Islam Times - Iran to receive more than $32bn of unblocked assets: CBI

Islam Times - The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has announced that Tehran will access more than $32 billion of unfrozen assets after sanctions removal.

CBI chief Valiollah Seif said Monday that $28 billion of the assets would go to the central bank and $4 billion will be transferred to the state treasury as the share of the government.

Iranian media reports also quoted Seif as saying that CBI has ordered the transfer of part of Iranian assets from Japan to Germany.

He said the unfreezing of assets after the implementation of Iran’s nuclear agreement with six world powers on Saturday also helped lower the costs of transfer by 10 to 15 percent.

The implementation of the agreement and the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions over its nuclear program was announced after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the Islamic Republic has remained committed to the nuclear agreement finalized in Vienna, on July 14, 2015, between Tehran and the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany.

Iran Forex

CBI governor noted Tuesday that a single foreign exchange system will be introduced in the country within six months.

Iran’s national currency, the rial, has been traditionally traded at two rates one being traded by CBI and the other one set by money changers.

The Iranian rial depreciated against the US dollar after the closing days of 2011 when Washington and its allies started imposing anti-Iran sanctions.

SWIFT Banking

Seif also made reference to Iranian banks’ bid to rejoin the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), noting that the system has been restored as all the preliminary measures to reconnect to SWIFT were already taken.

He further spoke of the opening of some one thousand LCs (Letters of Credit) at Iranian banks.