CBI Rebuffs Majlis Move to Raise Forex Rates in Budget

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati criticized the parliament’s decision to raise forex rates for importing essential goods, saying that it would negatively impact monetary variables.   The Majlis Joint Commission, an ad hoc commission in charge of reviewing the budget, voted Saturday to raise foreign currency rates by more than 400% for importing basic goods from the subsidized $1=42,000 rials to 175,000 rials. The cheap currency is sourced from oil export and used only for importing basic goods, pharmaceuticals and machinery to avoid price hikes for food and raw materials.