Page 36 - IRANRptFeb20

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
Tehran stock exchange outpaces all other equity markets as locals flee inflation
Here’s a handy question for the next quiz in a Square Mile or Wall Street drinkery: which stock exchange has outpaced all other global equity markets in the past 12 months? Well, that would be the Tehran bourse, up 73% in local currency terms over the past 12 months as tracked by Bloomberg.
Iran’s stock market, asset managers say, has served as a haven from the surging inflation brought on by the crushing sanctions attack the US has waged against the Islamic Republic’s economy over the past year.
The official annual inflation rate was measured at almost 43% in September and, with local banks unable to bring in competitive interest rates, Iranians have been driven into stocks to shield the value of their savings.
“Iran’s bourse showed it can hedge against foreign currency risks and is the best market to guarantee people’s money with high dividends,” the manager of a Tehran-based asset management firm, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying by the ​Financial Times​ on October 4.
The top 30 listed companies on the Tehran stock exchange represent more than 60% of the bourse’s market cap, according to local analysts. They include the country’s top exporters of petrochemicals, steel and copper, businesses which generate foreign currency income, thus offering protection from the domestic economic turmoil.
According to the FT, the combined market value of the Tehran Stock Exchange and the Iran Fara Bourse—the over-the-counter trading venue in the capital—has doubled in dollar terms over the past year. However, this total is some way below its 2014 peak when, as former US president Barack Obama was coming to an accommodation with Iran that would result in the 2015 nuclear deal that withdrew international sanctions against the Iranians in return for compliance with measures barring any potential path they might take to the development of a nuclear weapon, hopes were rising that the vast economic potential of the country.
The American sanctions, brought in by Donald Trump who exited the nuclear accord in May last year with demands that it should be toughened up, have
36​ IRAN Country Report​ February 2020 www.intellinews.com