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Iran rejects FATF, seeks ways to evade sanctions amid COVID-19 spread

Business Materials 31 March 2020 14:26 (UTC +04:00)
Iran rejects FATF, seeks ways to evade sanctions amid COVID-19 spread

TEHRAN,Iran, March.31

Trend:

Iran will be deprived from international banking capacities since the related Financial Action Task Force (FATF) bills did not pass, therefore the country should focus on industries that are not under sanctions, said the advisor to Iranian president, Akbar Torkan, Trend reports via ILNA.

"Rejecting the FATF related bills was a mistake and without solving the issue we can not interact with international banks," said Torkan.

"We should seek ways to evade sanctions," he added. ""The sanctions will continue in the new Iranian year (started March 20,2020) therefore we should plan things out. Creating jobs under sanctions is the main task, so we should find areas that are least affected by sanctions," he said.

The global anti money laundering watchdog, FATF, placed Iran on its blacklist after the country failed to comply with international anti-terrorism financing norm.

The increase of sanctions in the last Iranian year (started March 21,2019) caused economic problems for Iran, and there are concerns the problems will continue to pile up next year.

Aside from sanctions, Iran is battling the coronavirus spread. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 41,400 people have been infected, 2,757 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 13,900 have reportedly recovered from the disease.

The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.

The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

“The Ministry of Economy has designed a comprehensive package to compensate for the loss of all types of businesses damaged by the coronavirus, including banking facilities, tax reduction, social security insurance, bank loans,” head of Iran National Center for Monitoring and Improving the Business Environment Ali Firouzi said.

“Alongside this package, the National Center for Monitoring and Improving the business environment has also prepared measures for a specific group of businesses in the post-coronavirus era,” said Firouzi.

"I believe the coronavirus, with all its disadvantages, had positive effects on the Iranian business environment,” he said. “We were all eager to strengthen and deepen the e-government and to eliminate the physical presence of people and clients in the offices.”

"We are developing an action plan to support businesses that we have been negotiating with the private sector to formulate their demands," said Firouzi.

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