Central Bank's Foreign Assets: $90 Billion Blocked, $29 Billion Usable

The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran emphasized the difference between 'foreign reserves' and 'foreign assets', stating that the total 'resources' blocked abroad amount to $89.7 billion. However, he noted that the 'usable' resources after the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement would be $29 billion. Previously, Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, had announced that the blocked funds of this economic institution in Japan, South Korea, and the UAE amounted to $23 billion. Following this announcement, Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam, a member of the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission, stated that Iran has about $130 billion in foreign reserves held in the Central Bank's accounts abroad. After these statements, Gholamali Kamyab, the Deputy for Foreign Exchange at the Central Bank, announced the details of these foreign reserves on Tuesday, July 29. According to Mr. Kamyab, the released resources of the Central Bank amount to $23 billion, the released resources belonging to the government and derived from oil sales amount to $6 billion, China's collateral for project financing is $22.4 billion, deposits in oil subsidiary companies are $24.5 billion, deposits in Iranian banks are $10 billion, and blocked bonds are $3.7 billion. According to Fars News Agency, he emphasized the difference between 'foreign reserves' and 'foreign assets', stating that the resources of the Central Bank that will be 'freed and usable' after the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement amount to $23 billion. He added: 'An additional $6 billion from the blocked government resources, which are funds derived from oil exports, will be released and deposited into the Central Bank's account. Thus, the total freed and accessible funds will amount to $29 billion.' Mr. Kamyab also stressed that all foreign assets of the Central Bank are registered in legal offices and disclosed in financial statements, but the Central Bank 'never announces the amount of foreign reserves in its statistics.' The statements by the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank regarding the difference between 'foreign reserves' and 'foreign assets' come at a time when some media in Iran had previously reported that $29 billion of the blocked assets of Iran would be the government's share and usable, while the remainder of this amount is resources deposited in the Central Bank's account and does not belong to the government. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Bahmani, the former head of the Central Bank, also explained that the Central Bank's foreign reserves are not expendable because they were previously sold to the Central Bank by the government, and the government had already taken the equivalent rial amount of the blocked funds from the Central Bank. Nevertheless, some media in Iran, referring to the impact of the release of the Central Bank's foreign reserves, stated that these reserves are a tool for the Central Bank to maintain the value of the national currency. For instance, the newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported on July 29 that part of the blocked resources would belong to the National Development Fund. This newspaper had previously reported that after accessing its foreign reserves, the Central Bank could inject this currency into the market and 'freeze its rial resources in its accounts' to create 'opening' in the market.