According to the regime’s Eco Iran website, which cited official statistics released by state institutions, foreign currency reserves of Iran’s Central Bank have decreased.
The report stated that the Central Bank‘s foreign assets, including currency and gold, have reached their lowest level in the past few months, with a decrease of 1,900 trillion rials(approximately $3.796 trillion).
Another development mentioned in the report is the increase in the share of “banks’ debt to the Central Bank,” which has surpassed 50% of the total money supply in September.
The decrease in the Central Bank’s reserves is attributed to the bank’s policies as well as international sanctions against the Iranian regime. Analysts consider the currency problems faced by Iran for importing essential goods and raw materials as only a part of the consequences resulting from Iran’s reduced access to the dollar.
This decline occurred while the newspaper Javan, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had previously reported in November as a supporter of the government that the sale of oil, the return of oil revenues to the country, and non-oil export growth had improved the country’s trade balance. This overall trend could serve as a support for meeting currency needs and managing the foreign exchange market.
The release of some of the regime’s blocked money in other countries was one of the factors that the Central Bank had previously claimed as the reason for the increase in the country’s foreign reserves.
However, it seems that Iran’s economic conditions are much more complex than the statements of official authorities, and the release of $6 billion in South Korea, $7.1 billion in Luxembourg, £390 million in the UK, and access to over $10 billion in Iraq have not prevented the decline in the country’s foreign reserves.
