BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 2
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Foreign currency supplying in Iran increased by 56 percent, during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2021 through February 19, 2022), compared to the same period last Iranian year, head of the public relations department of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Mostafa Ghamari Vafa wrote on his Twitter page, Trend reports.
According to Ghamari Vafa, more than $50 billion worth of various foreign currencies were supplied in 11 months.
Reportedly, Iran provides foreign currency for the import of essential products, medicines, medical supplies and equipment and raw materials.
“In addition, the exporters have sold $26.3 billion worth of various foreign currencies to Iranian banks under the NIMA rate (the exchange rate created for exporters to sell a portion of their export earnings to banks) for the reporting period. This is an increase of 66 percent, compared to the same period last Iranian year,” the official said.
Ghamari Vafa also noted that $1.62 billion worth of foreign currency was traded in the organized foreign exchange market in 11 months, which is an increase of 207 percent, compared to the same period last Iranian year.
The official added that Iran's foreign trade turnover for 11 months increased by 38 percent, compared to the same period last Iranian year. Within 11 months, the value of the country's trade turnover amounted to $90 billion.
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 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 several products at this rate.
The Central Bank of Iran has not imposed 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.
NIMA is a system intended for the sale of a certain percentage of the foreign currency gained from export. The price of 1 euro in this system is currently 268,386 rials, and the price of $1 is 241,743 rials.
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