Parliament will agree to online forex trade on the condition that it is regulated by and under the auspices of the Central Bank of Iran, head of Economic Commission of the legislature said.
“The Majlis will support such trade only if the CBI handles demand and supply and the currency rates plus manages the process. It is only under these conditions that the desired results would be achieved,” Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi was quoted by IBENA as saying.
Earlier this month, a central e-platform was unveiled for exchange bureaus to report buy/sell rates, the same as shown on their electronic boards but also accessible online to the public.
The move is to help improve transparency of moneychangers, said a press release seen on the website of Iran’s regulated market, officially known as Iran Currency Exchange (ICE).
Rates are available to the public via ice.ir, the official ICE website.
Pourebrahimi said that what is more important than the scheme’s layout is how and with what quality it is implementd.
“Majlis has asked the CBI to set the official forex rates subject toe market mechanisms. Irrespective of how this moves forward, online or offline, it is a necessary and an essential first step.”
The MP said the law obliges the government to set up diverse forex markets and the central e-platform is the latest measure to this end, which should and can have a positive impact.
Using the e-platform, people will soon be able to buy foreign currency online, CBI chief Ali Salehabadi has said. “Money will either be transferred to their accounts or can be delivered in cash," the CBI website quoted him as saying.
A limited number of currency shops have joined the platform and all 545 licensed exchange shops will be linked gradually to the system, Salehabadi said.
The regulated market is a network of certified exchange shops and banks dealing in wholesale currency under CBI auspices.
He noted that some foreign exchange companies have also applied to connect to the regulated market. He did not elaborate.
Regarding the steep fluctuations in the forex market, the senior banker said without elaboration that the CBI will enforce “strict measures about forex rates in the coming days.
Other Measures
On past CBI moves to help supply the market with enough foreign currency, Salehabadi said, allowing non-oil exporters to sell their currency at “negotiated rates” was a timely action.
He added that $600 million in cash was traded via the negotiated rate mechanism since the measure was announced “which should help reduce forex demand in the unofficial (open) market.”
Back in June, the CBI allowed moneychangers to buy currency from exporters at negotiated prices.
The move was welcomed by exporters because it allows them to sell cash currency at rates higher than the so-called Nima platform, where rates are always lower than the open market.
According to Salehabadi, currency supply via Nima was 80% higher in the first half of the current fiscal year.
“Since the beginning of this year (in March), $22.43 billion was traded in this market, up 80% compared to the $12.36 billion last year same time.”
Nima is an online platform affiliated to the CBI through which exporters sell their overseas currency income in the form of hawala. Through this platform companies buy currency for importing goods, machinery, equipment and raw materials.
In this system, importers declare their currency needs, exporters register their proceeds and banks and authorized moneychangers are brokers.
In May the government officially put an end to the highly controversial currency subsides ($1=42,000 rials), better known as preferential currency, which was given to importers of essential goods like food, medicine and some raw materials.
Soon after businesses argued that with the end of the subsidy policy they would obviously need extra infusions of cash for importing raw material to bridge the huge (almost 300%) gap between subsidized and the open market forex rates.
