Strict New Procedures for Iran Currency Trading After Protest

[alp227]

Source: NYT

Iranian police officers moved to arrest unlicensed currency dealers and increase patrols in the center of the capital on Monday in order to prevent unofficial trading from disrupting new government-imposed rates of exchange for the national currency, the rial.

Over the past days Iran’s leaders have sought to stabilize the value of their currency, after a market panic last week when the rial fell by about 40 percent against the United States dollar and other foreign currencies.

Now, only those traders licensed by Iran’s Central Bank may buy and sell the rial for foreign currency, and at rates that value the rial at 25,500 to the dollar — substantially more than last week, when it took as many as 37,500 rials to buy one dollar.

But the new restriction on unofficial trading also had an adverse effect, causing lines of customers who wanted to sell their rials at the better rate in anticipation that it would eventually weaken again. Several authorized money traders refused to sell foreign currency in large quantities and some hired private security companies in order to regulate the flow of customers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/world/middleeast/iran-places-new-restrictions-on-currency-trading.html

[The Magistrate]

1. This Is One Of Those Things, Sir, Where Market Beats Government Every Time

The result will be that holders of foreign currency will get an even higher price in rials on the black market. Much of this will be driven by the 'authorized' dealers themselves, playing both sides of the trade....

[Vincardog]

2. I believe that this is a way to make billions. Buy $USD for the official rate sell $USD on the BM

Bet a 45% markup on every transaction. I could only do that 1000 times a day.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Shades of Germany 1933.