Page 33 - IRANRptAug21

Forex traders in Iran in the past week saw the price of the US dollar versus the Iranian rial (IRR) rise some 5% amid the several days of social unrest brought about by the government’s sudden petrol price hike. Prior to this depreciation, the rate had pretty much enjoyed stability for around three months.
"Because of the sensitivity of foreign exchange trades and the significance of CBI regulation in the market, Diba will be used to assist the CBI in having ‘both eyes’ on the market,” the official Najafi added.
8.0 Financial & capital markets 8.1 Bank sector overview
Central Bank of Iran gets ‘eleventh hour’ governor
Tehran rejects money laundering conviction of Iranian central bank in Bahrain
Veteran Iranian economics expert Akbar Komijani has been made the new governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), stepping up from the acting governor role, Mehr News Agency reported on June 30.
Komijani has held several key positions over the years in different Iranian governments and has also served as a lecturer and professor at the University of Tehran. He was also a CBI deputy governor from 2007-2013, taking the roles of research deputy and director of monetary and financial economics. Prior to the Islamic Revolution, Komijani was educated in the US. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin.
According to CBI regulations, the bank cannot be run by an acting governor over an extended period so the Cabinet has agreed that Komijani will take over as governor until mid-August when the moderate Rouhani government will leave office to be replaced by the hardline Raisi administration.
Due to his moderate policies and education in the US, it is unlikely Komijani that will hold on to the role of governor past the inauguration of Ebrahim Raisi as president.
Komijani took over as acting governor after the removal of Abdolnasser Hemmati as governor following Hemmati's decision to take on Raisi in the election.
A conviction of money laundering secured in a Bahraini court against the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has been rejected by Iran’s foreign ministry, Rudaw reported on August 2.
The court on July 29 hit the CBI and several other Iranian banks with fines for money laundering of Bahraini dinar (BHD) 1mn ($2.7mn) each. The ruling was recorded as the single largest economic ruling ever made by a Bahraini court. Bahrain has historical links to Iran with a significant proportion of the country’s population Shi’ite Muslim.
As part of the ruling, Bahrain’s Future Bank and six of its officials were also convicted, with Future Bank fined and the officials handed sentences of five to 10 years in jail.
The court also confiscated approximately $1.3bn in laundered funds from the multiple parties implicated in the ruling.
33 IRAN Country Report August 2021 www.intellinews.com