Dollar in Secondary Market at 9,000 Toman, in Free Market at Over 10,000 Toman

The Central Bank of Iran expressed optimism in a statement that the currency market would stabilize while assuring the supply of essential goods at a rate of 4,200 tomans per dollar. On Sunday, each US dollar was traded at 9,253 tomans in the secondary market and up to 10,200 tomans in the free market. In a statement released on Saturday, August 10, the Central Bank announced that it is defining a mechanism to respond to the currency demand of the public, which is aimed at preserving the value of their assets, through the 'banking network and exchange offices.' After the failure of the 4,200 toman dollar plan intended for the import of essential goods (priority one), raw materials and intermediate and capital goods (priority two), and a group of consumer goods (priority three), the Central Bank, under its new head Abdolnaser Hemmati, introduced a new currency package. According to this package, only essential goods are entitled to the 4,200 toman dollar, while importers will obtain their required currency from the secondary market. Exchange offices can also trade dollars based on market rates in this new package, whereas in the previous package, trading in the free market was declared illegal. The Central Bank stated that the exchange rate in the secondary market is visible online. The Sena system showed the rate of the US dollar at 9,253 tomans from 2 PM to 3 PM on Sunday. According to Eghtesad Online, on Sunday, the free dollar in the Tehran market was traded around 10,050 to 10,200 tomans. The Central Bank noted in its statement that 'the experience of the past few days and the volume of transactions... indicate that there is no significant difference between the rate resulting from this demand and the rates recorded in the Sena system.' This difference reached about 2,000 tomans on Sunday. A group of critics of the secondary currency market argue that petrochemical, steel, and other 'private state' companies that are the main suppliers of currency in the secondary market benefit the most from this market. These critics believe that while these companies benefit from energy subsidies and other exemptions, they sell the currency obtained from exports at high prices in the secondary market. Additionally, critics of the Central Bank's new package argue that since imports of capital and intermediate goods are conducted with secondary market currency (8,300 tomans), the prices of domestic products will increase by 100 percent.