Forex prices are exorbitantly high and unrealistic: CBI chief
Central Bank of Iran governor Abdolnasser Hemmati has said that rising foreign currency prices are speculative and unrealistic, saying recent tensions between Iran and the United States had impacted the unofficial forex markets in the country.
“Fluctuations we’ve seen recently are due to political shocks and (they) won’t last,” Hemmati told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the CBI was taking actions to restore currency prices to normal levels.
Hemmati’s comments came as Iran’s rial traded low against major international currencies on Wednesday. It closed at 140,000 against the US dollar later in the day, the lowest on record for at least the past year.
The surge in prices began last week after the escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States which came due to the assassination of a senior Iranian military commander in Iraq in a US drone strike.
US attacks early on Friday on the convoy carrying Lieutenant General Qassem Soelimani, which killed him and a number of Iranian and Iraqi companions, were seen as a major provocation and caused currency prices in Iran to drive up sharply.
Hemmati said, however, that the CBI would manage the situation, adding that enough hard currency was available to meet real demand in the Iranian market.
“What I can say is that the current currency price is far from its intrinsic value,” he said, adding that the US dollar and other major currencies were currently being traded at much lower prices in currency shops run by the banks.
He also said that Iran’s military action against US military positions in Iraq which came earlier on Wednesday and was meant to retaliate Soleimani’s assassination would help restore tranquility to the forex market in Iran.
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