Iran: MPs Propose Motion To Ditch US Dollar In Foreign, Domestic Trade

A number of Iranian lawmakers have put forward a motion to completely remove the US dollar from the transactions made in foreign and domestic trade.

According to the motion, which has been received by the presiding board of the parliament, any public or private transaction in US dollar would be prohibited.

The law would be enforceable 60 days after being passed, according to the motion.

“Holders of the (US) dollar have a deadline to convert their dollars into commodities and rials or other currencies until the date of the implementation of this law,” the motion says.

Last April, the Iranian cabinet approved a plan to replace the US dollar with euro in reporting foreign currency amounts.

Foreign currency values began to rise in Iran after the US withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and announced plans for a fresh wave of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

There was growing demand for dollars among ordinary Iranians, who feared more plunge in the value of their assets and growing price of goods, even those not imported from abroad.

But the country soon took measures to arrest the national currency’s downward spiral.

Rial began to bounce back against US dollar later in the year after the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) unveiled a new package of regulations on foreign currency trade which lifted a ban on the activity of money exchange market