DUBAI: The Iranian currency, the rial, rose further yesterday on hopes the country’s deep economic crisis could ease under its next president, a relative moderate elected last week.
The rial has strengthened by nearly 10 percent against the dollar since Hassan Rowhani was declared winner of the June 14 vote, according to Iranian currency dealers and websites. The rial was trading at around 33,300 per dollar compared with about 36,300 at the close of business a week ago.
Rowhani’s victory brings an end to eight years under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a period that resulted in intensifying financial pressure on Iran thanks to several rounds of economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme.
The rial now hovers at around a third of the value it was at the end of 2011, just before the United States and the European Union levied sanctions on Iran’s central bank, almost cutting off the Islamic Republic from the global banking system.
Reuters
