Page 29 - IRANRptMar19

The announcement comes as the Iranian rial (IRR) comes under renewed pressure amid the economic turmoil caused by the reimposed US sanctions. It broke the IRR130,000 to the dollar free market rate on February 18 and stood at IRR135,000 in early afternoon trading in Tehran on February 28.
The CBI initially announced i ts plan to get a grip on the wild foreign currency market in November. It said it would set the bar at which free market trading must be done.
Hemmati, who took the reins from predecessor Valiollah Seif in June, has so far managed to ride out the worst shocks dealt Iran’s foreign currency market by the sanctions.
He has ordered central bank interventions into the forex market, unlike Seif, who instead attempted to lock down the market by closing exchange bureaux across the country following the first severe 2018 nosedive of the rial experienced in April and May.
8.0 Financial & capital markets 8.1 Bank sector overview
US economic sanctions and their impact on Iran’s banking system
Iran’s economy ministry is poised to establish an “anti-sanctions management room” to combat the heavy US economic sanctions introduced against Iran and most particularly their impact on the Iranian banking system, Tasnim News Agency has reported.
Several key institutions in the Islamic Republic have previously said they had made clear preparations for the Trump administration’s economic war on the country, although several ministers have fallen at the hands of parliamentarians dissatisfied with the response to the consequences of the sanctions, while the governor of the central bank was fired during the summer after the Iranian rial (IRR) went over the cliff edge.
The US has sanctioned almost every important area of Iran’s economy, with the first wave of sanctions triggered in early August and the second wave—which crucially hit Iran’s lifeline oil exports and banking sector—kickstarted in early November. In recent weeks, the central bank, which is among the institutions saying it made long-term plans to deal with the new sanctions regime, has intervened in the hard currency markets. That has helped Iran recoup towards two-fifths of the losses made by the IRR against the dollar in the year to date. The currency stands at around 60% weaker than it was at the start of 2018.
Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s economic commission, said the economy ministry planned to create its anti-sanctions 'war room' in the next few weeks, along with banking officials.
“The formation of the anti-sanctions management room in the economy ministry aimed at monitoring the Americans’ measures in the banking sector and our moves to strengthen our banking system was discussed at a meeting,” he said.
29 IRAN Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com