STRUGGLING AGAIN

December 31, 2021

The rial is continuing its decline. The currency passed 300,000 to the dollar on December 4, according to the Bonbast website, and has been above 300,000 every day since then but six.  The price as of December 30 was 299,700 to the dollar.  That is still far from the record high of 322,000 on October 15, 2020.  But the price that month was above 300,000 for only eight days; it was just a brief spike.

When President Raisi was inaugurated August 5, the dollar sold for 255,000.  So, the rial has now lost 18 percent of its value under Raisi.  The regime, meanwhile, has resorted to its usual heavy-handed efforts to control prices, arresting 42 money changers and closing 20 currency exchange outlets in Tehran while accusing them of trying to manipulate the market.

The state tax office also announced that at some point in the future it will begin to tax all foreign currency purchases at the rate of 10 percent, which would likely drive all currency deals to the black market.  Most analysts attribute the rial’s decline to the widespread expectation that no nuclear deal will be reached and sanctions will not be lifted.