Modern banking solutions could improve Iran's foreign transactions

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.12

Trend:

Modern banking solutions could help strengthen weaknesses in Iran's economic structure and improve foreign transactions, said former deputy head of foreign currency department in the Central Bank of Iran Minoo Kiani Rad, Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.

"About 70 percent of Iran's economic problems related to foreign transactions are structural," said Rad.

"The statistics from the last ten years show the trade volume of small businesses shrank and major part of country's oil export has declined," she said.

"Efforts were made by Iran to smooth foreign transactions, including the SEPAM electronic financial messaging system, a currency portal, foreign currency exchange center, monetary pact negotiations, interventions in the foreign exchange market, but after the sanctions, all this was put aside," she said.

Rad said Iran has suffered the most from the US dollar system in recent years, however 'the Central Bank of Iran is not using modern solutions to solve the issue'.

"Constant changes in regulations, lack of a trade map and consistent change in Iran's business partners, delay in decision making, and having insignificant regard toward financial trade with neighbor countries are the obstacles that affect the improvement of Iran's foreign trade situation," she said.

"Signing monetary pacts with big trading countries, conducting exchange through intermediaries, reducing reliance on USD, trading humanitarian items, using a single regional currency, using national crypto currency, pricing gas and oil based on trade currency and using SEPAM electronic financial messaging system or regional messaging system could help eliminate difficulties in Iran's foreign transactions," she said.