Chief Banker Rejects Iran's Oil Revenues Fell in August

Mohammad Reza Farzin said on Monday that the CBI’s supply of hard currency to importers has remained unchanged in recent weeks as he rejected reports that an alleged fall in oil export revenues had affected the lender’s ability to respond to demands in the Iranian import market.

“The currency resources resulting from Iran’s oil exports have not changed compared to the previous month, and we expect that these resources will not decline (in the coming months),” Farzin said while speaking in a meeting in the northwestern city of Tabriz, Press TV reported.

He also said that the government will continue to allocate heavily subsidized hard currency to the imports of basic goods and animal feed.

The CBI spends more than $1 billion per month on subsidizing the imports of basic goods, medicine, and animal feed at a price of 285,000 rials per US dollar.

That comes as the free market price of the US dollar in Iran is nearly four times that rate at 1,050,000 rials.

Speculations about Iran’s declining oil revenues came last month after unconfirmed reports suggested that there had been a fall in the country’s oil exports following a 12-day war with the Israeli regime that ended in late June.

Oil Ministry officials have dismissed the reports, saying Iran’s oil exports remained almost unchanged even at the height of the war with Israel, and despite the restrictions on shipping in the Persian Gulf caused by the war.