Bank Borrowing From CBI Pushes Up Monetary Base

The monetary base expanded to unprecedented levels in the calendar month to Dec. 31 due mainly to banks’ excessive borrowing from the Central Bank of Iran. 
It grew 37.6% in the 12 months ending Dec. 31, CBI said on its website without giving details. 
The growth was up 22.2% over nine months since the beginning of current fiscal year that ends March -- 6.7 percentage points higher compared to the corresponding period last year. 
The growth apparently was driven by the deep liquidity crunch in the interbank market that has given rise to banks’ monumental debt to the CBI. To quench lenders’ thirst for liquidity the CBI has regularly implemented open market operations (OMO) in recent months.