Top > Business > 2006 > December > 2006-12-24

Iran Foreign Currency Reserves Almost Dollar Free

Ahmad Hatami-Yazd, former CEO of Bank Saderat Iran (BSI) said that about 70% of Iran`s foreign currency reserves are in currencies that are neither in US dollars nor gold. Hatami-Yazd says the process of replacing the company`s foreign currency resurves has been taking place for some years.

Hatami-Yazd said that the process has begun during the time when Mohsen Nurbakhsh was governor of Iran`s Central Bank. Nurbakhsh died in 2003, in was replaced by current governor, Ibrahim Sheibany. Hatami-Yazd said that it is better for Iran to change its currency reserves because of American pressures and the US Dollars current weakness. "Considering the dollar situation in the last year, even if there were no sanctions, Iran should have changed its currency basket," he said.

Iranian bankers say that foreign bankers have stopped conducting business in Dollars when dealing with Iran, and that most of the money transfers are in Euros and other currencies. Iran is the world`s 4th largest exporter of oil and the second largest member of OPEC. It is under increasing pressure from the US, due to Iran`s insistence on a nuclear program which Washington and many other members of the international community appose. Davoud Danesh-Ja`fari, Iran`s Minister of Finance, said last month that Iran is not worried by the limitations set by the US. Danesh-Ja`fari added that the Iranian economic system is becoming more and more independent from the dollar. The CIA World Fact Book (2005) estimates Iran`s foreign currency reserves at $45.46 billion dollars.