Tehran: Iran is considering strengthening the rial currency against the US dollar, a newspaper said on Sunday, citing the acting economy minister.
Iranian media have in the past reported that Tehran was studying the possibility of raising the value of the rial to fight steadily climbing inflation, now running at an annual 26 per cent, but a central bank official denied it in January.
The Donya-e Eqtesad business daily carried comments by acting Economy Minister Hossein Samsami yesterday, saying he was asked about "reports" that the value of the dollar to the rial, now at 9,300 rials, would be reduced by nearly half.
"The amount in this drop in value [of the dollar to the rial] has not been finalised and is at the technical studies stage. Therefore, one cannot give an opinion in connection to the final figure," Samsami was quoted as saying.
Asked whether a stronger rial would make Iranian exports more expensive, he said a large part of the country's goods sold abroad were not priced in the US currency, but he also suggested dollar-dependent exports could receive incentives.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest crude producer, is reaping windfall gains from the high oil price on world markets. But economists say lavish spending of this influx of petrodollars, estimated at about $70 billion in the 2007-08 Iranian year, has also fuelled consumer price rises.
