28 Mar 2024
Wednesday 30 September 2015 - 12:07
Story Code : 182460

Inside Iran: 25 years working Tehrans currency corner

A few blocks from Tehran's Grand Bazaar, and across the street from the British embassy, the corner of Manouchehri Street is the heart of Iran's informal currency market.
It's the main open-air currency market in the city, a place where people can buy most of the major global currencies. Dollars and euros are the biggest sellers.

Iran currently has two exchange rates one formally fixed by the Central Bank of Iran and another informal, open market rate that's sold to the public via currency exchange shops and traders on street corners like Manouchehri.
Recently the government has tried to clamp down on traders who operate without licenses. Many of the traders here are working without formal permits and they don't like it when we try to film them.
One trader, Khosrow Abdi, agrees to speak. Hes been working on Manouchehri for 25 years and remembers how busy and frenetic the traders were when the rial suddenly lost its value a few years ago.
He says he hopes sanctions removal will improve things for the country as a whole, but he also says that they compelled authorities to implement better economic policies that have led to economic growth.
Iran and Sanctions: What You Need to Know



Iran has faced sanctions since 1979 Julys nuclear deal only suspends U.S. and E.U. sanctions related to its nuclear programme
First UN Security Council sanctions imposed in Dec. 2006. Sanctions on Iran's banks and crude oil exports followed, as did exclusion from SWIFT and financial markets
Lack of access to international banking hits Iranian sectors reliant on imports or with big export markets
By late 2012, Irans currency, the rial, loses around two-thirds of its value against the dollar; oil exports are slashed by more than half
By late 2013 Irans GDP contracts by 6.8 percent. New President Hassan Rouhani has a mandate to negotiate with the West and secure a relaxation of sanctions
The July 13 agreement does not end U.S. sanctions related to human rights, ballistic missiles, or U.S. assertions that Iran supports terrorist groups in the Middle East.

This article was written byGolnar Motevalli and Muhammad Darwish for Bloomberg Businees on Sept. 29, 2015.
https://theiranproject.com/vdcaiun6w49nay1.tgk4.html
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