Hourly Increase in Dollar Rate in Iran; Expert: Capital Market is 'Completely' Abandoned

The rates of gold, dollar, and other foreign currencies in the free market of Iran faced a severe hourly increase on Wednesday, February 4. By the time this report was prepared, the dollar rate had reached '55,700 tomans' and each full coin known as 'Imami plan' was sold for '32 million and 900 thousand tomans'. According to the momentary announcement of the website Banasb, which reports foreign currency and gold rates in the Iranian market, just one hour before this news was prepared, the price of each US dollar had increased by '250 tomans' and each gold coin 'Imami plan' had increased by '100 thousand tomans'. The turbulence in Iran's financial markets has been significant in recent days, as the price of the US dollar was less than 54,000 tomans on Sunday, February 1, and has approached the 56,000 tomans mark within three days. According to a report by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the overall stock index fell by 26,000 units to reach two million and 129 thousand units at the end of trading on Tuesday, February 3, with 916 billion tomans of real money leaving the stock market. According to the newspaper 'Jahan Sanat', Vahid Shaghaghi Shahr, an economist in Iran, emphasized that 'there is no management in the capital market' and 'this market is completely abandoned.' According to this economist, 'each ministry and each organization continuously issues instructions and also changes them.' Shaghaghi Shahr also emphasized that 'in the issued resolutions, the rates and key variables affecting the capital market are constantly manipulated, and these changes create confusion,' and 'in this situation, shareholders buy shares, but later see that a sudden resolution negatively impacts the profitability of companies.' Additionally, Siamak Ghasemi, an economic expert in Iran, referred to the range of fluctuations in coin transactions, attributing it to 'arrest and detention policies' and 'disrupting markets by orders,' stating on social media X that this trend 'has no other benefit than directing people's capital to unofficial and cash markets,' and officials 'have never thought about the root causes other than closing and restricting.' The rising wave of gold and currency rates in the Iranian market comes while livelihood protests are continuously occurring in various cities. Also see: Protests by retirees and strikes by workers of the National Industrial Steel Group of Ahvaz. Jamshid Damouei, an economist, referring to 'fake numbers' in the 1403 budget bill of the Islamic Republic, told the Persian section of Voice of America that a 'greater inflation' in Iran should be expected. Jamshid Asadi, an economist, also told Voice of America that the economy of the Islamic Republic has collapsed, and the reason it has not yet fallen apart is that there is still no replacement for it.