jihadi dollars
© twitter.comDaesh Dollar Days
While a growing number of countries around the world are actively looking to ditch the dollar for mutual trade, due to its precarious financial condition one very unexpected group is now insisting on dollar only payments, according to a report by AP.

The jihadist militant group seems to be experiencing grave financial difficulties: it is having trouble meeting its expenses due to Russian airstrikes ruining its oil infrastructure and low oil prices, forcing the group to cut salaries in half and start accepting only US dollars for payments, according to AP report.

The long-cherished dream of Daesh to have its own gold, silver and copper-backed currency seems to be forgotten thing of the past. The Islamist group is apparently suffering from a shortage of cash, the agency reports citing some residents escaping from Raqqa, the group's stronghold in Syria.

It has reportedly cut salaries by half across its self-declared caliphate and has urged the residents of Raqqa to pay for "taxes" and utility fees, such as water and electricity, in black-market American dollars. Reports also suggest that the militants are now releasing detainees for a cut-rate price of $500 each. There are shortages of necessities, electricity is rationed and prices for basic commodities are spiraling out of reach.

The cause of this state of affairs are the overwhelmingly successful airstrikes undertaken by Russian forces, and the ground operations of the Syrian government troops which have considerably damaged its oil infrastructure. Combined with the dramatic drop in global prices for oil, once a key source of income, the Daesh financial system now appears to be on its last legs.

ISIS gold
© sputniknews.comAll that glitters...
Interestingly enough, not long ago the group claimed that it would soon start minting its own currency, the golden dinar, as a means of exchange, in an effort to solidify control over areas where it had proclaimed a "caliphate." The designs which were to be embossed on the gold coins included a symbol of seven wheat stalks — a Quranic reference — and a world map.


Comment: If it ever is produced, it is subject to immediate confiscation by legit governments and international institutions.


The prototype design was also inscribed with a message in Arabic reading "The Islamic State — A caliphate based on the doctrine of the Prophet." Thankfully the dream now seems to be forgotten.