Tehran, Iran, May 3
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The Central Bank of Iran's Vice President in Currency Affairs Qolamali Kamyab said that Iran has signed monetary agreements with three countries.
This comes after years when Iran was away from international fiscal cooperation.
According to Kamyab, the bilateral deals have been struck with Turkey, Iraq, and Russia, ISNA news agency reported May 3.
Kamyab led a delegation from the Central Bank of Iran to Russia last year. There they reached agreements with Russian counterparts to conduct monetary cooperation in various areas.
Although no details of the contracts have been revealed, the contracts are hoped to boost mutual trade between Iran and these countries as they would use local currencies instead of mediatory currencies such as the dollar, euro, etc.
The Islamic Republic recently launched ruble/rial trade with Russia. Gholam Reza Panahi, the deputy governor for currency affairs of Bank Melli of Iran (BMI) said on April 25 that a mechanism that enables Iranian exporters to transfer payments in rubles from their Russian clients to Iran through the Moscow-based Mir Business Bank has been established.
The Russian ruble has experienced a sharp fall since sanctions were put in place over the Ukraine crisis. Iran's rial however is more stable now, after President Hassan Rouhani took the office in August 2013, but still experiences fluctuations.
Mehdi Sepahvand is Trend Agency's journalist in Iran, follow him on Twitter: @mehdisepahvand