President Sacks CBI Governor Over Presidential Candidacy
President Sacks CBI Governor Over Presidential Candidacy
President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed the central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, one of the few moderates running in a June 18 presidential election, who said he accepted the decision that he must step aside at the bank in order to stand for president.

TEHRAN (Iran News) –  President Sacks CBI Governor Over Presidential Candidacy. President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed the central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, one of the few moderates running in a June 18 presidential election, who said he accepted the decision that he must step aside at the bank in order to stand for president.

Hemmati, appointed central bank governor in 2018, is one of seven candidates for president, with the others after a vetting body, the Guardian Council, announced the vetted candidates.

Some media identified several possible candidates to succeed Hemmati at the bank, including Akbar Komeijani, a deputy governor of the bank, and Hamid Pourmohammadi, deputy head of the Budget and Planning Organization. The bank could not immediately be reached for comment.

But some media outlets claimed Pourmohammadi is to take helm of the CBI.

Some reports claimed that Komeijani, attended a meeting of the Rouhani administration’s economic coordination committee yesterday instead of the Central Bank Governor.

Later in the day, the news of his removal from office was confirmed by an informed source speaking to Mehr News Agency.

Komeijani was later named as the new Governor of the Central Bank, replacing Hemmati who is one of the seven candidates approved by the Guardian Council to run for president.

In a Saturday night discussion on the Clubhouse social media app, Hemmati said Rouhani had told him that he would have to stand down at the bank if he stands for president, “because it affects monetary and exchange rate policies”.

“I told him that I had no problem with his decision,” he said.

Abdol-Nasser Hemmati, the governor of Iran’s Central Bank and a candidate in the 2021 presidential election, says he should not be lumped together with those responsible for the economic status quo.

Writing on his Instagram page, Hemmati said he had been trying to change the economic situation of the country since two and a half years ago.

“Some individuals who themselves are responsible for the status quo say Hemmati’s performance is partially [to blame for] the current situation,” he said. “I have for the past two and a half years been partially responsible for changing the status quo not bringing it about.”

He implied that his monetary policies had saved the Iranian economy.

 

“If the past monetary and foreign exchange policies had been continued, there would have remained nothing to compete over,” he said, apparently referring to the presidential race.

The Rouhani administration has been the focus of much criticism for high inflation and rampant poverty in the country.