Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Governor of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif has denied that the recent surge in the rate of foreign currencies against the national currency, rial, is linked to the government policies on the unification of the currency rates in the country.
He added that Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has taken measures aimed at tackling the surging currency rates, adding that the prices will drop in the coming days, the state-run news channel IRINN reported.
The CBI since 2012 has repeatedly said it is going to eliminate the multi-tier exchange rate in the country but it has achieved no obvious results, so far.
In the meantime, government Spokesperson Mohammadbaqer Nowbakht has said that the administration is against any decision on increasing the value of foreign currencies.
Elaborating on the government’s policy to deal with the skyrocketing foreign currency rates, he added that the surge in the rates would push up the inflation rate in the country which is not in the interest of the administration.
The rate of the greenback in the Iranian free market surged by 21.33 percent over the current fiscal year (starting March 20) to stand at 45,436 on Tuesday.
The gap between the official and free market rates of the US dollar against the Iranian rial on January 23 was about 23.8 percent.
The Statistics Center of Iran has announced that the inflation rate in urban areas for a 12-month period ending in the tenth Iranian calendar month of Day (ended on Jan. 21) stood at 8.1 percent, 0.3 percent more compared to the preceding month.