TEHRAN – More than $1.5 billion of foreign currency has been provided in the country’s foreign exchange secondary market (locally known as NIMA) for the imports of basic goods since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar month of Esfand (February 20, 2020), IRIB reported.

According to the Public Relations Department of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), the mentioned foreign currency was provided by the CBI and the country’s non-oil exporters and was used, mostly, for the imports of medicine, healthcare and hygiene products.

As reported, exchange rates in this market have been stable based on the market supply and demand, and the proper supply of foreign currency by the non-oil exporters in addition to the central bank supplies have even reduced the exchange rates in the market.

In the past few years, the Iranian Oil Ministry has urged all the country’s petrochemical companies to inject the foreign currency earned from the exports of their products into the secondary market (the Forex Management Integrated System) on a regular basis.

NIMA, which seeks to boost transparency and competitiveness among exchange shops and is providing a secure environment for traders, is a new chance for importers to supply their required foreign currency without specific problems and for exporters to re-inject their earned foreign currency to the domestic forex market.

The secondary foreign exchange market was inaugurated in early July 2018 to allow exporters of non-oil commodities to sell their foreign currency earnings to importers of consumer products.

EF/MA