In response to the continuous devaluation of the Iranian rial, Abdolnasser Hemmati, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), rejected assertions of a severe foreign exchange shortage for imports, claiming that a significant portion of the current pressure on the forex market stems from “precautionary, speculative, and capital flight demand.”
According to Hemmati, despite wartime conditions in Iran, severe international restrictions, and trade disruptions, “the allocation of foreign currency for imports since the beginning of the year has decreased by only 15 percent compared to the same period last year.”
The Central Bank Governor further asserted that when commercial demand is not facing a “severe forex shortage,” much of the pressure observed in the foreign exchange market must be attributed to “increased precautionary demand, speculation, and capital flight.”
This claim comes despite President Masoud Pezeshkian’s explicit acknowledgment of a severe foreign currency shortage for fuel imports, as well as repeated official statements identifying currency deficits as a primary cause of critical shortages in raw pharmaceutical materials across Iran.
Meanwhile, in recent days, the Iranian rial experienced another historic slump, with the US dollar reaching an unprecedented high of 223,000 tomans on the open market.
Three days before these statements, the CBI Governor claimed that Iran possessed “sufficient” foreign currency and that the central bank stood ready to inject up to $2 billion into the market if necessary, an announcement that failed to halt the upward trajectory of foreign currency rates in Iran’s domestic market.
On Friday, September 4, Hemmati claimed that the central bank had bolstered its foreign currency reserves in recent months and maintained adequate funds to meet the country’s commercial needs. However, he provided no specific figures regarding accessible reserves, an assertion that contrasts with his earlier admissions that the United States had blocked Iran’s access to a portion of its overseas financial reserves.
He promised that the central bank would not remain a passive spectator to “abnormal market fluctuations” and would intervene using foreign currency reserves whenever exchange rates diverged from what he termed “fundamental economic realities.”
Hemmati also announced the upcoming launch of “gold coin options trading” in the coming days, stating that the central bank is preparing additional financial instruments to preserve public assets and prevent precautionary demand for savings preservation from directly entering the spot forex market.
iranwire.com