The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Ali Salehabadi says forex repatriation from oil and non-oil exports has improved markedly in recent months.
Speaking on the sidelines of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Salehabadi said the country’s currency now are comparably higher from the past.
“We receive forex income from exports, particularly from crude oil,” the senior banker said. “Our currency income is comparably higher than the last calendar year [ended March 20],” he was quoted as saying by IRIB website.
“We have good numbers regarding oil export and have received all the related income,” he told reporters.
Tough US sanctions have targeted Iran’s oil export, the lifeline of economy. Beside major hurdles in exporting oil, money transfer via banks to and from Iran is impossible since 2018 when the US penalized the banking and financial sector after the former Trump team unilaterally abandoned the Iran nuclear deal.
While talks are underway to end the unilateral US sanctions on key Iranian industries, the CBI governor said the country is able to meet its forex need irrespective of the anticipated deal. He did not go into details.
“We will be able to meet forex needs in a suitable manner even in the absence of an agreement.”
Iran is determined to increase its oil and other petroleum products exports despite the tough penalties imposed by the United States, he noted.
Despite the threat of US sanctions looming over buyers of Iranian oil since 2018, China's independent refineries have maintained some level of Iranian crude imports, according to market sources.
Oil exports, Iran’s main revenue source, have plunged under the US economic blockade.
Tehran does not disclose its crude export data, but assessments based on shipping and other sources suggest a fall from about 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2018 to as low as 200,000 bpd. However, unofficial reports say exports reached 1 million bpd last month.
Blocked Assets
In response to a question about fate of currency assets blocked overseas, Salehabadi said efforts to unblock the funds are underway. “All things considered, things are moving ahead.”
He recalled Iran’s access to funds that were blocked by the UK for about half a century, saying that “Iran has used the released currencies”.
Following long legal and diplomatic efforts, the government in London repaid 400 million pounds to Iran in late March.
The debt was advance payment to Britain for Chieftain tanks before the 1979 revolution which were never delivered.
Citing UK officials, The Guardian said earlier that the parities chose to use the Bank of Oman as a conduit. Informed Iranian sources said the fund is a CBI account and accessible to the country.
Reports about Iran’s access to billions of blocked currency in foreign banks have been published in recent weeks. Earlier in the month, state TV reported that a “high-ranking regional delegation” toured Tehran to discuss a mechanism for tapping the released assets.
This was confirmed by the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran, Saeed Khatibzadeh. “The operational framework for unfreezing a remarkable portion of the blocked currency has been developed and Tehran will soon be able to access the frozen funds,” he told a weekly press conference.
Local media outlets put the value of unfrozen assets at $7 billion -- the amount blocked in South Korea.
