Iran’s currency hits record low amid tensions with the West
Depreciation of the trial comes amid boiling tensions with the West and continuing protests in Iran.
Iran’s currency has reached an all-time record low amid increasing tensions with the West and the unrest gripping the country.
On Sunday, the United States dollar went past the 450,000-rial mark for the first time on the open market.
Former Central Bank of Iran governor, Ali Salehabadi, had been sacked after a previous rapid depreciation of the rtial in late December that saw it slump to more than 440,000 against the greenback at the open market.
His replacement, Mohammad Reza Farzin, had vowed to artificially keep the rate of the currency at 285,000 trials against the dollar for imports of essential goods in an effort to keep prices stable during a 40 percent inflation rate.
“Today the central bank faces no limitations in terms of currency and gold reserves, and the main reason behind the currency fluctuations is media hype and psychological operations in the society,” Farzin said on Saturday.
As the trial went into another freefall on Saturday, the central bank claimed that 300 million euros ($326m) of Iran’s money in Iraq had been received, despite US sanctions, and injected into the market. Read More…