BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 23. Iran's imports of gold bars during the seven months of the current Iranian year (from March 20 through October 21, 2024) have increased six times in value and 5.8 times in weight compared to the same period last year (from March 21 through October 22, 2023), Iran's Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance and Director General of Iran's Customs Administration Mohammad Rezvani-Far said, Trend reports.
According to him, Iran's imports of gold bars amounted to 53.4 tons worth $3.44 billion during seven months.
Rezvanifar noted that the country imported nine tons of gold bars worth $574 million during the same period last year.
The source claims that 96.5 percent of the gold bar entered the country through Imam Khomeini International Airport customs, 2 percent through Bashmaq customs, and 0.8 percent through Tabriz customs.
Meanwhile, new US sanctions on Iran have made it significantly more difficult to import foreign currency (the US dollar) into the country. Iran prefers to utilize alternative ways to avoid sanctions. In this direction, the Iranian government has created conditions for exporters of non-oil products to import gold bars into the country instead of foreign currency.
To note, the US imposed new sanctions against Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions have affected Iranian oil exports and more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals. The sanctions led to the freezing of Iran's assets abroad.