JCPOA Had No Achievement for Iran’s Banking Sector
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – Former Central Bank of Iran’s Governor Valiollah Seif says the nuclear deal between Iran and P5+1, known as the JCPOA, failed to resolve Iran’s banking relations with foreign banks and criticized Iranian negotiating team for not including a banking expert in their team whom he had recommended.
Speaking to Fars News Agency, Seif said one of the major issues which he used to raise during meetings with President Hassan Rouhani and his economic team was about retaining peace and stability in the forex market, reiterating that the rate of forex should match the inflation rate.
He criticized the government for its efforts to suppress the rate of dollar in the forex market while the inflation was rising. Seif underscored that if the long-term forex policy were adopted based on the inflation rate, the price of the dollar could be between 14,000 to 15,000 tomans now, noting that the government wanted to keep the dollar price at a rate around 4,000 tomans which was impossible.
Seif stated that practically he was the governor of the CBI till late 2017 and since then, the government was actually in charge of the CBI and he had no role, reiterating he opposed the forex policy of 4200 tomans per dollar. He said the price of dollar since the beginning of the government in July 2013 rose to 4800 tomans by March 2018,namely,it rose 60 percent in five years.
He defended his policy, saying that 60 percent devaluation of the national currency in 5 years was nothing unusual and one should not forget all anti-Iran issues like forex restrictions and U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive propagations against Iran.
Seif said the government’s strategic mistake in 2016 was his illogical insistence for returning the price of dollar to 3700 tomans while experts believed that the rate of dollar should have passed 4000 tomans.
He said one of the root causes of the problems in the 12th government and its affiliated bodies especially in ministries like industry was that they could not have proper and timely reactions to the U.S threat of pulling out of the JCPOA and reimposition of the sanctions.
Seif noted that till the government’s decision for adopting the rate of 4200 tomans per dollar in March 2018, imports continued without any limitations and all policies were in line with support and development of imports, reiterating that imports without transfer of forex was one of the woes of the country.
He added that in early April of 2018, he submitted his resignation but the president asked him to wait till he could find a replacement.
Seif admitted that Mr. President had great expectations from the JCPOA like what he said in the early days of signing the deal that thousands of L/Cs were ready to open and it was because of misinformation.
He pointed to the banking mechanism of SWIFT which was nothing then and it is nothing now.
Seif added that after he said he thought the JCPOA had no achievement for the country, he received some calls which indicated the situation was not in his favor, emphasizing that what he said was his personal opinion and revelation of the truth and he could not change his words.
