In a recent meeting of the Money and Credit Council (MCC) held Tuesday afternoon, the framework for overseas banking regulations was decided by the council members. Further details will be decided in the council’s next meeting.
According to council member Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, the guidelines for setting up monetary and banking institutions as well as banks in free zones were discussed but not resolved.
“The entire session was dedicated to the issues, given the urgency of the matters,” he said. “Remaining side-issues will hopefully be resolved in the council’s next meeting.”
Other topics set to be discussed in the following meetings are deposit interest rates and commissions on transactions done through point-of-sales terminals.
“In the light of the fact that inflation has been reduced to 15.5 percent and the outlook for the domestic economy seems rather stable, it is necessary to accordingly reduce deposit interest rates,” he noted.
Lowering deposit rates, which range between 10 and 22 percent, will also decrease expenses of providing financial services, “this will ultimately result in economic prosperity,” he projected.
“Economic facts and the stabilized outlook of the market will all be considered before deposit rates are cut,” Pour-Ebrahimi stressed.
He also called for restructuring the economy regardless of whether or not the final nuclear deal will be signed between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of UN Security Council plus Germany) by the June deadline.
