Iran’s Central Bank Is Failing to Stabilize Rial, Shargh Reports

Iran’s central bank needs a long- term policy to stabilize the domestic foreign-currency market, Shargh reported, citing Omid Karimian, a member of the parliament’s economic committee.

Recent fluctuations in the value of the dollar to Iran’s rial “are a testimony to the lack of solidity of our economy,” Karimian said, according to the Tehran-based newspaper. Variations show the “failure” of the central bank’s policy, he said, adding that the bank’s role mustn’t be only to inject dollars into the economy.

The dollar was sold for 18,300 rials on the open market yesterday, up 270 rials from the day before, according to the report. Though the central bank fixed the official exchange rate at 12,260 rials per dollar in an effort to stabilize the national currency, it hasn’t been able to enforce it as the sole rate or manage the gap between the official and the open-market rates, Shargh said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at lnasseri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net