Assets of the National Development Fund of Iran will be separated from those of the Central Bank of Iran from the next Iranian year (starting March 20, 2016).
The decision was taken after the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei emphasized in Article 10 of the sixth five-year economic development plan (2016-2021) that the resources of the two monetary institutions be split to keep the two bodies independent of one another, Eghtesad News reported on Friday.
Currently, the central bank is responsible for NDF's assets. However, officials in charge of the fund are wary of CBI's trustworthiness in safeguarding its revenues.
Monetary Controversy
In his meeting with the members of Tehran Chamber of Commerce last week, NDF Chairman Safdar Hosseini railed against the central bank's behavior toward the fund's assets.
" Revenues from oil sales are divided into three parts, with 14.5 % going to the Oil Ministry, 20 % to the NDF, and the rest ending up at the treasury," Hosseini said.
He referred to sanction's era petrodollars blocked overseas, saying CBI is not authorized to use what belongs to the NDFI for its own purposes such as long-term investments in other countries.
The official said the central bank should allocate the fund's assets to projects proposed by the fund, not any project that "it wished to."
Hosseini said he had sent a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, criticizing the performance of the central bank in allocating the resources of the fund and has appealed to the president to investigate the violations made by the bank.
"The letter calls for the transparency of fund's resources," he said.
According to a report by ISNA on Friday, Hosseini denied that he had accused the government of withdrawing $12 billion from NDF, saying his statement had been misinterpreted.
*** The Other Side
On the other hand, a central bank official said he has been surprised by the NDF chairman's remarks.
"The two organizations maintain a very close relationship with each other, and issues between the fund and CBI are always easily resolved," IRNA quoted Gholamali Kamyab as saying.
"He (Hosseini) could have brought up the subject with senior officials in the central bank for discussion. The central bank has allocated the funds to emergency projects and has not hesitated in implementing the fund's orders."
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the two institutions would be able to resolve the issue or the president needs to intervene.
NDF is Iran's sovereign wealth fund. Founded in 2011, the fund aims to supplement the Oil Stabilization Fund. It is independent of the government's budget. Based on Article 84 of the Fifth Five-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (2010–2015), NDFI was established to transform oil and gas revenues for productive investment.
