Iran's foreign currency policy slows down exports

By Trend

Iran's exporters are looking to fix the issues with the country's current foreign currency policy, amid the COVID-19 restrictions and the US sanctions, Trend reports via IRNA.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has insisted on export diversity and empowerment of structures in his recent speech, but the Central Bank of Iran's policy of returning foreign currency revenues from exports, has slowed down the process.

"The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) should allow the export foreign currency revenues will be sold with high rate through the NIMA system, to encourage exporters bring back more foreign currency, said member of Tehran Chamber of Commerce Hamid Reza Salehi.

"Although the CBI has a monitoring role but its policies should not prevent export opportunities. The purchase of foreign currency from NIMA is not profitable for exporters, as in the free market the rate is higher," said Salehi.

He said that Iran needs a separate organization that would be managing exports.

"The process of decision making is divided, since there are various organizations involved in this field for example the Export Guarantee Fund is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade , while the Export Development Bank is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs," he said.

"Exporters also face issues of returning value added tax that is quite heavy for productive units," he added.