Dubai: Iran has authorised the central bank to intervene in the foreign exchange market in defence of the rial, after the currency fell to repeated record lows in recent weeks following the reimposition of US sanctions.
A top government body, headed by President Hassan Rouhani and the heads of parliament and the judiciary, “gave the central bank governor the necessary authority to intervene in the foreign exchange market and to manage it”, state TV said.
“The central bank will intervene in the foreign exchange market through banks and authorised exchange shops and carry out the necessary measures to control the exchange rate of hard currencies,” the television said.
The Iranian rial hit a record low against the US dollar on the unofficial market on Wednesday, September 26, amid a deterioration in the economic situation in Iran and the reimposition of sanctions by the US. The dollar was being offered for as much as 186,000 rials on Wednesday, according to foreign exchange websites. The rial has lost approximately 75 per cent of its value since the beginning of 2018.
On Saturday (September 29), the first trading day of the week, the rial recouped some its losses to be traded at around 173,000-178,500 per dollar, according to foreign exchange websites 2gheroon.ir and bonbast.com, which track the unofficial market.
