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Eurasia
June 15, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
stroying the nuclear accord – in order to try and force the Iranians back to the table to negotiate
a tougher deal targeting its regional political and military influence and ballistic missile develop- ment programme – neared, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) moved against panicky hard currency buying by banning the unofficial free foreign exchange market. Officially, all foreign currency trading must now be conducted with licensed banks and only at the CBI’s official rate. However, even ordinary citizens have found alternative ways to source hard currencies.
Street hawkers, meanwhile, have returned to Tehran’s forex trading hub, Ferdowsi Square, and exchange bureaux have mothballed their store fronts while continuing to trade in back offices and other unpublicised locations, effectively forcing the market away from the government’s eye entirely.
In recent weeks, the CBI has partially relented on its artificially low exchange rate. The official IRR rate to the dollar presently stands at 42,230. For the euro and pound sterling, 49,797 and 56,629, respectively, must officially be paid.