Iran Raises Forex Import Allocations amid Confrontation with Israel

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has earmarked fresh resources to subsidize imports of basic goods amid an escalating military confrontation with the Israeli regime.

CBI’s public relations office said on Saturday that the lender had allocated an extra US$1 billion to imports of basic goods, adding that some US$400 million of the funding had immediately been transferred to the accounts of banks processing imports.

It said the decision was meant to further boost Iran’s stocks of basic goods.

The announcement came just a day after the Israeli regime carried out unprovoked airstrikes against Iran, causing Tehran to respond by firing a barrage of missiles and drones at targets in the occupied Palestine.

Government authorities have said that the country has enough stocks of food and other basic goods to cope with emergency conditions caused by the escalating military confrontation with Israel.

The CBI has processed more than US$10 billion worth of hard currency allocation to imports into Iran since the start of the calendar year in late March, including more than US$2 billion worth of heavily-subsidized currency earmarked to imports of basic goods and medicine.

The bank has a rate of 285,000 rials per US dollar for imports of basic goods, which covers grains, animal feed, and medicine. It also provides US dollars at a rate of 700,000 rials for imports of manufacturing equipment and other necessities.

That comes as the free market price of the US dollar was around 900,000 rials on Saturday, up more than 12% from the rates used in trade before the confrontation with Israel began a day earlier. - Press TV