Iran Forex Market Welcomes Rescue Plan

EghtesadOnline: After months of volatility, the foreign exchange market has embraced a forex plan unveiled by the government on Sunday.

News ID: ۷۴۵۸۲۵

08 August 2018

Exchange houses resumed their normal operations, halted 115 days earlier on the order of the Central Bank of Iran, the sector’s top regulator. The government has committed itself under the rescue plan to relinquish control over the market and let “supply and demand” dictate the rates. It represents a major departure from the policy adopted in April to contain a sharp slump in rial’s value by setting an official rate at 42,000 rials against the dollar and banning any trading beyond that rate. The government’s intervention had proved counterproductive, driving the unofficial rates to above 110,000 rials. The plan has met with a markedly positive response from the market, with the dollar being traded at about 90,000 rials on Tuesday. The benchmark Bahar Azadi gold coin dropped 8% and fetched 31.86 million rials, Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union’s website announced, according to Financial Tribune.