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Iranian rial regains lost ground against US dollar

Business Materials 2 October 2018 10:31 (UTC +04:00)

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 2

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The US dollar hit a record low against the Iranian rial on the unofficial market on Monday as the Central Bank of Iran takes new measures to control the foreign exchange market.

The dollar was traded on Monday noon for 180,000 rials in the open market, ISNA reported on October 2.

However, the USD was being offered for as much as 140,000 rials in Tehran and in some cities like Mashhad 80,000 rials on Monday evening.

A US dollar was worth 36,000 rials in mid-September.

A report by IRNA news agency said that an unexpected rush by individual owners of the US dollar had triggered the plunge.

A set of US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry is due to take effect in November. President Hassan Rouhani, in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, said the United States had waged “economic war” against Iran by reimposing unilateral sanctions.

The latest developments came after Iran on Saturday authorized the central bank to intervene in the foreign exchange market in defense of the rial.

A top government body, headed by Rouhani and the heads of parliament and the judiciary, “gave the central bank governor the necessary authority to intervene in the foreign exchange market and to manage it”, state TV said.

“The central bank will intervene in the foreign exchange market through banks and authorized exchange shops and carry out the necessary measures to control the exchange rate of hard currencies,” the television quoted the body as saying.

The central bank will “announce the rate of exchange in the foreign exchange market at an appropriate time,” the body added.

The official exchange rate is 42,000 rials per dollar and is used mostly for imports of state-subsidized basic goods such as food and medicine.

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