Tehran, Iran, July 1
Trend:
Iranian government continues to allocate official foreign currency rate of 42,000 rial per dollar to imports of basic goods, while many experts believe the foreign exchange policy has led to economic rents.
Iranian economist Vahid Shaghaghi discussed the issue of the official foreign currency in an interview with Trend.
"The government has not stopped allocating official foreign currency for imports of some basic goods, as it has decided to continue its foreign exchange policy to control the increase of prices," he said. "Although official foreign currency rate of 42,000 rial per dollar can prevent the increase of basic goods prices, it will also cause fraud and economic rents."
Head of Plan and Budget Organization Mohammad Bagher Nobakht has recently stated that the government does not intend to eliminate foreign exchange policy of allocating official foreign currency rate to import of basic goods. At the same time, it has been announced in late April that the allocation of official foreign currency to imports of meat, tea, butter and grain will be eliminated.
Ali Akbar Karimi, Deputy Head of Parliament Economic Committee commented on the issue saying the government is obligated by the budget law for current Iranian year (started March 21, 2019) to allocate up to $14 billion official foreign currency to imports of 25 basic goods, but in late April the officials decided not to give the currency rate of 42,000 rial to some basic goods.
"Reviewing the transparency of allocated official foreign currency to imports should be set on the agenda to unveil the corruption related to the issue. In this regard, we demand Ministry Intelligence to study it," said Vali Maleki, Member of the Parliament Mine and Industries Committee.
Iranian government's foreign exchange policy was aimed to manage and control the rise of foreign currency rate in the market. To this end, the Central Bank of Iran installed the Integrated System for Hard Currency Transactions (NIMA) for the return of exports foreign currency revenues. In the meantime, the government allocated official foreign currency of 42,000 rial per dollar to importers from this system to import basic goods with lower rate. However, the prices of basic goods in local market have raised despite this measure.