Separate private dollars from governmental ones!

The member of the Chamber of Commerce of Iran said, “The transparency of foreign currency incomes and the identification of the goods whose export income is to be delivered to the government or NIMA system are good policies, but it seems that the export foreign currency earnings which accounts for 10% of the total oil and non-oil revenue of the country should be separated from the government export revenue and allocated to government demands.”

 

According to ISNA, after the fluctuation of the foreign exchange market, the government launched a system called NIMA which is an integrated foreign currency system in order to make the foreign exchange market transparent. In this respect, it was determined that not only the USD of 4200Tomans will be dedicated for the registered import order but also the list of the exported goods is to be specified so that their export earnings are to be transparent in the NIMA system and deliver the USD obtained from their exports to the Central Bank at the of 4200Tomans and the foreign currency applicants can use the USD at the rate of 4200Tomans to import or meet their other requirements.

 

In this regard, Mohammad Reza Hariri, a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Iran, told ISNA, “No specified list of the exported items which are subject to the return of foreign currency earnings to NIMA system has not specified and announced yet. However, it has certainly become a necessity today to make the foreign exchange market clear, and all the foreign currency exchanges can be absolutely monitored by monetary and financial policy makers of the country, so there is another reason for why some do not believe in the NIMA system or the transparency of the foreign currency.”

 

He added, “Over between 85% and 90% of the foreign currency earnings come from the oil and petroleum products or non- oil exports by governmental sector or what is so-called privatized sector but it is in fact pseudo-governmental; therefore, if we are going to speak about 10% of the foreign currency which belongs to the private sector of the country, we should note that the major exported products of this sector are allocated to the commodities whose most of their deep structure is domestic or are produced and exported with more surplus value and less dependency on foreign currency and imports.”

 

The vice president of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce continued, “ In this regard, we need to consider a separate fund for this 10% amounting 10 billion USD per year to respond the small demands of foreign currency for the purpose of travel, university students or medical treatment and can organize the currency market.”

 

Hariri said, “Some believe there is no need to deliver the foreign currency export earnings to NIMA system and transparency in this respect. It is not right at all, and in my opinion the government took this measure and made a system to monitor the exchange market too late because over between 20 and 30 billion USD out flows the country illegally and is turned into villas and buildings or used for the imports of smuggled goods because they certainly need foreign currency for the imports.”

 

He stressed, “The government should first prevent the outflow of foreign currency, then it specifies the list for the businessmen so that everyone knows exactly what policy there is for the adjustment of the exchange market. Otherwise, we will witness the lack of domestic transparency will exacerbate the international pressure on Iran. However, the only antidote against the international pressure on Iran because of the lack of transparency can be the creation and the enhancement of transparency on domestic market.”