BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 15
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
The project on denomination of the national currency in Iran will not be approved soon, a member of Iranian parliament Masoumeh Aghapour Alishahi told Trend.
According to Alishahi, the Iranian government's project on currency denomination is not on the main agenda of the parliamentary Economic Committee.
Alishahi added that with the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, the parliament of the 10th convocation will not have time to investigate the project on currency denomination and the bill is expected to be considered by the parliament of the 11th convocation.
"Given the US sanctions against Iran and the spread of the coronavirus, it is not advisable to handle this right now. It will cause inflation in the country and create additional costs for banks and the printing of money," he said.
The member of Iranian parliament said that at present, the Iranian parliament is considering more important projects: value added taxes, creation of a free trade zone at Dogharoun county of Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran.
As for the denomination plan, Iran's Central Bank of Iran has studied the experience of different countries and prepared a draft bill on the removal of four zeros from the national currency and this draft bill was approved by the Iranian Cabinet of Ministers on Jan. 5, 2019.
The Iranian government approved the draft bill submitted by Central Bank of Iran, which proposed to remove four zeros from the national currency and change the currency from rial to toman (to be equal to the current 10,000 rials). The decision was also approved by the parliament.