According to the Government website, on Tue. Sept. 3rd, the Government administrative announced the modification of its previous amendment regarding the source of the FOREX that could be supplied for importation of machinery and equipment for production of essential and basic goods.
Based on this news, the ministers’ council at its Sept. 3rd, meeting discussed the IMT Ministry’s proposal for exclusion of the importers of the “machinery and equipment to be used for production of the essential commodities” from the list of those who are entitled to receive the FOREX with privileged values announced by the CBI.
After about 18 months from the date that the President Rouhani’s administration decided to determine a fix value for the US$ (Rls. 42,000) which resulted in a new round of turmoil in domestic FOREX market and practically imposed 3 different rates for US$ and other currencies, now the Government is trying to modify or amend its own decision for different sectors.
Officially, there are three different rates that the Iran market is working with it;
1- The CBI rate: This is the rate for currencies that belong to the Government’s essential and military needs. There is a special list for importation of very vital goods with this rate. The list is always determined and approved by the Minsters’ Council. However, during last 18 months hundreds of private and government individuals took the opportunity to build up a corruptible wealth instead of using it for the purposed allowance. Many revolutionary courts are now working round the clock to discover, arrest and bring the corrupted bodies to justice. Part of basic and essential machinery and equipment were under this category and now they are out of it.
2- The NIMA rate: This rate was created by the Government after early corruptions discovered in miss-use of the fix rated FOREX. The rates at this system is something between the CBI official rates and those in the free market. This value still has some benefits and privileges for those who are entitled to use it. This is the one that is no more available for importation of machinery and equipment.
3- The Free Market rate: Apparently the free market rate is determined by the demand and supply. However, many know that even this price is determined by anonymous market manipulators including some advises from within the government.
By the new decision of the government now the future of machinery import is unknown because the amount of FOREX needed to purchase a machine is much more than the amount that could be handled by the private money exchange shops.
Of course the official bodies have concluded that in order to keep a fair market for domestic manufacturers of the machinery and equipment the government has decided to exclude this sector from the subsidized currency.
Even this will face the machinery imports with a great difficulty, but, due to almost equal forces between domestic producers and strong importers may be we can see the new government’s decision a temporary shadow.
