Tehran, Iran, May 1
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:
The Iranian minister of economic affairs and finance, Masoud Karbasian said the country plans to unify its annual deposit interest rate.
“(The Iranian) banks' interest rates were subject to fluctuations last year,” Karbasian said on May 1, Tasnim news agency reported.
Plans are underway to unify the rate in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21 to control the inflation rate, he added.
This comes after the Iranian government decided to unify official and open market exchange rates following the Rial's recent drop against the US dollar. The single rate of 42,000 rials was declared by the administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani after the rial lost a third of its value.
When President Rouhani assumed office in 2013, the rate was 36,000 rials per US dollar.
The CBI issued its latest directive last August setting a deadline for banks to reduce their deposit interest rates to 15 percent.
The CBI obliged the country’s banks and credit institutions to implement the directive as of September.
Under the directive, banks and credit institutions were obligated to adhere to long- and short-term deposit rates set respectively at 15 percent and 10 percent.
The government also said that the Money and Credit Council, the decision-making body of CBI, was eyeing further cuts of loan rates that currently stand at 18 percent.
However, the most of banks have apparently failed to implement the directives properly and they offered higher interest rates in order to draw funds.