Iranian Regime MP: More Than $30 Billion Moved out of the Country in Recent Months

NCRI – Blaming Iran Central Bank’s ‘non-specialized and non-expert decisions’ as the reason behind foreign currency appreciation, head of Iranian regime parliament’s Economic Committee says that “more than $30 billion has been transferred out of the country in the final months of the last Persian year”, while giving no further details.

In an interview with state-run ISNA news agency on Monday March 26, Mohammad-Reza Pourebrahimi referred to the Central Bank’s measures to curb the value of foreign currencies during the closing weeks of the last Persian year as ‘totally non-expert and non-specialized’, saying that “more than $30 billion has been moved out of the country in the final months of the last Persian year.”

According to Pourebrahimi, “there’s still $20 billion that is held outside the country’s banking system.”

“With such a non-expert and non-specialized environment in Iran’s economy, it’s no wonder that people are encouraged to buy and hold foreign currencies, to an extent that by no means is consistent with real supply and demand in Iran’s economy and thus will lead to increased turmoil in the currency market.”

Head of regime parliament’s Economic Committee however did not give any details on how the amount has been transferred out of the country. But part of this transfer could be attributed to foreign currency quota offered by the government to Iranian passengers travelling abroad.

As regime’s head of Plan and Budget Organization ‘Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht’ had once said on December 14, 2017, “Iranian passengers travelling abroad carry out $9 billion worth of foreign currency each year.”

The regime MP’s comments on outflow of foreign currency are despite the Rouhani’s government officials accusing the previous government of transferring billions of dollars worth of foreign currency abroad or distributing it among ‘a few privileged exchange dealers’, apparently to control the currency market.

“In less than 18 months, $22 billion worth of foreign currency was transferred abroad and sold in Istanbul and Dubai markets, on the pretext of controlling the currency market” announced Rouhani’s first vice president ‘Eshaq Jahangiri’ a number of times before, while pointing his finger at the previous government.

Price of US Dollar on Monday March 26 surpassed the 5,000 toman barrier and reached at least 5,025 for the first time.

Meanwhile, Tehran MP ‘Mahmoud Sadeghi’ posted on his twitter account “I tried to contact the Central Bank officials to ask about their plan for monitoring the currency market. Turned out they were still on new year vacation!”

Some experts believe that the recent foreign currency appreciation is not just rooted in economic factors alone, saying that ambiguity over the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal as well as increasing regional conflicts are the major reasons behind sharp rise in foreign currency prices.

In the meantime, a number of regime MPs, including Jalal Mirzaee and Jalil Rahimi, have referred in the past few days to the appointment of John Bolton as the new White House National Security Advisor, saying it shows US President’s real intention to withdraw from the nuclear deal and increase pressure on Iran to accede to the deal’s proposed improvements.

The 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers has been repeatedly faced with harsh criticisms from US President Donald Trump, who has warned that he will no longer suspend Iran sanctions unless the deal’s ‘disastrous flaws’ are fixed.

The deadline announced by US President for fixing the nuclear deal will end on May 12, 2018.