BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 30
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The rules for the returning of foreign currency that earned from exports to the country's economy must be the same for everyone, member of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), Kaveh Zargaran told Trend.
According to Zargaran, because these rules are not applied to an exporter who exports $300,000 worth of goods a year, could lead to other problems.
He added that if these rules are not the same, exporters who export products of great value will be able to distribute their products among small companies. This may prevent them from returning the currency earned from exports to the country.
The member stressed that for this, the government must reconsider the rules of the returning of foreign currency earned from exports.
"In some cases, there is a big difference in Iranian customs, between the price set for the export of the product and the market price. In this case, the government can wait for the difference to be paid," he said.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has created a NIMA system in 2018 for exporters to sell a portion of their export earnings to banks in order to eliminate the shortage of foreign currency in the country for various reasons (sanctions, economic situation, etc.). In this system, exporters who earned more than 1 million euros from export a year must sell a portion of their export earnings to banks at the NIMA rate. Later, banks used to sell foreign currency to importers for the import of a number of products at this rate.
The Central Bank of Iran has not imposed the rules on exporters that earned from export less than 1 million euros a year.
Those with total exports of one to three million euros per year are required to offer 50 percent of their received foreign exchange from the government through the NIMA system.
The exporters with annual exports of three to 10 million euros are obliged to offer 70 percent.
Those with exports of above 10 million euros per year must offer 90 percent of the received foreign exchange at NIMA.
About 4.24 billion euros worth of funds were sold to Iranian banks at the NIMA exchange rate (the exchange rate created for exporters to sell a portion of their export earnings to banks) during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 20-July 21, 2020). This is a decrease of 28.3 percent compared to the same period last Iranian year.
About 531 million euros were sold to Iranian banks at the NIMA exchange rate in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 20-April 19), 1.23 billion euros in the second month (April 20-May 20), 1.08 billion in the third month (May 21-June 20), 1.44 billion euros in the fourth month (June 21-July 21).
In addition, 2.71 billion euros were sold to importers at the NIMA exchange rate for the import of a number of products during 4 months. This is a decrease of 49.8 percent compared to the same period last Iranian year.
About 414 million euros were sold to importers at the NIMA exchange rate in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 20-April 19), 763 million euros in the second month (April 20-May 20), 618 million euros in the third month (May 21-June 20), 916 million euros in the fourth month (June 21-July 21).