Tehran, Iran, June 25
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
The Iranian administration's spokesman said the government does not have enough foreign currency in its coffer, stressing that people should not have heavy demand for US dollars, and that they cannot change all their rials into gold and currencies.
“Currently, due to different reasons particularly the volume of liquidity in the country, many are seeking to change their rials into US dollars,” Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said on June 25, Tasnim news agency reported.
He added, “Certainly, we do not have this much amount of US dollars that people can easily change their rials into foreign currencies and gold”.
We have enough foreign currency only for essential commodities, the official added.
The total value of the country’s revenues from oil and non-oil exports stands at $95 billion, Nobakht said, adding that this is while Iran's overall imports do not exceed $75 billion.
“But the problem is that people, in the past 6 weeks, have been seeking to change their rials into foreign currency," he said.
The remarks came after the Iranian rial plunged to a record low against the US dollar on the unofficial market on Sunday, continuing its slide amid fears of returning US sanctions after President Donald Trump in May withdrew the US from a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The US dollar was being offered for as much as 87,000 rials, compared to around 75,500 on Thursday, the last trading day before Iran’s weekend, according to foreign exchange websites, which track the unofficial market.
The fall of the national currency has provoked a public outcry over the quick rise of prices of imported consumer goods.
Merchants at the mobile phone shopping centers Aladdin and Charsou in central Tehran protested against the rapid depreciation of the rial by shutting down their shops on Sunday, Iranian media reported.
Hours later, Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said on Twitter that he visited the protesting merchants.
“I will try to help provide hard currency for (mobile) equipment (imports),” Azari-Jahromi wrote, adding, “The merchants’ activity has now gone back to normal.”
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