TEHRAN – The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor has urged the International Monetary Fund to put politics aside and do its professional duties in regard to Iran’s requests for financial aid during crises, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I would like to repeat that all UN organizations, say the IMF or WHO, should stay away from politics and deliver on their institutional mandates,” Abdolnaser Hemmati said in an interview with Bloomberg published on April 19.

The CBI governor had written to IMF last month to request $5 billion from its Rapid Financing Initiative, an emergency program that gives loans to countries facing with sudden shocks such as natural disasters.

It was Tehran’s first request for IMF loan since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s request from IMF was then disputed by the U.S. as the senior officials in the Trump administration said Iran's government has billion-dollar accounts still at its disposal.

Iranian officials seriously blamed the U.S. interfering in the issue, saying that United States has no right to prevent the International Monetary Fund from giving loan to Iran.

On April 9, Hemmati wrote on his Instagram page, “We expect the IMF to immediately respond to the request of Iran which itself is a founding member of the fund.”

The same day, President Hassan Rouhani said that the IMF must fulfil its duties unbiasedly.

Also, government spokesperson Ali Rabiei said in a press conference on April 13, “From the legal point of view, the United States is not in the position to obstruct the legal performance of institutions and international organizations”.

The following is the text of the interview published by Bloomberg.

Q: Can you give the latest developments on your recent request for financing from the IMF?

A: This is not recent and I believe we were among the first countries who requested support through a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) on March 6, 2020, more than 40 days ago. Remember, we were among the first five countries who were hit hard by the coronavirus and when the managing director of the IMF announced that the IMF is ready to help countries using the RFI, we, as one of the member countries, submitted our request to access this facility.

We have provided all the information and the data that the IMF requires to evaluate our eligibility. This information and the latest economic data are all available in the Central Bank of Iran’s website. I have also written a letter to the IMF’s managing director and expressed our appreciation for what the IMF is doing around the world and have urged her to take our request to the Board of the IMF soon.

Q: The U.S. has said it will block the application and is opposed to the request. What’s your response to the U.S. government position?

A: We have not asked the United Sates for help! We have asked the IMF for support: an international, apolitical institution affiliated with the UN, and for which, we were one of the founder members and contributors over the past 75 years. The United States is a member of the IMF as all 190 or so other countries. The last time I checked, the United States is not running the IMF, but it’s management and the Board of Governors who oversee the work and ensure that the IMF delivers on its mandate. But I would like to repeat that all UN organizations, say the IMF or WHO, should stay away from politics and deliver on their institutional mandates.

Q: The U.S. argues that Iran has enough of its own resources, that it has plenty of assets that it can use within the country to help with the coronavirus outbreak and it says that Iran won’t use the money for humanitarian needs, but for other activities such as regional policies, what’s your response to that?

A: Let me answer your question by looking at the conditions for the RFI’s eligibility and then address your concerns. According to the IMF, the RFI is designed to help a member country with immediate financial support once the country is faced with an exogenous shock that opens a financing gap in the balance of payments. The IMF then would like to ensure that the country is able to repay the fund and the country’s public debt is sustainable, these are all good. In our case, we were faced with a negative exogenous shock when the coronavirus hit us. Our estimates show that to contain the spread of the virus, strengthen our healthcare system and protect the frontline personnel in hospitals and elsewhere, and help our people who have lost their jobs, we would need an additional 10 billion euros in our external financing, this is about 2% of our GDP. This is an established fact and we have shared this information with the IMF. Obviously, we have more than enough foreign reserves to cover this shortfall, but the unilateral U.S. sanctions has limited our access. If they want us to use our own resources rather than IMF’s facilities, why don’t they listen to many voices in the U.S. congress and ease the sanctions?

On the second point, we have enough reserves to repay the IMF, through channels that we have already used to pay our contributions to the IMF during these many years. And lastly, our public debt is also well below the threshold that is perceived to be sustainable for emerging economies. These are facts and I am confident that the IMF staff knows well.

In terms of how we will use this loan, I have already communicated to the IMF’s management, that the INSTEX and SHTA are readily available vehicles. These are specifically designed to help us import food and medicine. These channels have proper safeguarding mechanisms in place to address all concerns, if any. Besides, this is a good chance to activate these channels as many European countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain are trying to activate.

Q: How realistic are you about getting the loan? What will you do if the IMF rejects the request?

A: I am very hopeful they will support the people of Iran during this extraordinary crisis that has affected every country in the world, and we included. We have lost so many lives, as the Americans and Europeans have lost, and my thoughts and prayers goes with them. I have been informed that the European countries are supportive of our efforts, I am sure that other countries around the world would also support Iran’s request. Once again, I call on IMF’s management and Ms. Georgieva personally, to take this matter seriously. We want IMF management to take our RFI request to its Executive Board; this is the only thing we want. Ms. Georgieva should put the politics aside and discharge her professional duties. The IMF is very much similar to a firefighter in the neighborhood, once a house is on fire, it should come to the rescue, and not look for the biggest homeowner in the neighborhood and ask for his permission to act. The time to act is now, history will judge us all and that judgment will not be as easy as we might think.

Q: You mention that Iran has foreign reserves to cover the shortfall. Is that money that is frozen overseas because of sanctions? Are you calling on the U.S. to allow those reserves to be diverted into the Swiss payment vehicle and INSTEX?

A: Yes, as you know well, Central Bank reserves are under U.S. sanctions overseas, which is illegal and unilateral, and I want to be clear about this. What we are saying is that the sanctions should be lifted altogether, however, sadly, there are actors in the U.S. government that have little regards for international law and order. The U.S. treasury has declared the Swiss channel as a vehicle for humanitarian purposes, the INSTEX is also designed for importing food and medicine, if the U.S. is honest about its claims, we should also be able to use our own reserves in these two channels.

Q: How much money does Iran have frozen in overseas accounts because of sanctions?

A: We publish our reserves figures in our balance of payments accounts, the numbers are in line with what we had over the past few years.

Q: What is the breakdown of your IMF request? How much is it money that Iran has paid into the Fund and how much is a loan?

A: There is no such breakdown. The IMF is like a credit union, member countries contribute to it over the years in a hope that the IMF would provide them and other countries loans when they need. In line with IMF regulations and access limits, we have requested about 3.6 billion SDR [Standard Drawing Rights] in the form of RFI; this equals to 100% of our quota at the IMF, and it should come from the pool of resources that the IMF has put together to fight the recent coronavirus crisis.