Azerbaijan, Baku, July 16/Trend M. Moezzi
Although the deputy director of the Trade Promotion Organisation of Iran (TPO) announced yesterday that five groups of goods will be eligible for the officially set currency exchange rate and another five will get currency from exports, Iran's Central Bank has been silent over the issue.
Until now, the Central Bank's chief had insisted there would only be one official exchange rate as the tabnak.ir website reports.
However creating 10 categories of goods eligible for the official exchange rate effectively makes it a two-tier exchange rate system. While the Central Bank has set the country's official exchange rate at 12,260 rials to the dollar, the currency has been selling for around 20,000 rials in Iran's unofficial markets.
Goods that are not in one of the priority categories will have to use foreign currency from exports.
Asadolah Asgaroladi, the deputy head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce told Tabnak that the circular issued by the Central Bank only provides the cheaper, official currency rate to those goods on its priority list. It's less likely, said Mr. Asgaroladi, that third, fourth and fifth priority items like raw materials and machinery will get the official rate currency.
It's not clear why the circular was issued when there's no shortage of foreign currency in Iran, said the commerce official. Setting up a two- tiered system will only encourage inflation and smuggling.