iran currency tumbles 17 to new low
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Iran currency tumbles 17% to new low

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Iran currency tumbles 17% to new low

Tehran - AFP

Iran's currency plummeted around 17 percent in trading on Monday, according to media and an online exchange website, severely adding to strains on the Islamic republic's sanctions-hit economy. The currency, the rial, weakened to 34,500 to the dollar by the end of the day's trading, according to the Mesghal.com website, a drop of 16.6 percent compared to the previous day's rate of 29,600. The Mehr news agency said the rial fell 18 percent to 35,000. The rial has lost more than 80 percent of its value compared with the end of last year, when it was worth 13,000 to the dollar. Visitors to the money-changing area in central Tehran said registered dealers were no longer selling dollars in their shops, leaving the market to informal traders in the street -- a situation resulting in dollars becoming scarce and thus much more expensive. Iran is suffering heightened geopolitical tensions over its nuclear programme and the effects of draconian Western economic sanctions curbing access to its reduced oil exports. It also is burdened with high inflation and rising unemployment. The rial's plunge on Monday was largely censored online. Websites that usually give real-time currency data, such as Mazanex.com, had the dollar rate for the rial blanked out. The Iranian-hosted version of Mesghal (mesghal.ir) disappeared half-way through the day to be replaced with the message "Account Suspended". The fall sent a shock through Iranian companies. "It's a disaster," a manager of a business in Iran's import sector told AFP on condition of anonymity. "One business lady was really crying, she was losing millions of dollars." The Fars news agency said money changers in Tehran were hoarding dollars. "We do not know what will happen in the coming days, we do not know what the government will do," it quoted one money changer saying. The official news agency IRNA quoted a spokesman for Iran's money changers' association, Nosrat Ezzati, as saying the latest rates for the rial "are artificial as no real exchange is happening in the market." While Western sanctions curbing Iran's ability to export oil or to make financial transactions abroad were certainly having an impact, blame for the situation was also being put on economic mismanagement. The government has in recent weeks excluded almost all importers from buying dollars at its official rate of 12,260 rials per dollar, encouraging them instead to use a new "exchange centre" where the rate was fixed daily at a small discount to the open-market rate. That has sharply increased consumer prices and spurred the rial's fall. "This centre has helped accelerate the soaring dollar rate," one economics columnist, Hirad Hatami, told AFP. But he stressed "there is also the issue of speculation... this is a bubble which is rooted in the operation of the exchange centre." Mahmoud Bahmani, the head of Iran's central bank, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as predicting: "The effects of the foreign exchange trading centre will gradually emerge in the free exchange prices." Ordinary Iranians are increasingly struggling with the resulting inflation, which was officially put at 23 percent even before the latest plunge of the rial. "Prices are rising every day and it just doesn't stop," said Khosro, a retiree who gave only his first name. He was forced to work as a taxi driver to boost his diminishing pension, he said. Even locally made products were becoming more costly in Iran's supermarkets. "The price of my toothpaste, a foreign brand, has tripled in just a few months. Now, I'm buying an Iranian one, but it has also nearly doubled in price," said Maryam, a young shopper.

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

iran currency tumbles 17 to new low iran currency tumbles 17 to new low

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

iran currency tumbles 17 to new low iran currency tumbles 17 to new low

 



GMT 10:06 2012 Saturday ,28 July

Querrey advances at ATP LA Open

GMT 21:15 2017 Thursday ,01 June

Trump condemns deadly Kabul explosion

GMT 02:15 2017 Thursday ,24 August

Is your country on the Qatar free entry list of 80?

GMT 19:48 2016 Monday ,03 October

Controversial boxing champ Tyson Fury retires

GMT 08:20 2015 Tuesday ,08 December

PC market woes show no sign of easing

GMT 17:27 2017 Tuesday ,25 April

20 Yemeni soldiers killed, injured in explosion

GMT 11:52 2017 Saturday ,30 December

OIC condemns Mar Mina Church attack

GMT 00:03 2017 Saturday ,25 March

Arab Meeting to Examine Anti-Corruption Methods

GMT 13:12 2017 Thursday ,20 April

Deputy premier meets Arab League chief

GMT 14:13 2014 Friday ,10 January

Opel Astra GTC

GMT 18:27 2016 Tuesday ,02 August

Turkish Foreign Minister arrives in Islamabad

GMT 11:27 2016 Tuesday ,13 December

Saudi woman arrested for challenging social norms
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday