Baku, Azerbaijan, April 10
By Gazenfer Hamidov – Trend:
Iran’s Central Bank has issued a decree in line with the new policies on unifying the country’s official and open market exchange rates.
According to a statement released by the CBI on April 10, Iranian citizens are not permitted to hold more than 10,000 euros in foreign currency.
“In accordance with the instructions issued by the central bank on April 10, the maximum amount of foreign currency that can be kept by any person, is 10,000 euros or its equivalent in other currencies, and if the legal entities discover amounts exceeding the ceiling, the offender will be treated in accordance with the laws,” according to the statement.
The CBI has also set April 20 as deadline for citizens to sell their foreign currency, exceeding the legal ceiling to banks or deposit it in countries’ banks.
The statement says that the foreign currency deposits will receive interest according to the CBI regulations.
Iranian government unified the country’s official and open market exchange rates at 42,000 rials per each USD from April 10.
The decision was made following recent fluctuations in the country as the national currency, the rial, declined to an all-time low and fell to 6,460 by April 9 on the unregulated currency market.
Psychological behavior, growth in demand, getting assets out of the country, political and diplomatic tensions, as well as security concerns and risk of military confrontation, are believed to be among the main reasons behind the sharp plunge of the value of Iran’s national currency.
Back in February, the US dollar for the first time breached 50,000 Iranian rials when police in collaboration with the Central Bank of Iran arrested at least 90 currency traders, whom it blamed for deliberately driving the devaluation in order to profit from it.