Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif said the country’s cabinet members plan to approve a plan to replace the US dollar with euro in transactions with foreign countries.
The issue of changing the currency used in foreign transactions from the US dollar to euro is serious and its plan will be approved by the cabinet in the near future, Seif told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday.
He further pointed to the administration’s decision to unify the official and open market exchange rates and said it has had positive effects on the country’s economy.
The measures taken to control the currency market have short-time and long-time effects, the official said.
He went on to say that ruling the country’s economy and preventing it from being vulnerable to the enemies’ conspiracies are among the long-time effects of the decision.
Speaking at an open session of the parliament on Tuesday, Seif explained about the currency slide in recent days, during which the US dollar jumped up to 60,000 rials in the open market in Tehran while it was worth 36,000 rials in mid-September.
He pointed to the administration’s policy to unify the official and open market exchange rates, saying that the price of the US dollar would be 42,000 rials in both markets as of Tuesday.
The Iranian official further pointed to his meeting with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei about the currency slide on Monday and said during the session, he put forward a plan to replace the dollar with euro in foreign exchanges, which was welcomed by the Leader.
The Iranian rial hit a record low against the US dollar for the second time in two months in the past few days, prompting some currency dealers to suspend trading.
