Iranian Rial

[markb57]

yep, need a unified rate and a new rate to the dollar and a place to exchange......HIT THE BIG RED BUTTON!

[jaman]

On 4/11/2017 at 0:59 PM, Freedomwish said:

I just caught this here....this date falls a week before the first sundown of Ramadan.....who knows, but will keep the faith.  

Thanks Screwball 

nothing gets Done during Ramadan...as we have seen MANY YEARS

[Freedomwish]

2 hours ago, jaman said:

nothing gets Done during Ramadan...as we have seen MANY YEARS

I hear ya.....still keeping the faith for anything to happen at all this year! 

[screwball]

 

Positive outcomes of JCPOA cannot be downplayed: Zarif- 12 minutes ago

All News

April 15, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Code: 82492919 (5923350) | Date: 15/04/2017 | Time: 09:01|

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Iran, Pakistan ink deal on banking cooperation

Islamabad, April 15, IRNA - An agreement on Banking and Payment Arrangement (BPA) was signed between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran (BMJII) on Friday in Tehran; a deal which can be seen as another achievement of the JCPOA.

 

A statement issued here by SBP said that Riaz Riazuddin, Deputy Governor of SBP and Ghulamali Kamyab Vice Governor of BMJII signed the agreement on behalf of their respective central banks.

It said that the objective of this BPA is to provide a trade settlement mechanism to promote trade between Pakistan and Iran.

According to the statement, this mechanism will be used for the payment of trade conducted via letter of credit (L/Cs) and in accordance with international laws and regulations.

In the next step, both the central banks will invite banks in their respective jurisdiction to act as Authorized Banks for undertaking trade transactions under this BPA, says the statement.

Details of the mechanism will be issued by SBP in due course, it was further stated.

It said that State Bank of Pakistan expects that this agreement will help in strengthening the trade links between the two countries.

The agreement has been signed just a few days before the 20th meeting of Iran-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission, which is going to be held on 17-18 of April in Tehran.

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Positive outcomes of JCPOA cannot be downplayed: Zarif

Tehran, April 15, IRNA – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed here Saturday that the achievements gained after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) cannot be trivialized.

 

Zarif made the remarks at the 10th edition of Iran Exhibition of Bank, Exchange and Insurance Exhibition (FINEX) that kicked off today for four days.

After the July 2015 deal, known as the JCPOA, Iran’s economy did achieve significant growth, Zarif noted.

He went on to underline that the international pressures decreased and the peaceful atmosphere took over the country’s economy after the international deal.

The JCPOA brought stabilization of the achievements in the nuclear industry and created a proper condition for economic growth, Zarif stressed.

He added that the JCPOA also provided an appropriate atmosphere for the purposeful talks on the economic agreements.

Furthermore, the JCPOA opened the oil and gas, transport and banking doors to Iran's financial markets, Zarif opined. 

FINEX 2017 being the biggest financial event in the country will mainly introduce the achievements of Iran’s capital market.

[screwball]

23) | Date: 14/04/2017 | Time: 08:39|

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Iran inks investment MoUs worth of $ 50b in post-JCPOA

Arak, April 13, IRNA – Finance Minister Ali Tayyebnia said investment memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth of 50 billion dollars have been signed in the form of finance in the country’s economic projects after JCPOA.

 

JCPOA stands for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which is the official tite of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and six world major powers in 2015.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Markazi Province Center for investment services in Arak on Thursday, he added that the MoUs have been signed with foreign investors and agreements for many of them are currently being finalized.

Recalling certain problems and restrictions facing taking advantage of foreign investors in the form of finance in the country, he said that the restrictions with two European and one Asian state have been solved and efforts are underway to solve the problem with other countries.

Tayyebnia expressed hope that with solving the problems in near future, ways for attracting 50 billion dollars in foreign investment would be prepared.

Announcing attraction of 12 billion dollars in direct foreign investment to the Iranian economic projects last year, the minister said that the target was set at seven billion dollars which was fulfilled through the prudence of the incumbent government after the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth of 25 billion dollars has been signed with two Chinese banks and other banks from the same country are also seeking to invest in Iran, he said.

Tayyebnia further contended that main priority of Iran is to get access to regular and sustainable growth, which will ensure Iran’s might in political and economic fields.

Meeting domestic needs inside the country is the key to economic growth, combating social inequalities and promote livelihood and dignity of the citizens, he said, noting that the essential thing for that is sufficient investment and drawing foreign and domestic investors to the economic projects.

In the past, investment in economic projects was made by the government through oil revenues and private sector’s share was meager, he said, noting that to create economic growth requires directing public capitals and savings towards productive economic projects.

Profitability and capital security are major requirements for private sector’s investment in economic projects, he said.

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Crude oil production will reach more than 4 million barrels per day and natural gas output is slated to exceed 1 billion cubic meters a day in the present fiscal that ends in March 2018.

"Oil production will reach 4.05 million bpd this year and total gas output will reach 1.1 bcm/d," Ali Kardor, the chief executive of National Iranian Oil Company was quoted as saying by ISNA on Friday.

According to government data, oil production now is 3.9 million bpd. In an agreement with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut oil output and ease a global oversupply, Iran was allowed to produce an average of 3.8 million bpd in the first half of this year.

Kardor did not say whether the planned increase would hurt the rare oil accord, which also has the backing of 11 non-OPEC countries, including Russia, Mexico and Azerbaijan.

"Crude oil production will hit the 4 million bpd mark in the next few days. Based on current upstream development projects, we do not have the capacity in the present year to increase total oil output by more than 50,000 bpd, which will be coming from the South Azadegan Oilfield," Kardor noted.

OPEC's secondary sources data showed Iran pumped 3.790 million barrels daily last month, down from 3.819 million bpd in February. The group released its latest monthly report on April 12. Tehran did not submit its own production data for March.

Iran's oil production and export took a blow when the US and the European Union tightened the economic sanctions against Tehran to curb its nuclear program. But Tehran surprised global markets by boosting production at faster pace than most analysts had forecast after sanctions were lifted last year.

Kardor acknowledged that NIOC is facing a difficult task keeping up production at operational fields.

"Each year, we lose roughly 300,000 bpd in daily production capacity," the official said. The regression takes place largely due to the decline in the recovery rate of aging oilfields and a lack of technology and machinery to boost extraction."

"Oil output will increase by 350,000 bpd this year, which will offset the 300,000 bpd loss in production," Kardor added.

Average rate of recovery from Iranian oilfields is reportedly around 25% but should reach 40%. Officials say some oilfields are past their peak production period and the country needs to implement enhanced oil recovery techniques to draw the most from crude reservoirs before their permanent decline.

Iran is the third largest OPEC producer after Saudi Arabia and Iraq who pumped 9.99 million bpd and 4.4 million barrels a day in March, according to OPEC's secondary sources.

Oil shipments from Iran reached a daily average of 2.6 million barrels in fiscal 2016-17, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the oil minister, said on Wednesday.

--- Gas Production

The NIOC chief said gas production will reach a record high of 1.1 bcm/d this year on the back of bigger supplies from South Pars, the world's largest gas field shared with Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

In fiscal 2016-17, gas production from South Pars increased to 520 mcm/d, up more than 150 mcm/d compared with the previous year. Iran's total gas output is at 885 mcm/d, according to Shana, the Oil Ministry news portal.

President Hassan Rouhani is slated to inaugurate $20 billion worth of projects in the South Pars region in the next few days, including five gas production phases, several petrochemical plants in the city of Asalouyeh in the southern Khuzestan Province and a long-awaited plan to draw light crude from the giant gas field.

Iran has been second-best to Qatar in gas production from South Pars since it began production in the early 2000s, approximately one decade after its Persian Gulf rival commenced production at the joint field.

The small Persian Gulf Arab country is reportedly producing around 600 million cubic meters a day from the joint field.

South Pars is estimated to hold 51 trillion cubic meters of gas and huge deposits of gas condensate, a type of ultra light crude. The field is known as the North Dome in Qatar.

Kardor anticipated that in fiscal 2018-19, between 25 mcm/d and 30 mcm/d will be added to gas production. Iran holds the world's second largest crude oil reserves and the fourth-biggest gas reserves.

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ni’s administration is focused on revitalizing the beleaguered housing sector and its intermediate sectors to get them out of their years-long recession, the minister of economic affairs and finance announced.

“Various economic sectors, except the housing sector, have registered a positive growth rate and it is the policy of the government to create a boom in the sector, especially subsectors related to building materials and intermediate goods and move to foster exports in this sector,” Ali Tayyebnia was also quoted as saying by Shada, the official news service of the Economy Ministry.

An analysis by the research arm of the Iranian Parliament in late January revealed that the negative growth in the property market will persist all the way to the end of the current fiscal year in March 2018.

“A look at statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran and the Statistical Center of Iran shows that the housing sector slipped into recession from March 20, 2012, and experienced negative growth rates ever since,” read the report by Majlis Research Center.

It added that this recession has persisted through 2015-16 and predictions show it will continue until the end of the year to March 20, 2018, implying that the housing sector’s slump has turned into a five-year downturn.

Speaking at a meeting on Resistance Economy in Markazi Province on Thursday, Tayyebnia said reducing the budget’s dependency on oil is a major component of guidelines set by the Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, based on which the government undertook measures that led to a non-oil trade surplus in the past two years.

Noting that there was a time when the share of oil in annual budgets was more than 80%, he said that last year, from a total of 2.8 quadrillion rials ($74.6 billion) of the budget expenses, about 1.13 quadrillion rials ($30.13 billion) were generated through tax revenues.

Tayyebnia referred to the previous fiscal year as “exemplary” in that the inflation rate was lowered to single digits for the first time after more than two decades and an 11% economic growth was registered, “although it is obvious that a portion of this growth occurred on the back of higher oil production”.

 Oil Story

The minister blamed the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for increasing the country’s dependence on the oil sector in the face of ramped up economic sanctions instead of striving to promote economic resilience.

Tayyebnia implied that the fact that the government and the country were so deeply relying on oil revenues, was one of the factors prompting foreign powers to impose “the harshest sanctions in history on Iran” and they did this knowing how it could play havoc on the economy.

“Sometimes our historical memory is poor,” he said, stressing that it must be assessed how “that historic consensus formed against our country” and what actions directed even the Iranian allies not to protest sanctions against the country.

On July 14, 2015, the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus Germany), the European Union and Iran agreed to a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that was implemented on January 16, 2016, effectively beginning the process of sanctions’ removal.

Tayyebnia ended on a more positive note by saying that macroeconomic factors are in a good shape.

“Iran has improved its international ranking in ease of doing business by 32 points while bettering its other indicators, namely transparency, innovation,  job creation and development,” he said.

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ni’s administration is focused on revitalizing the beleaguered housing sector and its intermediate sectors to get them out of their years-long recession, the minister of economic affairs and finance announced.

“Various economic sectors, except the housing sector, have registered a positive growth rate and it is the policy of the government to create a boom in the sector, especially subsectors related to building materials and intermediate goods and move to foster exports in this sector,” Ali Tayyebnia was also quoted as saying by Shada, the official news service of the Economy Ministry.

An analysis by the research arm of the Iranian Parliament in late January revealed that the negative growth in the property market will persist all the way to the end of the current fiscal year in March 2018.

“A look at statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran and the Statistical Center of Iran shows that the housing sector slipped into recession from March 20, 2012, and experienced negative growth rates ever since,” read the report by Majlis Research Center.

It added that this recession has persisted through 2015-16 and predictions show it will continue until the end of the year to March 20, 2018, implying that the housing sector’s slump has turned into a five-year downturn.

Speaking at a meeting on Resistance Economy in Markazi Province on Thursday, Tayyebnia said reducing the budget’s dependency on oil is a major component of guidelines set by the Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, based on which the government undertook measures that led to a non-oil trade surplus in the past two years.

Noting that there was a time when the share of oil in annual budgets was more than 80%, he said that last year, from a total of 2.8 quadrillion rials ($74.6 billion) of the budget expenses, about 1.13 quadrillion rials ($30.13 billion) were generated through tax revenues.

Tayyebnia referred to the previous fiscal year as “exemplary” in that the inflation rate was lowered to single digits for the first time after more than two decades and an 11% economic growth was registered, “although it is obvious that a portion of this growth occurred on the back of higher oil production”.

 Oil Story

The minister blamed the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for increasing the country’s dependence on the oil sector in the face of ramped up economic sanctions instead of striving to promote economic resilience.

Tayyebnia implied that the fact that the government and the country were so deeply relying on oil revenues, was one of the factors prompting foreign powers to impose “the harshest sanctions in history on Iran” and they did this knowing how it could play havoc on the economy.

“Sometimes our historical memory is poor,” he said, stressing that it must be assessed how “that historic consensus formed against our country” and what actions directed even the Iranian allies not to protest sanctions against the country.

On July 14, 2015, the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus Germany), the European Union and Iran agreed to a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that was implemented on January 16, 2016, effectively beginning the process of sanctions’ removal.

Tayyebnia ended on a more positive note by saying that macroeconomic factors are in a good shape.

“Iran has improved its international ranking in ease of doing business by 32 points while bettering its other indicators, namely transparency, innovation,  job creation and development,” he said.

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The cabinet has finalized a bill to slash four zeros off the national currency, rial, the vice president for planning affairs announced on Sunday

 Davood Manzoor said the bill will soon be submitted to the parliament for ratification.

Manzoor said the administration had earlier approved the general outlines of the bill which envisages removing four zeros of the currency by 2014. 

In July 2011, the cabinet introduced a plan to re-denominate the rial by cutting four zeros from the currency.

Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani has said it will take about three years to implement the plan.

 

old but thought it was quite so would repost...

[screwball]

Behrooz Imeni

 

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif heralded better days for Iran's economy as a result of the opportunities emerging on the back of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—the formal name of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Zarif was speaking at the 10th International Exhibition of Exchange, Bank and Insurance–aka FINEX 2017–held in Tehran on Saturday. It runs until April 18.

"The path for the participation of our companies in global production chain, which is the best way of providing jobs for young workforces, has been smoothened," he said.

The opening ceremony was attended by high-ranking Iranian officials, namely Minister of Economy Ali Tayyebnia, Iran's Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari, President of the Central Insurance of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati, Central Bank of Iran Governor Valiollah Seif and the head of Iran's Securities and Exchange Organization, Shapour Mohammadi.

Iran's top diplomat noted that foreign investment witnessed a whopping surge of 1,300% to surpass 12.5 trillion rials ($335 million) during the four years of President Hassan Rouhani's tenure.

"If this trend of foreign investments continues, foreign companies and investors will start to come around and trust the safety of our country and its market more and more. As a result, our companies can use that opportunity and start their activities in international markets," he added.

Zarif said the "unjust" international sanctions on the Iranian economy targeted three key economic sectors, namely oil, transportation and banking.

He pointed to the sensitivity of the banking system's sanctions, as they increased the cost of international trade by impairing the banking system and raised the risk of doing business with Iran by disheartening foreign investors.

Scaling Back Restrictions

Zarif elaborated on the fruits of JCPOA for the banking system, namely the reconnection of Iranian banks to SWIFT (the international interbank messaging network), the temporary removal from the FATF black list, resumption of correspondent relations with foreign banks and the unfreezing of CBI's foreign assets while forming new ties with other countries' central banks, especially those of the European Union.

In 2012, SWIFT cut off Iranian banks subjected to EU sanctions over Iran’s nuclear energy program, which shut down a major avenue of doing business with the rest of the world.

The intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force, which is the global standard-setting body for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), issued a public statement on February 24 in which it welcomed Iran's adoption of high-level political commitment to address its AML/CFT deficiencies and its decision to seek technical assistance in the plan's implementation.

This led to the suspension of countermeasures for 12 months to monitor Iran's progress in implementing the action plan, but if FATF determines that Iran has not demonstrated sufficient progress in implementing the action plan at the end of that period, FATF’s call for counter-measures will be reimposed.

The minister of economy also delivered a speech at the ceremony, noting that the economic growth rate stood at -6.8% when President Hassan Rouhani took office four years ago but now with the support of Iranian people and all sectors of the economy, the government managed to accelerate the growth rate to reach 8% by the end of last year (ended March 20, 2017).

"If the drop in oil price had not slowed the pace of economic growth in 2014, the economy would have experienced better days and our people could have felt the effects of these efforts much more," Tayyebnia said.

"The alarming 40% inflation rate was brought down to a single digit and 90% of fluctuations in exchange market were controlled, which restored stability and calm to our economy."

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Saeed Jalili

.

.

Domestic Economy Desk

Despite a seemingly firm intention in the government of President Hassan Rouhani to join the World Trade Organization, Iran’s membership process has had little progress since he took office in August 2013.

Many attribute Iran’s 20-year-long waiting period to become a member of the international body to external reasons, mainly the opposition of the United States.

Following the nuclear deal with the world powers reached in July 2015, Iran was hoping for accession but a full membership still seems farfetched.

This is while senior economist Mohammad Mehdi Behkish, a leading free trade advocate and secretary-general of International Chamber of Commerce’s Iranian Committee, says the main reason for the slow progress in Iran’s accession bid should be sought inside the Islamic Republic.

“Imagine if there was no external factor, we would still not be ready to join the WTO,” he told Financial Tribune in an interview on Saturday. “The country is facing a dilemma in terms of liberalizing [the economy].”

Some of the policymakers, Behkish says, have accepted that to increase productivity and exports, the economy should become free and competitive so that industries can acquire new technologies, boost quality and lower prices.

“I am aware that Rouhani’s Cabinet members believe in free trade and a market-based economy, but in practice the country is not moving in that direction,” he said.

“There is no consensus [among influential groups]. It has to do, for the most part, with their economic interests.”

The economist says Iran has not pushed enough to pressure WTO to select a chairman for Iran’s working party.

WTO received Iran’s application for accession on July 19, 1996. It took the organization nine years to accept Iran as an observer member. In 2005, WTO eventually established a working party composed of a group of representatives tasked with assessing Iran’s accession bid. However, the chairman of the party has not yet been elected.

In fact, Iran submitted its memorandum of foreign trade regime a couple of times. But officials have said they need to review the regime and submit it again.

“The first thing they ask for is a foreign trade regime to compare them to WTO regulations and find the contradictions,” he said.

“But the problem with our foreign trade regime is we haven’t yet made up our mind about what we are planning to do, for example, about our tariffs.”

Behkish noted that the trade regime stipulated in Iran’s Resistance Economy “is not compatible” with the regulations of WTO.

Resistance Economy is a set of policies Iran adopted to protect the economy against sanctions amid political standoff with the West over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Although the sanctions were removed on January as part of the nuclear pact, the policy still remains.

“The Resistance Economy says Iran should not import a commodity, if the country can produce it. But, economically speaking, that commodity should be able to compete in terms of quality and price. Otherwise its production would not be reasonable,” he said.

The economist believes that a shift in the stance of US President Donald Trump will lead to even more cautious approach among Iranian decision-makers.

Trump’s campaign rhetoric mainly focused on prioritizing the United States and its internal affairs, showing little intention to increase military interference in the Middle East or the Korean Peninsula.

After the recent US bombings of Syria and Afghanistan as well as threats issued to North Korea, many experts believe the Trump administration has been shifting its policy from what it suggested during the presidential campaign.

Behkish said concerns over the increased US military presence will make Iran “more introvert”.

“Even economists will be more cautious when advocating trade liberalization … until the international political situation is under control,” he said.

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Six months after rumors circulated on the possible entry of Indian-owned British-built Jaguar Land Rover to Iran, the company has confirmed it is coming with more than half a dozen new SUVs and sedans.

As part of a business event hosted by the trade section of the British Embassy in downtown Tehran last week, the company's local partner, Ravanro Khodro, had an official stand promoting their new soon-to-be imported vehicles.

For the Jaguar brands, Ravanro will push ahead with imports of the XE sedan, XF sedan, XJ sedan, crossover F-Pace as well as the convertible F-Type, its promotional brochure reads.

Meanwhile, for Land Rover-labeled vehicles, the local firm's brochure say it will import the Discovery Sport, New Discovery, Range Rover Evoque, the just-introduced Range Rover Velar and the Range Rover Sport.

Orders for the two brands are being taken now, with the company stating cars will start arriving in the next few months.

One point missing from the official literature of the event was the price of the several vehicles.

However, according to other cars imported to the country with 100% import tax, the Range Rover Sport, one of Land Rover's best-selling vehicles in the UK and Chinese markets, will cost in the neighborhood of 3 billion rials ($80,000) for the entry-level vehicle.

All the new Jaguars and Land Rovers will meet the new engine import restrictions of 2.5 liters as per the government restrictions.

Other vehicles of the brand, including the standard Range Rover, will not be coming with the first batch of vehicles as their engines exceed the 2.5 liter limit.

Ravanro Khodro is part of the GBG Group, more famous for its other brands of Golestan, Twinings teas. The company also has the import license for both Asan Motor (Hyundai) and Atlas Khodro (Kia), according to its website.

The Jaguar Land Rover distributor will take over the former Hyundai showroom on Tehran's Parkway junction, confirming previous reports that the company had acquired it from its sister company.

Sales of Jaguar and Land Rovers halted after the revolution in Iran in 1979 with only a handful of the originally imported vehicles remaining on the road.

Jaguar is not the first British luxury car to show renewed interest in the saturated Iranian market. In September 2015, Britain’s handmade luxury carmaker Lotus opened a showroom in northern Tehran.

[screwball]

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Social Housing Plan in Two Months

 

The Social Housing Plan will become operational in two months, the deputy for municipal affairs with the Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation said. "After the notification of its budget, the plan will be implemented in the [Iranian month of] Khordad (May 22-June 21)," Javad Haqshenas also told ILNA. According to the official, the plan is a subcategory of the government's Comprehensive Housing Plan that incorporates programs to provide low-income groups with affordable housing. The scheme will cover 3-4 million households.  It aims to build 100,000 residential units a year and "24 trillion rials ($640 million) worth of loans have been earmarked to implement it" which will be provided by the Central Bank of Iran at an interest rate of 5%.

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New budget is supposed to have new rate! 

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Saturday, April 15, 2017

Have-Nots to Receive More Cash Subsidies

 

The government’s monthly grant of cash subsidies to families and individuals with limited resources who receive aid from the State Welfare Organization and Imam Khomeini Relief Committee will rise in accordance with the budget law, a statement by the Organization of Targeted Subsidies reads.

On Monday, President Hassan Rouhani responded to a question by Financial Tribune’s sister publication Donya-e-Eqtesad on welfare policies, including cash subsidies payments if elected for a second term, and said the less privileged strata should have a bigger share of subsidies.

As part of “Subsidy Reform Plan”, the administration of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, removed subsidies on food and energy in 2010 and instead paid 455,000 rials ($11.9) to all Iranians on a monthly basis.

The administration of President Rouhani has kept the plan it inherited from the previous government, albeit reluctantly amid financial constraints exacerbated by plummeting oil revenues.

Nonetheless, the incumbent government has moved to restrict the number of cash subsidy recipients slowly but steadily.

According to Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, more than 4.85 million people have been removed from the list of cash subsidy recipients as of January 20.

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he Central Bank of Iran is against monopolizing electronic banking and supports banks or entities that provide efficient services, the bank's governor said.

"The central bank backs the electronic services of all banks, on condition that they do not damage people's finances," Valiollah Seif was also quoted as saying by Banker.ir.

Denying allegations that CBI is standing in the way of robust banking activities by monopolizing the electronic banking industry, Seif said the bank is ready to support "anyone who claims to offer appropriate electronic banking services ".

Ayandeh Bank-affiliate eFarda, Bank Melli Iran's electronic banking platform BAM, Bank Refah's comprehensive financial management system SAMIM and Shahr Bank are currently some of the active players offering electronic banking services to Iranians.

eFarda has developed a customer loyalty platform and implemented "Iran Card", which is capable of offering services to cardholders after identifying their needs. Returning a portion of the transacted money to cardholders’ account is the main feature of the platform.

BAM offers a wide range of services in a user-friendly and highly-customized environment and has more than 600,000 users.

SAMIM allows customers to plan their income and expenditure.

Shahr Bank has developed a "Forex ATM" that allows users to exchange foreign currencies into Iranian rial at the open market rate, after affirming the cardholders’ identity.

As to the latest measures undertaken for providing mobile payment services, Seif said CBI is in charge of establishing infrastructures required to promote the sector.

The CBI will not establish mobile payment through telecommunications companies "but will do it through the cloud and we will probably unveil the start of mobile payment in the country next week", he added.

CBI Performance

Asked about CBI's refusal to disclose the precise number of bank transactions, Seif said the figures have been officially published and if anyone finds them lacking, the matter will be followed up "and there will be no exceptions".

"The central bank knows what it is going to do to continuously improve services offered by banks and the part concerning information technology is also supported by CBI," he added.

According to the latest data released by Shaparak, the body in charge of Iran’s payment network, Iranians made 1.06 billion successful digital payment transactions worth 1.19 quadrillion rials ($30.8 billion) in the month ending December 20.

The report indicated a 31.17% growth in the number of successful digital transactions and a 46.7% growth in the value of electronic operations compared with the same period of last year.  

According to Shaparak, 253,358 online gateways were active by December 21.

Questioned about CBI's nondisclosure of financial statements, Seif said, "I am surprised by this expectation because the central bank is not a commercial enterprise. Therefore, it does not need to publish its earnings report."

He noted that the bank is a state entity in charge of managing the country's monetary policies, stressing that the "central banks' revenues and losses are not commonly deemed as a barometer of its performance".

Seif, who also heads the Money and Credit Council, emphasized that if the performance of the central bank is linked to its incomes, it would undermine the bank and hurt the economy.

The annual meeting of CBI was held late February after an eight-month delay, during which the bank's balance sheet was approved.

[screwball]

Just now, screwball said:

Shahr Bank has developed a "Forex ATM" that allows users to exchange foreign currencies into Iranian rial at the open market rate, after affirming the cardholders’ identity.

Nice

[screwball]

Just now, screwball said:

The CBI will not establish mobile payment through telecommunications companies "but will do it through the cloud and we will probably unveil the start of mobile payment in the country next week", he added.

 

[screwball]

1 minute ago, screwball said:

Denying allegations that CBI is standing in the way of robust banking activities by monopolizing the electronic banking industry, Seif said the bank is ready to support "anyone who claims to offer appropriate electronic banking services ".

 

[screwball]

As President Hassan Rouhani prepares for yet another presidential race and seeks reelection in May, critics and supporters are reviewing his economic record.

Supporters refer to achievements such as a significant slowdown in Iran’s runaway inflation, stabilized forex market and increased oil output as a result of the Rouhani government’s successful foreign policy, notably the nuclear deal reached with world powers in 2015, which paved the way for the removal of sanctions against Iran’s economy.

Yet, critics refer to a lingering recession in Iran’s manufacturing sector and high unemployment rate as the downside of Rouhani’s economic performance.

Senior economist, Mousa Ghaninejad, defends the incumbent president’s track record, arguing that it inherited “an economy in ruins” from the previous administration.

“The government tried to gradually restore the ruins [created by the previous administration],” he told the Persian monthly Ayandenegar.

“The most important problem in the last months of the previous administration … was stagflation. Inflation increased significantly and the economy experienced severe contraction. GDP witnessed negative growth for two consecutive years.”

Iran’s gross domestic product shrank 6.8% during March 2012-13. It stood at a negative 1.9% the next year. But the figure rebounded to 3% during Rouhani‘s second year in office (March 2014-15).

“The positive growth did not mean the economic issues had been resolved. The problems were still in place. Part of them were the result of lingering sanctions and significant problems were associated with the flawed policies of Ahmadinejad’s eight-year tenure,” Ghaninejad said.

  Wallowing in Petrodollars

The previous administration enjoyed windfall oil revenues amid crude prices of more than $100 per barrel. In the Iranian year to March 2012 alone, the Islamic Republic’s crude revenues topped $110 billion. This coincided with high inflation rate hitting a record high of over 40%.

But despite the runaway inflation, the former government managed to keep the public economically content, regardless of the consequences.

Ghaninejad noted that by keeping the exchange rates low and taking resort to excessive imports, the previous government filled the market with cheap products so that consumers don’t feel the pinch of economic problems.

But this transient satisfaction came with serious repercussions for the economy. For one thing, the manufacturing sector was hurt badly because of the inability to compete with cheap imports.

“During March 2005-12 … Iran experienced record high oil revenues and record high imports, but almost zero new jobs,” Ghaninejad said.

Following a sharp fall in oil revenues, the Rouhani administration has not been able to spur the sluggish manufacturing sector it inherited from the previous government.

Oil prices fell drastically in 2014 to a record low of $30 in 2016, squeezing Iran’s hydrocarbon-dependent revenues. The country indulged in sky-high crude prices for a few years, adjusting its spending with abundant revenues. However, this posed a challenge when prices nosedived.

  Limited Access to NDFI

Rouhani has been criticizing the parliament for preventing the government’s access to Iran’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the National Development Fund, amid the ongoing financial crunch.

The parliament lately passed a bill that requires the government to deposit 30% of revenues earned from oil and gas exports in NDFI in the current fiscal year (started March 21), up from 20% last year.

However, despite shortage of liquidity, the administration granted $4 billion in loans to thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the last fiscal year.

“The economy is in a better shape today compared to 2013. We can say … we are at the beginning of proper and balanced growth,” Ghaninejad said.

“If the government can manage to keep the inflation rate as low as it is, or even pull it down further, economic growth will significantly contribute to the wellbeing of the people in the next four years.”

According to the Central Bank of Iran’s latest report, the Iranian economy grew 11.9% during the three quarters of the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017).

Without taking the oil sector into account, the growth rate stands at 1.9%, the report shows.

The oil sector expanded 65.4%, thanks to ramped up crude production and increased exports following the lifting of sanctions.

The sectors of agriculture, industries, mining and services grew by 4.2%, 5.8%, 0.2% and 2.4% respectively while construction saw a negative growth of 17.1% during the nine months.  

The CBI data on Iran’s GDP growth for the three quarters came a few days after the Statistical Center of Iran released its own report for the corresponding period.

According to SCI, Iran’s economy during the nine-month period grew 7.2% including oil and 5% excluding it.

Industrial, agricultural and services sectors grew by 0.5%, 5.7% and 5.4% respectively, the SCI report showed.

Iran’s inflation rate dipped below 10% for the rolling year ending June 20. This was the first time the country was experiencing single-digit inflation in about a quarter century.

The average goods and services Consumer Price Index for urban areas in the 12 months ending March 20, which marks the end of the final month of the last Iranian year (Esfand), increased by 9% compared with last year’s corresponding period, the latest report released by the Central Bank of Iran said.

The report came after the Statistical Center of Iran put Esfand inflation at 6.8%.

Both CBI and SCI are in charge of releasing periodical statistics on macroeconomic indices, which often differ from one another.

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The Central Bank of Iran is planning to allow authorized exchange shops to use international cards in daily operations [instead of cash], the CBI governor said.

“Such operations will be conducted under the central bank’s close supervision,” ILNA also quoted Valiollah Seif as saying on Monday, without elaborating further.

"The central bank is working to develop the infrastructure needed for connecting Iran’s payment network to international networks."

The top banking policymaker noted that Iran’s banking network is more likely to be connected to Chinese, Japanese and Russian payment systems.

Following the lifting of sanctions in January 2016, CBI started talks with Japan's JCB and China’s UnionPay.

Payment authorities are aiming to link Iran’s payment ecosystem to the international card schemes, including JCB and UnionPay in the short term and Visa and MasterCard over the long term.

American card providers, including MasterCard and Visa, are still restricted from working with Iranian entities.

Seif also said talks are underway with neighboring countries over linking bank card systems.

“We hope to reach agreements with Turkey and Azerbaijan in the near future,” he said.

Shaparak, Iran’s payment network processed more than a billion transactions valued at 1,258 trillion rials ($33.5 billion) in 2016. It recorded a 30% growth in the total number of transactions and a 44% rise in transactions' value during the period.

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The Iranian private sector is setting up its own guarantee fund to facilitate international finance for small- and medium-sized investments, the head of Investment Commission at Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture said.

Ferial Mostofi added that the fund will support the "true private sector" as distinguished from the public and semi-privatized sectors that have easier access to state funding resources.

"The fund will support private sector initiatives in the absence of a viable sovereign guarantee fund backing ventures worth up to €50 million instead of projects costing €100-200 million," Mostofi said in response to a question by Financial Tribune.

According to the official, this will help foster production and employment, which have been chosen as the theme of the current Iranian year (started March 21) by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Referring to the heavy presence of the state in the Iranian economy, Mostofi bemoaned the fact that state institutions tend to prioritize their own projects, leaving little resources for the private sector.

While not revealing the size of the fund, Mostofi said it will be "significant" enough so as not to use up the amount in the course of a year.

"The aim is to increase and diversify the number of companies that can utilize the guarantees," she said.  

The proposal to establish a guarantee fund exclusively to meet the private sector's needs was made during negotiations between Iran Chamber of Commerce and the renowned international consulting firm Deloitte.

On Monday, a gathering, attended by senior figures from the chamber and the banking system, was held at ICCIMA with representatives of Deloitte to discuss the firm's plans for Iran.

Asad A. Jafaree, a former consultant with the Central Bank of Iran who has recently rejoined the Deloitte group, also accentuated the benefits that a guarantee fund could entail for Iran in obtaining foreign finance in the face of a credit crunch besetting the country's banking system.

Noting that a representative office of Deloitte will be established in Iran this year, Jafaree also elaborated on issues facing the Iranian financial system, saying that addressing the banking system's problems is the main issue facing Iranian policymakers.

In the face of credit crunch and a shortage of capital, he recommended that Iranian banks and companies look to alternative ways of financing and reform themselves from "within", beyond what the regulating bodies recommend to become attractive for foreign investors.

"Iran is indeed attractive for multinationals and they are looking for ways to enter the country but there are some concerns holding them back," Jafaree said.

Hopes and Fears

According to the Deloitte official, the main two issues for multinationals eying the Iranian market are the fear of sanctions snapback and lack of effective banking channels to transfer funds.

"As for the sanctions snapback, that is a difficult issue for us to clarify to our customers and as for the banking channels, we are helping them find effective ways to resolve that," he said.

 Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in January that the snapback provision–which makes it possible for the US and other parties to instantly bring back sanctions if Iran violates the nuclear deal–indicated that the nuclear agreement had been reached on the basis of mutual distrust.

"On our part, snapback means that we can resume our nuclear programs anytime we want to but that is not the same for the other party because it will take time for them to re-implement the sanctions," he said at the time.

According to experts present at the chamber's Monday meeting, the issue of snapback is still misunderstood by foreign parties since that process does not happen overnight and has to be mandated by the United Nations, which will at least take two months to come into effect.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control last year revised its Frequently Asked Questions guidance that concerns the reimposition of sanctions in the event of a sanctions snapback under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the formal name of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers).

It said that should the US reimpose certain sanctions pursuant to a JCPOA snapback, the US government would provide a 180-day wind-down period for payments related to contracts entered into and executed during the JCPOA period.

That guidance also clarified that "the United States will not retroactively impose sanctions for legitimate activity undertaken prior to any sanctions snapback".

According to an expert at the meeting , if investors  comprehend the niceties of the snapback and learn that proper "exit" measures can be inserted in any joint ventures between Iranian and foreign firms, it will become much easier for them to get over their fears. 

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New contracts in the oil and gas sector can create thousands of jobs and resuscitate the  economy which is reeling from international financial and trade restrictions, says Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the oil minister.

"At least 100,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created this year if oil contracts are signed and activity picks up in oil and gas fields," Zanganeh said on the sidelines of a conference on the Resistance Economy, a set of policies proposed by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to prop up domestic production, Shana reported.

The new model of oil contracts, dubbed as Iran Petroleum Contract, has been devised by the Rouhani administration in a bid to open up the energy sector to foreign investment and technology.

Officials say the new contracts have more flexible terms that take into account oil price fluctuations and investment risks. IPC contracts will be used to develop large-scale upstream projects, replacing a lackluster buyback model that dominated most oil and gas development projects in the past two decades.

"Running and maintaining an oil rig requires between 200 and 250 workers. Therefore if we have 200 online rigs, we would create between 40,000 and 50,000 direct jobs," Zanganeh noted.

He added that the new contracts will open up new opportunities for domestic producers of offshore and onshore oil and gas equipment.

Up to 70% of operational works in new contracts will be assigned to domestic companies. Tehran hopes the linkup with oil majors will boost foreign investment and transfer of technology in the key petroleum industry, officials say.

Gholamreza Manouchehri, deputy director at the state oil company, NIOC, says Tehran aims to raise between $8 billion and $10 billion a year to develop offshore oil and gas reservoirs.

He says Iran particularly needs foreign assistance and knowhow in offshore projects, where it is costlier and more difficult to tap into deep-lying hydrocarbon deposits beneath the seabed.

--- Oil, Gas Production

Iran aims to increase production from South Pars Gas Field and the West Karoun oil block, its biggest natural gas and oil projects.

"Gas output from South Pars is planned to reach 630 million cubic meters a day in the present fiscal (ends in March 2018)," Zanganeh said.

Five production phases of South Pars were launched last week, taking Iran's output from the joint field with Qatar to 575 mcm/d, and marking the first time the country out-produces its Persian Gulf Arab rival in production from the giant gas field.

The minister added that daily crude production from West Karoun, an oil-rich region in Khuzestan Province, will reach 300,000 barrels per day by March 2018.

West Karoun includes several large oilfields straddling the Iran-Iraq border, including Azadegan, Yaran, Yadavaran and Darkhoein with the first three divided into north and south projects.

The block holds an estimated 67 billion barrels of oil in place. Officials say by using advanced oil recovery methods, production from West Karoun fields can rise to 500,000 barrels a day in the long-term.

Iran is pushing with plans to play a bigger role in the global energy mix. The country sits on the world's second-largest gas reserves and fourth-biggest oil reserves, but pumps and sells less oil than rival producers with smaller deposits.

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[jaman]

Recalling certain problems and restrictions facing taking advantage of foreign investors in the form of finance in the country, he said that the restrictions with two European and one Asian state have been solved and efforts are underway to solve the problem with other countries.

the ONLY problems were how do we get paid ....said every country willing to do business with them. but, if they want to use the Euro I'll take that sense the euro is trading Higher then the Dollar