Concerns about the closure of the Iraqi window exacerbate the collapse of the Iranian currency

Concerns about the closure of the Iraqi window exacerbate the collapse of the Iranian currency



3 Hours Ago

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran's currency continues to decelerate to 140,000 riyals in the dollar on Monday as the financial and economic crises, which are poised to worsen as oil exports are tightened in November, are on the rise.

The government had relaxed its repressive financial measures at the beginning of last month and allowed the parallel market to trade foreign currencies freely after it was required to deal with an official price not supported by market realities of about 42 thousand riyals to the dollar.

This led to a relative stability in the exchange rate at about 109 thousand riyals to the dollar, but it has fallen in the fall of free during the past two days, and led to growing resentment among Iranians chasing foreign currencies, fearing the evaporation of the value of their savings.

Some attributed the reason for the decline to the announcement of the central bank on the expansion of restrictions on the spending of financial reserves, but others pointed out that the decline coincided with the likelihood of forming an Iraqi government does not include supporters of Iran in Baghdad.

Iraq is the largest window of economic continuity in Iran under the unprecedented US sanctions, which entered into force on August 7. The Iranian economy is expected to be suffocated with the second phase coming into effect on November 5.

Observers believe that the collapse of the riyal reflects the weighting of parliamentary blocs against the influence of Iran in the efforts to form a new government, which can tend to comply with US sanctions, which reduces the windows to circumvent the sanctions.

The apparent spark, which triggered many concerns over the announcement by central bank governor Abdel Nasser Hamti early in the week, of stricter restrictions on the allocation of foreign exchange reserves.

These statements were intended to calm the markets' concerns, but they led to the opposite result. The extent of the Iranians' concerns has shown the difficulties the country will face in the coming weeks and months.

"The economic and political situation in Iran has become strained," said Iranian economic journalist Meziar Mutamadi. "Any comment from senior officials aimed at calming the market provokes negative reactions."

70 percent of the loss of the Iranian currency since the United States withdrew from the nuclear agreement in May

The central bank already places strict limits on the amount of foreign exchange it injects into the market. Commodity importers are given foreign currencies at an official exchange rate of 42,000 riyals to the dollar.

Mass protests erupted in more than 80 Iranian cities in December and January and have continued sporadically across the country since then due to deteriorating living conditions.

The slogans of the demonstrators increased to call for the overthrow of the regime and not to squander the country's wealth to intervene in neighboring countries, one of the main demands of the countries of the region and the American administration and was a major reason for the imposition of sanctions.

These protests in recent months included truck drivers and farmers to the bazaar traders in Iran, because of the impact of the economic crisis on their businesses.

Observers say the collapse of the current riyal does not reveal the size of the crisis because of the scarcity of foreign currencies. They confirmed that large numbers of Iranians were willing to pay higher prices for any foreign currency but did not find it in the money exchange offices, which closed or wrote that they did not own foreign currencies.

The first phase of US sanctions entered into force on Aug. 7, which imposed a ban on Iran's handling of dollars, gold and metals, and banned gold, precious metals, industrial, industrial software, automobile and carpet trade.

Tehran will receive the toughest blow as the second phase of US sanctions enters into force on Nov. 5, which will impose restrictions on Iran's oil industry and hunt down companies and countries dealing with Iranian oil, which is Iran's sole lifeline.

The rapid decline in economic conditions, despite the fact that Tehran still exports about 2.3 million barrels per day of crude oil, which indicates the magnitude of the economic disaster waiting for the closure of export outlets.

The United States says it wants to deliver Iranian oil exports to zero, and has refused to talk about any exemptions so far, but analysts say their exports could fall by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day.

Although many countries, such as Germany, France and Britain, have repeatedly declared their opposition to US sanctions, their companies have refused to continue to deal with Tehran because of fear of sanctions.

Observers believe that the Iranian street is close to total despair and that it no longer distinguishes between reformists and militants, and stressed that the explosion of mass protests has become a matter of time no more, with Tehran heading for the knockout strike to restrict oil exports in November.

The Arabs

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