weights for it, so their prices do not match the market.
The price is set every day on Baghdad’s wholesale market on Al-Nahr Street, and jewellers’ shops price from it. The wholesale price follows the world price at the market dollar: the ounce price ÷ 31.1035 × karat purity × the dollar rate × 5 grams. Today the wholesale price is very close to the world price at the market dollar.
That is why the mithqal moves with both the ounce and the dollar. Ten more dinars on the market dollar (1,000 dinars per 100 dollars) add about IQD 5,800 to a 21k mithqal even if the ounce does not move.
Gold prices in Baghdad: Gulf and Iraqi gold on the wholesale market
The Al-Nahr Street wholesale market quotes 21k in two grades, each with a selling and a buying price: “Gulf, Turkish and European” and “Iraqi”. Iraqi gold is usually about IQD 30,000 a mithqal cheaper, and no official explanation for the gap has been published.
Today Gulf-grade gold sells at IQD 974,000 a mithqal and Iraqi-grade at IQD 944,000, a difference of IQD 30,000. Ask which grade a piece is before you buy, because the price differs between the two both when you buy and when you sell.
Jewellers’ shops sell at IQD 1,000 to 11,000 a mithqal above the wholesale price. Today shops price Gulf-grade 21k between IQD 975,000 and 985,000 a mithqal, and Iraqi-grade between IQD 945,000 and 955,000. The making charge comes on top, depending on the piece.
Erbil quotes 22k, 21k and 18k; today a mithqal there costs IQD 1,035,000 for 22k, IQD 990,000 for 21k and IQD 847,000 for 18k.
The official dollar and the market dollar: which one sets the gold price
Since 7 October 2026 the official dollar rate has been 1,520 dinars for the public, 1,510 for banks and 1,500 for the Central Bank of Iraq’s purchases, up from 1,320.
The gold market does not price at the official rate but at the market dollar of Baghdad’s Kifah and Harithiya exchanges, which is higher: IQD 1,683 today, or IQD 168,250 per 100 dollars, about 11% above the official rate.
At the official rate a 21k mithqal would come to about IQD 884,000, some IQD 90,000 below the real market price. A price worked out at the official dollar will not match what you find in the market.
On 7 October 2026, the day the official rate changed, the wholesale price rose from about IQD 930,000 to 978,000 a mithqal. A 21k mithqal had passed one million dinars for the first time in January 2026.
Making charge, selling and buying prices
Iraq has no VAT on gold. The final price of a piece is its weight in mithqals × the mithqal price, plus the making charge. Making charges differ from shop to shop and from piece to piece, so ask before the piece is weighed.
The selling price is what you pay a shop; the buying price is what the shop pays you. On Baghdad’s wholesale market today the gap is IQD 4,000 a mithqal for Gulf-grade gold.
When you sell a used piece, the shop pays for the gold by weight at its buying price; the making charge usually does not come back.
Before you buy gold in Iraq
- Check today’s mithqal price for your karat on this page before you walk in.
- Ask which grade the piece is, Gulf (with Turkish and European) or Iraqi, since each has its own price.
- Ask for the weight in grams and divide it by 5 to get the number of mithqals.
- Ask for the making charge before the piece is weighed, and compare shops.
- Ask for an invoice with the weight, karat, mithqal price and making charge.
How this page calculates prices
We take the Baghdad wholesale prices for both grades, the shop and Erbil prices and the market dollar from Baghdad’s daily market report, and publish them as reported. The 24k, 22k and 18k prices in the karat table are computed from the world price at the same ratio as Gulf-grade 21k, because the Baghdad report does not include them.
The world price in the table uses the market dollar, not the official rate. The chart is in US dollars because the market dollar has no reliable daily history. If today’s report is not out yet, we show an estimate from the world price and label it as an estimate.