TEHRAN - Governor of Iran Central Bank (CBI) Mohammadreza Farzin has urged the need for prioritizing the use of offshore rial in trade exchanges with Russia as he said the operational measures have been finalized in this regard.

Farzin made the remarks in a meeting with the president and other senior members of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) where deputies of the ministers of agriculture and industry were also present.

Referring to CBI achievements in restoring major financial indexes such as liquidity rate, inflation and monetary base to the long-term levels, Iran’s chief banker stressed that the CBI has plans this year to stabilize the forex market through the Iran Center for Currency and Gold Exchange.        

He also said that the enemies are struggling to destabilize the Iranian forex market and increase inflationary expectations, and urged the economic activists to help the central bank in curbing inflation and strengthening production.

Also speaking during the meeting, Mohsen Karimi, the deputy CBI governor for international affairs, said that the CBI is pursuing the use of offshore rial for trade with Russia, Afghanistan, and Iraq while noting that the mechanism has nearly been finalized for trade with Russia and will be operationalized soon.

He predicted that Iran and Russia would be able to carry out 1 to 1.5 billion dollars of their trade exchanges in offshore rial.

Karimi added that the CBI is still in talks with Afghan and Iraqi officials in this regard.

In the meantime, ICCIMA Head Samad Hassanzadeh hailed CBI measures in calming the foreign exchange market in spite of different political disputes across the region.

He demanded more increased cooperation between the CBI and Iran Chamber of Commerce for regulating trade processes.

Yahya Al-e Eshaq, a member of the ICCIMA, also addressed the meeting, calling for the adoption of measures that would ensure the participation of all the business actors, including those active in the areas of imports and exports, in policy makings.

Also speaking during the meeting, Majidreza Hariri, the chairman of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce, said that the real private-sector exporters who have no connections with state-owned companies have to be identified and be allocated foreign currencies at preferential rates based on their areas of activity.

EF/