Page 27 - IRANRptFeb22

5.1.3 Gross international reserves
Raisi declares Iran has accessed frozen financial assets abroad
Iran’s foreign exchange reserves $85bn in 2020, estimates IMF
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi declared during a November 16 parliamentary session that the country has gained access to financial assets that were frozen abroad, according Iranian media reports.
US sanctions have over the years resulted in tens of billions of dollars of Iranian assets held in foreign accounts—such as from oil sales—becoming inaccessible to Tehran. Ahead of the November 29 resumption of talks between Iran and major powers aimed at finding a way to restore the nuclear deal, or JCPOA, Iran has continued to pressure countries to release its funds, but there have been no official announcements from any of these countries of the unfreezing of Iranian assets.
Raisi, however, according to Fars News Agency, told lawmakers in an address to parliament: "In the beginning, the [Raisi] government [that took office in August] had problems with selling oil [due to US sanctions], but now the situation has improved and I can only say that the government has access to its resources in other countries."
On November 11, Ali Naderi, managing director of Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), wrote on Twitter that more than $3.5bn of frozen assets were released by a country to Iran.
Naderi did not name the state that purportedly released the assets, but said that “a significant portion of these resources are entering the country's trade cycle”.
According to the IMF in its Regional Economic Outlook on May 4, the value of Iran’s gross official reserves was estimated to reach $108.4bn in 2020. The country’s gross official reserves will experience a $13.3bn jump in the current year rising from last year’s $95.1bn.
In an April report, the IMF predicted that Iran's foreign exchange reserves would be $85bn in 2020, but around 90% of the reserves are frozen abroad by sanctions.
The prices of Iranian gold sovereigns have also been rising on the open market. The Emami coin price moved up by around 0.7% on May 17, while the prices of half coins and quarter coins gained by more than 2.5%.
27 IRAN Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com