The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) for international affairs said the ground has been paved for the exchange of goods using the Iranian rial with Afghanistan and Russia, which have signed bilateral monetary pacts with Iran.
Given that Iranian businesspersons have to exchange goods with the currencies of other countries, in dollars and euros, for imports and exports and face problems in the currency rate fluctuations, suitable ways have been created to gradually expand transactions using rials, Mohsen Karimi stated, reported Tasnim news agency.
He pointed to the ‘offshore rial’ initiative, which has recently been launched by the CBI, and said it paves the way for traders to do their business in rials instead of other currencies.
In most countries, exporters are duty bound to provide currency for their countries. For this reason, exporters in some countries including Iran are committed to returning the currency to the country which is called a ‘currency pact’, he said, adding, “As long as exporters carry out their export activities using rial, they will not face any problem in this respect.”
Afghanistan and Russia have signed bilateral monetary pacts with Iran, he said, expressing hope that the necessary platforms will be paved for importing and exporting goods with neighboring Iraq in rial as well.
Earlier, Karimi said that the offshore rial will become operational within the next few months to help economic activists of the country do their transactions with any country in the national currency.
The feasibility studies for the launch of this plan started six months ago and it is hoped that this comprehensive plan will become operational within the next few months, the deputy CBI added.
In November, the governor of CBI announced the sidelining of the US dollar in trade-economic exchanges between Tehran and Damascus.
In a meeting with Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous in Damascus, Mohammadreza Farzin pointed to the development of banking and monetary relations between the two countries and emphasized the removal of the American Greenback in mutual trade.