Iran private sector has welcomed a plan by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to use offshore rial in trade exchanges with Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a letter to CBI Governor Mohammad-Reza Farzin on Monday, President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Hossein Selahvarzi hailed the CBI plan as a “wise measure”.
He called on the CBI chief to elaborate on the plan so that the local chambers of commerce across the country will be able to inform the businesspeople on the new mechanism for settlement of their exchanges with the neighboring countries.
During a visit to Mashhad Chamber of Commerce in Khorasan Razavi Province on Sunday, the CBI governor announced that the country is scheduled to finalize a plan for using “offshore rial” in foreign exchanges by the end of the current calendar year to March 20.
He said that this mechanism has been devised for the settlement of exchanges of goods and services which will facilitate trade with countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.
The CBI chief stated that offshore currencies are among tools that are used by some countries so as to give a boost to the use of their national currencies in trade and help manage their forex reserves.