Member of the Economic Commission of Parliament: The Government's Performance in Controlling the Currency Market Was Unsuccessful

In response to the sudden increase in the price of currency in Iran's free market, a member of the Economic Commission of Parliament criticized the government's "unsuccessful performance in the last months of the year" while the head of the Central Bank described the country's currency balance as being in a "suitable condition." Ali Akbar Karimi, a member of the Economic Commission's board, stated in an interview with the "House of the Nation" news agency that the government's performance in controlling the currency market was "unsuccessful," noting that "we witnessed a more than 25% decrease in the value of the national currency in the months leading up to the end of the year." Mr. Karimi emphasized that the price system in Iran increases rapidly but decreases very slowly, stating, "Evidence suggests that there is no motivation within the government for this matter." This member of the Economic Commission's board also commented on the forecast for the currency market this year, stating that the most important factor for long-term stability in the currency market is "the balance between supply and demand," while "the country's trade balance has been over negative 6 billion dollars in the past 9 months." Three days ago, Mohammad Reza Pourabrahimi, the head of the same commission, attributed the increase in currency prices to "unprofessional and non-specialized decisions" made by the Central Bank, stating that "over 30 billion dollars of currency left the country in the last months of last year." Nonetheless, Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, described the country's currency balance as being in a "suitable condition." On Wednesday, April 8, he wrote in a Telegram note: "Not all of today's market demand is based on real consumption, and expectations play a significant role." The head of the Central Bank also referred to the "currency developments" that occurred in 2011 and 2012 during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, saying that unlike those years, "with financial and monetary discipline policies, even with recent adjustments in the exchange rate, inflation remains at low and single-digit levels." About two months ago, Mr. Seif also advised people not to buy dollars as they would "become cheaper." He stated: "Investing in currency is unjustifiable, and those who convert their resources into currency will incur losses." The prices of several currencies in Iran's free market saw a significant increase in the first week of the current year, including the price of each US dollar, which had remained relatively stable for the past month, surpassing five thousand tomans on Tuesday with a jump of two hundred tomans. Ahmad Alavi, an economics professor in Sweden, previously told Radio Farda that the increase in currency rates in Iran was predictable because, according to him, "despite the Central Bank's promises, no changes have occurred in the structure of Iran's economy, and the same previous and fundamental factors such as inflation, people's rush to the currency market, currency hoarding, and capital flight from the country have led to the continuous increase in currency prices."