Close to 300 exchange bureaus have started publishing their buy/sell and supply/demand data live on the regulated market website, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran said.
“After exporters were allowed to sell their forex, partly in cash, in the regulated market, and improving transparency in currency trade, we are seeing [moderately] stable rates and a calm market,” Ali Salehabadi told Fars News Agency on Saturday.
The CBI recently required licensed currency exchange bureaus to report buy/sell rates shown on their electronic boards also on a central e-platform accessible to the public.
The move is to help improve transparency in the way moneychangers operate, said a press release seen on the website of Iran’s regulated market, officially known as Iran Currency Exchange (ICE).
Rates are available via ice.ir, the official ICE website.
A limited number of currency shops joined the platform on the day it was launched. All 545 licensed exchange shops are set to be linked gradually to the new system.
Salehabadi noted that trade and forex policies need to move ahead in tandem to help ensure stability and sustainability in the currency market.
“Close to $25 billion was provided to the market through Nima since the beginning of the current calendar year on March 21 up until October 22.
This was a significant increase on the same period of last year. Forex income from oil and non-oil export allowed this amount of supply and hopes are high that the trend will continue. Now supply exceeds demand and has led to balancing the forex market.”
Nima is an online platform affiliated to the CBI through which exporters sell their overseas currency and companies buy for importing goods, machinery, equipment and raw material.
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 costly and controversial currency subsides ($1=42,000 rials), known as preferential currency, which was given only to importers of essential goods like food, medicine and some raw materials.
Soon after businesses understandably argued that with the end of the subsidy policy they would need extra infusions of cash for importing raw material to bridge the huge gap between subsidized and the open market rates.
They urged the government to reconsider and compensate the looming liquidity crunch.
Salehabadi said that cash trade in the regulated forex market stood at $17 million on Tuesday.
The regulated market is a network of certified exchange shops and banks dealing in wholesale currency under CBI auspices.
