Currency fluctuations continue in the free market; Rial value drops another "30 percent"
Reports from Iran indicate that the free foreign exchange market was also turbulent on Wednesday, September 14, with the price of one US dollar fluctuating between 14,000 and 15,000 tomans. However, by the end of the day, the rate of one dollar stabilized at 14,000 tomans.
Each euro was traded at 16,000 tomans, and the price of the pound reached 18,000 tomans.
ISNA news agency reported that each US dollar was trading between 15,200 and 15,500 tomans on Wednesday. However, according to the news agency, “exchange offices buy currency from people and sell it to brokers, and it is the brokers who determine the price of the currency; not the exchange offices or the government.”
ISNA added that "the turmoil in the foreign exchange market was such that prices and their increases no longer mattered to people, and they just wanted to buy foreign exchange as soon as possible."
Each coin was bought and sold for about four million and 650 thousand tomans on Wednesday.
The prices of various foreign currencies in the open market have witnessed sharp fluctuations in recent days, and the price of the dollar has increased by more than three thousand tomans in the past five days, from about 11 thousand tomans to 14 thousand tomans.
This upward trend indicates that the value of the Iranian rial has fallen by 30% during this period.
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that since the US withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, the value of the Iranian national currency has fallen by more than 140 percent.
The news agency added: "Signs of the currency crisis are visible everywhere in Tehran, with travel agencies offering their tours only in foreign currency, and diapers have become scarce in stores."
"Many exchange offices in central Tehran have turned off their electronic signs, and some of them are selling to buyers for only 15,000 tomans."
"Everyone is worried," Mustafa Shahriar, 40, a dollar buyer, told The Associated Press.
There are currently several rates for the dollar. While the Iranian government says the dollar rate for importing basic goods is 4,200 tomans, the dollar price on the NIMA system, which deals with the sale of foreign exchange from non-oil exports, is below 10,000 tomans.
ISNA news agency says that the most interesting thing that was noticeable on Wednesday was the large gap between the official exchange rates that were written on their signs, because for example, the selling price of the dollar varied from 13,700 tomans to 14,600 tomans, and the price of the euro ranged from 15,700 tomans to 17,500 tomans.
New fluctuations in the currency market began in March of last year, following rumors that the United States would withdraw from the nuclear agreement between six world powers and Iran, and prices increased sharply after the Nowruz holiday.
In addition to the rise in foreign exchange rates, the prices of basic goods, cars, and coins have also increased sharply.
In recent months, Hassan Rouhani's government has repeatedly tried to control the market by introducing new currency policies, but due to high liquidity in society, the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and the return of sanctions in mid-August, and the Central Bank's refusal to inject dollars into the market, none of these policies have been successful.
Source: Radio Farda
