The Price of the US Dollar in Iran's Free Market Reaches 14,000 Tomans

Continuing the rise in the price of currency and gold coins in Iran's free market, which began last week, on Sunday, March 5, the price of each US dollar reached the threshold of 14,000 tomans, and the price of each gold coin was reported to be around 5 million tomans. Thus, the prices of currency and gold coins have reached their highest level in the past three months. Iranian media, including Tasnim, ILNA, and Young Journalists Club, reported the price of the US dollar on Saturday evening and Sunday morning to be around 13,700 tomans and the price of each gold coin to be around 4 million 800 thousand tomans; however, websites announcing currency and gold prices have mentioned higher prices. According to reports, the price of the euro in Tehran's free market has also reached the threshold of 16,000 tomans. Although the exchange rates of various currencies, including the US dollar, had not fluctuated much in the past two months, last week this rate suddenly exited the 11,000 tomans channel and entered the 13,000 tomans channel from Thursday. Some Iranian media, including the newspaper 'Jahan San'at', cited the main reason for this sudden increase as 'the postponement of the review of bills related to money laundering in the Expediency Discernment Council'. Opponents of Iran's accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations on combating money laundering, mostly from opponents of President Hassan Rouhani's government, argue that this would block the way for financial assistance to 'Hamas' and 'Hezbollah'. Commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and media affiliated with this institution, Friday prayer leaders, and other appointees of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic are the most serious opponents of the approval of bills related to the implementation of FATF regulations. Supporters of Iran's accession to this convention argue that its opponents fear economic transparency and the prevention of banking corruption. Abdolnaser Hemmati, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, on Thursday, referring to 'currency market fluctuations', mentioned a 'psychological factor' for the recent fluctuations in currency and gold prices as the 'FATF summit', but considered the main reason to be the 'approval of the freedom of entry of dozens of goods by border residents and sailors'. The one-week FATF summit ended on Friday, and in its final statement, it announced the extension of Iran's suspension from its blacklist for another four months. The two bills 'Palermo' and 'CFT', related to Iran's accession to conventions on combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and organized crime, have faced opposition from the Guardian Council and have been challenged in the Expediency Discernment Council. Besides the issue of the two bills in the Expediency Discernment Council, other reasons have also been mentioned for the sudden increase in the prices of currency and gold in Iran. For instance, the ISNA news agency quoted an economic expert who attributed the reason to the 'increased end-of-year demand for currency purchases'. Over the past year and a half, especially following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the price of the dollar in Iran has experienced significant fluctuations, and the inflation rate has also sharply increased. The International Monetary Fund has assessed Iran's inflation in 2018 to be above 29 percent and predicts a 35 percent inflation rate for the current calendar year. In response to the continuous increases in currency rates in Iran, judicial security officials have repeatedly reported the arrest of brokers or the closure of some exchange offices. In the latest case, Hassan Rahimi, the commander of Greater Tehran Police, announced last Tuesday the arrest of '20 currency brokers' in Tehran and stated that currently 'over 190 currency brokers' are in prison and 'the currency broker market in Sabzeh Meydan Ferdowsi and other areas of Tehran has been dismantled.'