Deputy Economy Minister Defends Gov’t Forex Policy

The government’s policy to allocate dollars and euros to companies at a fixed rate of exchange was the best policy, a deputy minister of economic and finance affairs said.
Hossein Mir-Shojaeian added that with the value of foreign currencies fluctuating against the rial, the inflation rate was bound to soar.
Following the turmoil in forex market and the decision of US President Donald Trump’s administration in May to withdraw from the nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions against Iran as of August, the Iranian government set a fixed rate of exchange for the dollar at 42,000 rials, almost half the estimated value in the black market. It then amended the policy by forming a “Secondary Forex Market” wherein the rate could be decided through negotiations between the buyer and the seller.