Free Republic

The sharp decline in the value of the Iranian currency is causing upheaval in the Iranian economy, and challenging the government and the banking sector. The local currency’s plunge to a rate of 6,000 tomans to the dollar, despite the high level of oil and gas revenues, reflects a lack of trust between the citizens and the banking system. A consideration of Iran’s economic policy sheds light on the limitations of the “dual economy” practiced by the Islamic Republic since its inception. At a time when Iran’s moves in the geopolitical sphere are getting the lion’s share of public attention,...

Ahead of the planned lifting of Western sanctions against Iran, businessmen from around the world are visiting the country, and as one group from Germany discovered, there is no shortage of opportunities. [...] To help people establish relationships with representatives of the "Evil Empire," the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce set up a "B2B" contact exchange. It's a form of speed dating, in which Iranian businesspeople walk from one table to the next, together with an interpreter and a handful of brochures of the Lower Saxony companies. The business owners from Hanover are quickly surrounded by Iranians, who treat them like...

Tehran (AFP) - Iran is banning the entry of US consumer goods, the commerce and industry minister said Thursday, as the country prepares for a lifting of economic sanctions. "In order to boost national production, it is necessary... to stop entry of American consumer goods and to prohibit products that symbolise the presence of the United States in the country," Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh wrote on his ministry's

DUBAI/VIENNA -- Iran on Sunday rejected the West's demand to send sensitive nuclear material out of the country but signaled flexibility on other aspects of its atomic activities that worry world powers, ahead of renewed negotiations this week. Talks about Iran's nuclear program, due to start in Geneva on Tuesday, will be the first since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has tried to improve relations with the West to pave a way for lifting economic sanctions. Rouhani's election in June to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised hopes of a negotiated solution to a decade-old dispute over Iran's...

Iran replaces governor of central bank: official Sep 20, 2008 TEHRAN (AFP) - The president of Iran's central bank has been replaced after inflation rose more than 27 percent in the year that he held the office, a senior government official told AFP on Saturday. Tahmasb Mazaheri has been replaced in the interim by Mahmoud Bahmani, currently general secretary of the bank, pending the nomination of a new governor, said the official who asked to remain anonymous. "I confirm the news. It will be officially announced tomorrow morning (Sunday)," he added. Mazaheri, a former minister of economy and finance, was...

What would you do when faced with a cash flow problem? You might try to curb expenditure, work harder to earn more, borrow money, or, when all else fails, put up the family jewels for sale. The latter is precisely what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration is trying to do as it faces a cash shortage. Signs that the government may be running out of money have multiplied in recent months. Tens of thousands of civil servants, including school teachers, have not been paid since January. Bills from private contractors working for the government are piling up, threatening the survival of...