TEHRAN, Iran, July 17
Trend:
Iranian exporters are encountering problems with bringing back their foreign currency revenues, Deputy at Monetary and Banking Research Institute Kamran Naderi told Trend.
"It's certain that non-oil exporters would face problems in returning foreign currency, since Iran is not a member of Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The president has stated that Iran's non-oil export was worth some €20 billion, so how come exporters could not return this amount of revenues," he said.
"There are claims that the exporters are abusing the situation and delay bringing back foreign currency revenues, waiting for the local prices to increase. So why hasn't this happened last year (began March 21, 2019)? They're facing problems just now," said Naderi.
"If these individuals are opportunists, as some claim, then it should also be mentioned what caused all this - the policy related to FATF," he said. "It led to more pressure being applied on Iran, and the whole topic isn't being discussed."
"Iranian exporters receive money from their customers to their accounts in destination countries, but they are not able to transfer the money because of international regulations related to the FATF," Naderi said.
"So, it isn't right, for example, to blame South Korea for following international regulations and cutting bank relations with Iran, since it is on the FATF black list. These are international regulations," he said.
Naderi added that the decisions made in Iran, domestically, have led to intensification of economic problems.
The World watchdog for Money Laundering blacklisted Iran after it failed to comply with FATF standards. One of the consequences is that the country's foreign currency earnings and access to foreign currency resources has become more difficult.