TEHRAN – Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafeie has criticized the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)’s policies regarding the issues pertaining to the returning of the export revenues into the country’s economy.

Speaking in the 99th dialogue council of the government and the private sector which was held in Tehran on Monday, Shafeie said: “The CBI policies have induced people to believe that the exporters are to be blamed for all the country’s forex market problems, while Iran Chamber is looking for a joint solution with the Central Bank to solve these problems.”

Representatives of the Iranian private sector have repeatedly criticized the CBI’s strict policies on the return of the export revenues into the Integrated Forex Management System (locally known as NIMA).

They have constantly voiced concern over the central bank's performance and its pressures on the private sector regarding the mentioned issue, calling it counterproductive.

"Despite the fact that the policy package of the Central Bank has recently been approved by the Article 2 Committee, it has obliged exporters to return 80 percent of their export income in the form of foreign currency remittances and 20 percent in the form of banknotes as of the beginning of this year, which is not practical,” ICCIMA Board Member Keyvan Kashefi said back in July.

According to the representatives of the private sector, the continuation of the CBI’s current policies will lead to the withdrawal of real economic actors from the country's economic scene.

They believe that in the current situation, the confrontation between the private sector and the government is not in the interest of the economy, and the government should not blame the shortage of foreign currency on the private sector.

During the 99th meeting, too, the ICCIMA mentioned some of the problems that the exporters are currently facing in fulfilling their obligations regarding the re-injection of their foreign currency earnings into the country’s economy and offered some solutions for such problems.

Central Bank of Iran offers the country’s exporters and importers foreign currency with official rates and expects them to return the equal of the currency that they have received into the country’s economic cycle.

EF/MA