Iran’s rial starts recovering losses: Report

Iran’s foreign currency market is witnessing signs of stability after a government decision to inject tens of millions of dollars into the market caused prices of international currencies to fall.

Tasnim News Agency said in a report that the rial was recovering in late trade on Tuesday hours after hitting lows never seen before.

The rial was trading at 196,000 against the dollar in the market in downtown Tehran, said the report, adding that prices would further drop as people were queuing to sell their foreign banknotes.

The rial had fallen to as much as 205,000 against the greenback in the early morning trade on Tuesday, the lowest seen for the currency ever.

Tasnim said the rebound was mainly because an exchange dealer linked to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) had started injecting some $55 million to the market to bring the prices down.

The injection came after President Hassan Rouhani said that the shock felt in the foreign exchange market was temporary and balance would soon return to the market.

Rouhani said that soaring prices had no economic logic and were in line with efforts to create an unrealistic anxiety among people.

Experts said currency prices would further fall in the upcoming days as the CBI will continue injections while it is forcing the hands of businesses involved in exports to bring their hard currency into a secondary market for currency exchange.

The CBI said in a statement on Tuesday that exporters who have refused to exchange the hard currency earned from foreign trade would have their names and identities publicized in the media if they fail to bring the money into the secondary market until July 21.