Iranian rial at new low as central bank sells dollars

Iran’s rial continued its decline on Saturday, as the central bank announced an injection of up to US$2 billion to support the currency while the economy faces US sanctions and a naval blockade.

The US dollar was sold for around 2.688 million rials, up from 2.632 million on Friday, according to free-market tracking website bon-bast.com, while alanchand.com reported 2.695 million rials per dollar.

State television said state banks began selling up to US$2 billion to support the currency, which has lost more than half of its value in the past year.

With an inflation rate of more than 70%, life is becoming ever tougher for ordinary citizens unable to afford basic necessities or rent ​as a US blockade cuts the state’s financial lifeline — oil exports.

Many Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies or gold.

Mehdi Darabi, an aide to the central bank’s governor on foreign exchange affairs, blamed the decline of the rial partly on what he said were false predictions by US officials of the collapse of the Iranian economy.

“It is suggested that the Iranian economy is about to crash… The enemy is using this to affect the exchange rate of our currency,” Darabi told state TV, adding that the current fall of the rial was temporary.