The central bank officially launched the ‘Iran Currency and Gold Trade Center’ in line with the new governor's bid to try and control skyrocketing forex and gold prices.
The measure was proposed as an amendment to Iran Central Exchange operation rules and approved by the Money and Credit Council (MCC) last week, IBENA reported.
No details have been announced about the working mechanism of the new market's operations.
ICE, also known as the regulated market, is a network of certified exchange shops and banks dealing in wholesale currency under the auspices of the Central Bank of Iran.
Currency rates have scaled to historic highs over the past several weeks as the rial tanks and people hunt for safe havens to protect what is left of their hard-earned savings.
On Thursday the greenback lost 0.02% or 800 rials in the free market to buy 431,185 rials. Melli Exchange and other bank-affiliated moneychangers tagged the dollar at 435,930 rials, down 0.07%
The CBI boss Mohamad Reza Farzin told state TV earlier in the week that the CBI has plans to employ new ways and means for increasing its intervention in the unofficial forex market.
Regarding fresh moves to control the rates now at historic highs, Farzin blamed unofficial social media channels for setting what he termed “misleading and incorrect rates” and disturbing the market.
The CBI rate for Thursday under the banner of “latest rates at exchange shops" was 431,850 rials to the dollar. Saturday was a public holiday. The ICE apparently stopped announcing the so-called 'negotiated rate' on its website since last week.
On Thursday the greenback lost 0.02% or 800 rials in the free market to buy 431,185 rials. Melli Exchange and other bank-affiliated moneychangers tagged the dollar at 435,930 rials, down 0.07%.
The euro gained 0.93% and was traded at 475,120 rials. The exchange bureau sold the European single currency for 476,300 rials, up 0.49% from the previous day. The UAE dirham gained 0.96% and was worth 124,800 rials in the unofficial market.
On Monday the CBI raised the ceiling for currency that can be bought by the people once in a year from €2,000 to €5,000 or equivalent in other currencies.
