Iran: Payment Transactions Hit by Central Bank Limits

Shaparak, Iran's domestic electronic payment network, handled 18.55 billion transactions in the Iranian month of Azar (Nov. 22-Dec.21) worth 2,000 trillion rials ($17 billion).  
According to a monthly report published on Shaparak website, the figure indicates 3.38% growth in volume and 9.63% decline in value compared with a month earlier. Compared with the same month in the previous year, the transactions rose 28.5% and 32.9% in volume and value, respectively. 
The value of transactions declined for the second month in a row, indicating the impact of Central Bank of Iran’s new restrictions on the permitted value of daily purchases via Point-of-Sale devices, enforced as a measure to control capital flight and curb money laundering.