Mohammad Reza Farzin, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, announced the formation of a special committee at the CBI to look into delays in the repatriation of foreign exchange revenue by exporters.
“The committee will work on three types of violations: the first is the failure to fulfill forex commitments – those who have not returned their overseas export earnings on time,” Farzin told reporters on Wednesday.
Regulations oblige especially petrochemical exporters to return at least 60% of their revenue through Nima, the platform where exporters sell their currency earnings to importers of non-essential goods, whereas non-petrochemical exporters must return 50% of their currency.
Exporters are required to sell 20% of their income in cash to money changers. The balance can be used for importing goods either by the exporting firms or third parties.
Farzin said earlier that exporters must sell their revenue based on CBI rules and only via official channels. “There is no reason why they should sell their currency in the free [black] market at higher rates… Ask the producers if they buy/import raw material at free market forex rates…Moreover, what rates they pay for electricity, water and gas!?”
Last year, $65 billion was paid for imports by the CBI, which reflects the return of export revenue. Most of the forex came from the petrochemical and steel industries while other sectors also performed reasonably well. However, there have reportedly been breaches of repatriation agreements, the senior banker told the Majlis.
“The second violation is about breaches in the NIMA system related to the exchange rates as exporters are obliged to uphold CBI-announced rates when trading at NIMA,” Farzin said.
Nima is a secondary market developed by the central bank as venue where companies sell their export earnings at rates lower than the open market. Currency sold on Nima helps fund imports.
The third violation is about forex transactions outside the official market. "We set up the Iran Currency Exchange [ICE] to handle exchange rates and meet currency needs. "Now the problem is the unreal signs [inflated forex rates] conveyed to the market from unofficial sources."
“These infringements will be reviewed by the committee, and legal action will be taken against.” Farzin also said that the names of suspect companies are being reviewed “and if any evidence of violations are found it will be made public.”
