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the Iranian currency by removing four zeros while also officially renaming it “Toman." The move to make such changes has been on the cards for several years, but poor economic conditions have forced successive administrations to place the proposal on the backburner.
“The initiative does not incur additional costs as the government annually destroys and prints 700 million banknote pieces,” Hemmati said to reporters outside a parliament meeting, following questions from MPs on the plan. During the session, the CBI governor noted that by pushing ahead with the redenomination scheme to make the currency more presentable and easier to handle in calculations, the country could remove some 4bn banknotes from circulation.
“Truth be told, people no longer use the rial in their daily transactions,” he said referring to the often used colloquial expression “toman” in daily pricing. One toman equals 10 rials.
The bill for the changes now moves to the parliament where MPs will pick apart the finer details and could send it back to the cabinet for alterations.
If the bill clears the parliament without any issues, it would then head to the Guardian Council—made up of 12 jurists and parliamentarians—who check the validity of laws.
8.3 Stock market
Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) again fails to sell any oil
Tehran Stock Exchange on bullish trend
The 10th round of crude oil sales on the Iran Energy Exchange (Irenex) finished without any buyers, repeating the performance of the ninth, the Financial Tribune reported on May 21.
Iran has been holding auctions on the Tehran exchange in recent months to shift oil via trades that might beat US sanctions through a market of private buyers who sell consignments on to international markets.
In the latest auction, potential local and foreign oil buyers were either unimpressed with the offer of $67.28 per barrel, or there were other factors in play such as fear of reprisals from the US, which since May has adopted a strategy of trying to force Iran’s oil exports to zero.
At the previous auction last month, the price was set at $63.36.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) offered 1bn barrels of crude oil in the 10th sales round. The smallest possible order was for 35,000 barrels, as it was in previous rounds. A buyer was thus being asked to invest a minimum of $2.21mn to access the market offer.
Officially, NIOC has so far sold 1.1mn barrels of crude via Irenex.
The next auction has been scheduled for May 27, with a base price of $64.29 a barrel.
Irenex also offers trades in condensates . In a condensates deal that occurred on April 15, the barrel price was $67.85.
On the southern island of Kish, the Iranian government has opened the Iran Energy Bourse. It also attempts to sell oil on to the international market.
Iran has pushed for more people to enter its energy market since the US introduced heavy sanctions against the country’s oil, gas, petrochemical and other energy sector industries in early November last year.
Tehran Stock Exchange on the bullish trend as ordinary investors struggle to find investment options amid economic difficulties.
The local TEDPIX, the all-star index on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE),
33 IRAN Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com