Page 20 - IRANRptJul19

CBI has over €70bn in hard currency reserves
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has more than €70bn in hard currency reserves, according to the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI). However, as restrictions continue on trade and withdrawal of cash from forex reserves, the country is looking for ways to find new revenues of hard currency.
5.2 FTA, multilateral agreements
Armenia, Iran to do gas-for-electricity deal as part of EEU trade
Iranian Guardian Council clears EEU temporary free trade agreement
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan agreed at their meeting in Tehran on July 3 to expand cooperation in several areas of mutual interest between the two countries, News.am reported.
Armenia and Iran are removing potential hurdles in their quest to link up their economies as part of Iran’s accession into the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) free trade area (FTA), as Iran is connected at its northern border with the current EEU member, Tehran and Yerevan have the most to gain from the FTA.
Before the official meeting, Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian announced a so-called gas-for-goods deal between the two countries.
“Iran exports gas to Armenia and Armenia can, in urgent cases, export electricity to Iran in exchange for that,” he said, adding “The capacity of gas exports from Iran to Armenia can be increased.
"As agreed, multilateral agreements are to be made to increase gas exports to Armenia and swap of goods with the country,” Ardakanian said.
According to the Iranian official, electricity exchange between Iran and Armenia is 350 MW as part of a previously agreed transfer deal.
"In the course of developing our communications with Armenia, we will complete the third line with a capacity of 700 MW of electricity transmission, which will improve the exchange capacity between the two countries to more than 1,000 megawatts by 2020," Iran’s Mehr News quoted him as saying.
On June 30, it was reported that Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister Homayoun Haeri said his government and Armenia were discussing creating a joint energy grid for transmissions, as part of the broader electricity discussions.
The Guardian Council body, which avets laws, accepted Iran could join a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) on June 28. With Armenia the first country, which would benefit from the deal, the country is attempting to break its deadlock from being stuck between hostile Turkey and Azerbaijan.
All members of the Moscow-led bloc—the others are Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan—are to pay lower duties when importing and exporting more than 500 goods as regards Iran, an economy boasting 81mn people.
The EEU member countries have already ratified the agreement on the free trade zone. However, it remains a temporary agreement. Negotiations around the main deal will begin in a year.
20 IRAN Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com