Coin Crosses 8 Million Toman Mark; Dollar Hovers Around 20,000 Toman

On Sunday, the first day of Tir month, the price of Emami coin surged more than 2.5 percent compared to Saturday, crossing the 8 million toman threshold, while Bahar Azadi coin also climbed 3.25 percent to reach 7 million and 950 thousand tomans.

On the first day of Tir month, the dollar exchange rate in Iran’s free market reached 19,770 tomans, showing an increase of nearly 500 tomans compared to the previous day. The current day’s dollar rate in Iran’s free market is considered a historic record.

Coin and dollar prices have increased by one-third and one-quarter respectively since the beginning of the current year.

Exchange and coin prices have shown an upward trend with fluctuations over recent weeks, but since the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors passed a resolution on Friday, the upward trend in currency and coin prices has been sharp.

Economic experts predicted on Friday that, following the passage of a resolution by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the currency price would surge again in Iran.

However, simultaneously, Abdolnasser Hemmati, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, attempted to refute such predictions by issuing a statement and promised that the bank would “provide the necessary foreign currency for economic actors.”

The Governor of Iran’s Central Bank wrote in his statement: “The psychological atmosphere created by the Board of Governors resolution should not send wrong signals.”

Yet despite this “should not,” the currency price increased on Saturday and the price of each euro in the free market also reached over 21,200 tomans.

It appears the country itself is facing a decline in foreign currency reserves. The International Monetary Fund has predicted that Iran’s foreign exchange reserves will decline by 19.4 billion dollars compared to the previous year in the current fiscal year, reaching 85 billion dollars, and will again drop by over 16 billion dollars in the next fiscal year to 69 billion dollars.

On Sunday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced that the Central Bank must warn all major debtors to return the foreign currency earned from exports and specify payment deadlines for them, and in case of violation, their violations should be addressed by referring them to public opinion and competent authorities.

He said that as a result of sanctions, foreign currency transfers have been difficult, and on the other hand, conditions resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, including the closure of some borders, have also caused problems for imports.

The United States withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and subsequently restored all sanctions against Iran. The Islamic Republic, in turn, gradually abandoned its JCPOA commitments starting from May 2019 and deviated from the limits set in the nuclear agreement.

The Associated Press reported on Friday under the headline “Value of Iranian Currency Against Dollar Reaches Record Low”: Five years ago, at the time of the JCPOA signing, the price of each dollar was 3,200 tomans, and today it has reached a historic high of over 19,000 tomans.

The U.S. government, accusing the Islamic Republic of “destabilizing the region,” “supporting terrorism,” and to stop its “missile activities,” has pursued a maximum pressure policy against the Iranian government.

Officials of the Islamic Republic have made contradictory statements about the impact of sanctions: on one hand, they insist that America did not achieve its goals, and on the other hand, they occasionally speak of very difficult conditions for the national economy.

Last week, Ishaq Jahangiri, First Vice President, said the country’s oil revenues declined from 100 billion dollars annually to 8 billion dollars in the previous year.

Customs statistics also show that the country’s non-oil exports decreased by approximately 35 percent in the winter of last year compared to the same season in 2018, and in the first two months of the current solar year by 48 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Although Ishaq Jahangiri strongly criticized U.S. sanctions in those remarks and considered sanctions the main cause of economic problems, a few days later in a phone call with Syria’s Prime Minister, he promised him more aid.

Source: Radio Farda