Iran's Industry Minister Opposes Publication of Recipients of Government Currency

While Iran's Industry Minister has opposed the publication of the names of importers who received government currency, calling it a "war against the private sector," the Minister of Communications stated that the "clean private sector" supports the release of such a list. Mohammad Shariatmadari, the Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, stated on Saturday, July 9, that one cannot label someone as an offender merely for "placing an order" and that "we must ensure that they received the 4200 Toman currency and committed an offense." He mentioned that his ministry cannot publish the names of individuals who have registered orders for imports. According to ISNA news agency, Shariatmadari also said in his press conference: "We do not want to wage war on the country's economy and disrupt it; therefore, we will make decisions that are in the best interest of the economy using God-given reason." Following strikes and protests last week in Tehran and several other cities, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, on Tuesday asked the Central Bank and the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade to publish the names of those who received government currency for imports. However, the statements of the Industry Minister were immediately followed by comments from another member of Rouhani's cabinet, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, who reiterated the phrase "God-given reason," stating: "The clean private sector supports and will support the publication of the list of currency recipients." Jahromi's message was accompanied by a "like" from Rouhani's Twitter account, leading some users to interpret this as the President's support for the Minister of Communications against the Industry Minister's viewpoint. The Iranian Ministry of Communications last Sunday published a list of companies that received government currency at the official rate for importing mobile phones, announcing that these companies received 220 million euros in government currency but only 75 million euros worth of phones were imported into the country. On the other hand, Akbar Turkan, an advisor to the President, criticized the Central Bank's performance, referring to a "tendency" that "has always tried to keep the currency price low and has always failed." Turkan emphasized that some importers "receive currency through various tricks and sell goods at the rate of 8000 Tomans." Currency market activists and economic analysts attribute the recent increase in the dollar price to international political developments, especially the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, the return of economic sanctions, particularly on banking and oil relations with Iran, and the uncertain future of the JCPOA without the U.S. According to these analyses, the parliament's vote to postpone the review of the bill to join the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism for two months and the Supreme Leader's statements opposing this bill, which have reduced the likelihood of an agreement between Iran and Europe to preserve the JCPOA, have also impacted the sudden increase in the dollar price in recent days. After the sudden increase in the dollar price in Farvardin (March-April), the Iranian government announced that the currency needed for imports and the currency derived from exports would be provided to the financial and banking network of Iran's economy at a rate of 4200 Tomans, and all other rates would be considered "unofficial and illegal." However, on July 4, Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, announced the creation of a "secondary currency market" and stated that under this plan, the currency price would become three-tiered, and for "non-essential goods," currency would be bought and sold in an agreement between exporters and importers. ISNA has estimated that the third currency rate could be between 6000 to 6500 Tomans. The details of this plan have not yet been announced.