Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Iran's Rial Plunges as Pandemic, Sanctions Hit Economy


Sat 10 Oct 2020 | 11:57 PM
Taarek Refaat

The Iranian rial fell to a new low against the dollar on Saturday due to pressures from the pandemic and U.S. sanctions.

According to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com, the dollar was sold at 304,300 riyals in the black market from 295.940 riyals on Friday.

The news platform "Donya-e-Eqtesad" set the dollar rate at 303,300 up 6,000 rials from Friday.

The official exchange rate, used for imports of state-subsidized food and medicine, is set at 42,105 riyals per dollar.

The Iranian currency lost about 56% of its value in 2020 as low oil prices exacerbated the economic crisis in the country, which also has the highest coronavirus death toll in the region.

Meantime, Washington intensifies pressure on Tehran weeks ahead of the US elections, imposing new sanctions on Iran's financial sector on Thursday, targeting 18 banks to further stall Iranian revenues.

Abdolnaser Hemmati, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran rejected the sanctions, describing them as political propaganda and downplaying their practical impact.

"Banks that were party to the agreement with Iran two years ago, decided to continue dealing with Iran," Hemmati was quoted by Iranian media as saying.

Finally, U.S. sanctions may prevent European and foreign banks from doing business with Iran, even in humanitarian transactions.