Iran Announces the Start of Moving Its Released Foreign Currency Resources

The head of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic announced on Tuesday, January 28, the beginning of the transfer of Iran's blocked foreign currency resources abroad. According to the IRIB news agency, Valiollah Seif stated on the sidelines of a meeting that the Central Bank has started moving part of its blocked resources from a bank in Japan to another bank in Germany since Sunday. In another instance, part of its blocked funds in South Korea was transferred to the National Bank of the Emirates, which had previously been under sanctions. In response to the question about the philosophy behind moving money from a Japanese bank to a European bank, he added, 'This was done to ensure that the correspondent banks correctly understand the concept of lifting sanctions so that the banks in the country realize they can issue orders and have the authority to transfer resources.' He further stated, 'Therefore, the Central Bank decided to issue 14 orders for the transfer of its restricted resources.' Seif did not provide information on the amount of money transferred, and the Associated Press also reported that in a contact with the NBD bank in the Emirates, this bank refrained from providing further information. Iran has faced the blocking of billions of dollars of its revenues, primarily from oil exports, due to sanctions, and now with the implementation of the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, these funds are set to be released for Tehran's use. The head of the Central Bank continued his remarks by saying, 'With the lifting of sanctions, the cost of currency transactions will decrease by 10 to 15 percent, which can act as an effective factor in boosting Iran's economy.' Seif added, 'With the lifting of sanctions and the implementation of the JCPOA, $32 billion of Iran's blocked foreign currency resources will be released, of which $28 billion belongs to the Central Bank and $4 billion will be converted to rials and deposited as the government's share into the treasury.' Seif's mention of the figure '32 billion dollars' comes while Ezzatollah Youssefian Mola, a member of the Budget and Planning Commission of the Parliament, reported in the summer that the head of the Central Bank had stated in a letter to the Iranian President that the amount of the Islamic Republic's blocked assets abroad was 'about 26 billion dollars.' Recently, the head of the Central Bank had stated regarding the entry of more than $30 billion of currency into Iran that this was 'not logical' and added that part of this money would be used for importing necessary goods. According to Seif, considering international banking, 'the released resources can be placed in secure and centralized accounts and utilized as needed.' Regarding the release of blocked funds of the National Bank's branch in Germany, Abdolnasser Hemmati, the CEO of the National Bank, stated on Tuesday, January 29, in an interview with the Fars news agency that 'we had made the necessary plans long ago, and yesterday the German Central Bank issued a license for the operation of the National Bank branch in Hamburg.' He added, 'The blocked funds of the National Bank branch in Germany were released with this operational license, and on the other hand, the restrictions on money transfers from the branch in Dubai were also lifted.' He stated that necessary actions for the commencement of the National Bank's London branch have also been taken, and this bank is only waiting for a license from the British government. The CEO of the National Bank emphasized, 'The restrictions on the National Bank's activities in Moscow have also been lifted, and soon all branches of the National Bank abroad will become operational.'