Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Concerns over President Donald Trump’s possible decision on decertifying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal have apparently caused serious exchange rate fluctuation in the Iranian market.
The US dollar has hit a seven month record against Iran’s national currency surpassing 40,000 rials in the country’s free market.
In the meantime, euro and pound have also gained against rial and the gold also keeps surging in the country.
On Oct. 10, the US dollar gained 2.19 percent to value at 40,055 rials with euro adding 2.13 percent to price at 47,213 rials and pound growing by 0.77 percent to post 52,891 rials, compared to last Tuesday.
This is while the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has put the official rate of US dollar at 34,117. The CBI has also put the official value of euro at 40,148 and pound at 44,902.
Many suggest that the recent interest rate cuts in Iran, the uncertainties over the future of the Iran nuclear deal and President Trump’s possible plan to decertify Tehran’s compliance with nuclear accord as well as a recent referendum on independence in northern Iraq are among the main reasons behind the devaluation of the Iranian currency.
Over the past two months, CBI has urged for reducing the interest rates in the country which encouraged a large group of depositors to transfer their assets to the currency market due to its high return compared to parallel markets.
A group of commentators also suggests that money exchangers based in northern Iraq have intensified efforts to gain US dollar from the Iranian market following the recent referendum there.
However, it appears that psychological factors ahead of President Trump’s mid-October report to the US Congress on Iran nuclear deal have also played a significant role in the recent hike in the value of the greenback against rial.
This is while the critics of President Hassan Rouhani accuse his government of taking measures which could lead to the further devaluation of the national currency.
The government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht earlier said the administration would protect the value of national currency.