Financial Tribune- Since the launch of the gold coin presale by the Central Bank of Iran on Feb. 17 to cool the market, some 600,000 coins worth 8 trillion rials($175 million) have been sold, the head of Banknote and Coin Issuance Department at CBI announced.

As part of its recent measures to stop the forex rally, CBI has issued one- and two-year certificates of deposit based on rial, but with a value linked to the euro or dollar, and has been offering gold coins with six-month and one-year maturities at fixed and preferential rates.

Masoud Rahimi was also quoted as saying by ISNA that the coins have sold at the price of 13 million rials ($291) for one-year maturity and 14 million rials ($313) for six-month maturity. He predicted that as the deadline for the sale of 20%-yield certificates of deposits comes to an end, demand for gold coins would increase.

Last week, CBI Governor Valiollah Seif announced that banks sold $22.5 billion worth of fixed one-year bonds in local currency in just one week after the bank offered one-year bonds at 20% interest.

In order to contain the seemingly unstoppable gold coin rally, CBI has resorted to auctions and presale of the coin at attractive prices.

According to Mohammad Keshti-Aray, the head of Iran Gold and Jewelry Union, the main reasons for the gold rally include the surge in foreign exchange rate and greater demand for safe haven investments such as gold.

As of Sunday, the benchmark Bahar Azadi gold coin fetched 15.9 million rials ($356), up by more than 1% compared with the previous day.