By Xinhua

TEHRAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran plans to launch forex bourse to regulate its currency value against foreign currencies.

Hassan Qalibaf-Asl, managing director of Iran's Security Exchange Organization, has said that infrastructures are ready to launch foreign exchange market in Iran in the near future, Tehran Times daily reported on Wednesday.

Qalibaf-Asl said that a special working group has been formed by the Iranian Central Bank to study different aspects of the issue.

On Sept. 5, Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini said that Iran's foreign exchange trading market would be opened by the end of the current Iranian calendar month of Shahrivar (Sept. 21), aiming to create a balance between the official and free market rates of foreign currencies, according to the report.

The official exchange rate for the U.S. dollar, announced by Iran's Central Bank, stands at 1 U.S. dollars for 12,260 Rials.

The Central Bank of Iran has approved general outlines of launching a foreign exchange market, Hosseini was quoted as saying.

Since 2012, Iran's currency value has significantly slumped against foreign currency. The Iranian currency came under heavy pressure in January after the U.S. sanctions on Iran's Central Bank was announced.

Last week, Iran's currency value depreciated further against foreign currency in the street market of Tehran as 1 U.S. dollar was exchanged for about 26,000 Rials, the lowest since the beginning of the new Iranian year, which started on March 20, whereas a year ago the same amount of U.S. dollar was traded for 13,000 Rials.

According to analysts, the Iranian Rial's value suffers further depreciation due to the mismanagement of the country's economic and financial sector and as Western sanctions tighten against Iran 's financial, energy and petrochemical sectors over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear program.

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.