Islamic Republic’s Trade at Standstill

Even as Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talks of “circumventing” international sanctions against the country and as officials had until recently boasted that the restrictions imposed by the West over Tehran’s nuclear program had no impact on the country’s economy, the minister of industries, mines and trade announced this week that trade by the Islamic republic had virtually come to a halt because of international restrictions.

Mehdi Ghazanfari, the minister of industries told reporters, “The central bank cannot meet all the foreign exchange needs of the country.” He continued, “Last year sanctions only targeted specialized banks and shipping while now trade too is halted. New trade policies must be implemented under these conditions. In the last six months of this year (the Iranian year begins on March 21^st) of the 27 billion Dollars imports about 11 billion Dollars were funded through non-banking channels which indicates that the central bank cannot put its foreign exchange into circulation like it used to.”

Quelle