Member of Parliament: The Fate of $9 Billion in Currency is Unclear; Central Bank: It is Clear

One day after a member of the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission stated that the fate of $9 billion in currency provided at the official rate is unclear, the Central Bank responded that the fate of these resources is completely clear. Tasnim News Agency reported on Thursday, August 9, that Ezzatollah Youssefian Molla emphasized transparency regarding the provision of official currency, stating, "There is no reason for anyone to have received currency for importing wheat or essential goods like medicine and keep it confidential." According to this report, Mr. Youssefian Molla further referred to the allocation of $11 billion in official currency, claiming, "Out of this amount, only $2.5 billion has been disclosed, and unfortunately, it is unclear what has happened to nearly $9 billion." The uncertainty surrounding the fate of the $9 billion in currency is not the first time it has been raised, as it was also mentioned last month by the Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA. In response to Mr. Youssefian Molla's statements, the Central Bank emphasized in a statement on August 10 that the fate of this $9 billion is clear and added that since the process of order registration, receiving official currency, and ultimately importing goods is a multi-month process, the fact that currency has been provided in some cases but goods have not yet been imported does not mean that these goods will not be imported. The statement continued that the names of all individuals who have received currency at the official rate in the past four months have been sent to supervisory bodies and customs, and any observed violations will be dealt with. While the Central Bank announced the provision of these names to supervisory bodies and customs, Hassan Rouhani had specifically requested on June 27 that the Ministry of Trade and the Central Bank publicly publish the names of these recipients. Following this request, the names of some recipients of official currency were published in two rounds, but not all of them. In this regard, the Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, reported on June 27 that out of $12 billion in official currency that the Central Bank provided to importers, only the names of recipients of $3 billion were announced by the Central Bank, and the fate of the remaining $9 billion is unclear. In this context, following the publication of the Central Bank's statement, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of Parliament, also criticized the Central Bank's performance in a tweet on August 10. Following the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, the Iranian currency market experienced significant tensions, which were exacerbated by the recent implementation of sanctions. In this context, opponents of Hassan Rouhani's government do not consider the government's performance in this regard to be without impact. These attacks have also targeted Ahmad Irajchi, the Central Bank's currency deputy, whose critics consider his performance in the Central Bank to be one of the factors contributing to the fall of the national currency's value. Ahmad Irajchi, who is the nephew of Abbas Irajchi, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, is currently in custody in connection with the case of "disruptors in the country's monetary and banking system."