CBI Urges Exporters to Repatriate Hard Currency Earnings
IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK
TEHRAN – Iran’s Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati on Sunday said exporters who have not transferred their foreign currency earnings to the government FOREX system will be summoned for explanations.
In a note about the reasons for the drastic devaluation of the national currency, Hemmati said that the deadline for declaring foreign currencies received from exports was two weeks ago and cannot be extended. Hemmati threatened exporters with summons, in cooperation with the country’s Judiciary.
On Sunday Mohsen Zanganeh, a lawmaker and member of the Parliament’s Planning and Budget Committee, said exporters had kept $20 billion earned from exports outside the country. According to Zanganeh, exporters say they need the government to give them certain guarantees before they transfer the currencies back to Iran.
Exporters keep their money in foreign banks rather than transferring it back to the country because of lack of confidence due to Iran’s economic crisis and the huge devaluation of its currency.
The regulations introduced by the government require exporters to transfer the foreign currencies they receive from their customers to the newly introduced government FOREX system knows as Unified FOREX Transactions System (NIMA) where it would be used to meet the foreign currency needs of importers.
The government said the purpose of the new policy was to direct imports into legal channels, ensure sufficient and fair amount of foreign currencies to importers on a priority basis (essential commodities first) as well as prevention of hard currency smuggling and money laundering.
