Iran Plans to Remove 4 Zeros from Currency

In a statement released on Sunday, the Central Bank of Iran said its governor, Abdonnaser Hemmati, has offered a bill to slash four zeros from the Iranian currency, rial.

The CBI has proposed the bill to the administration, which would make the final decision on removing the zeros, it added.

The statement also noted that the CBI governor has made it clear for the lawmakers at a parliamentary commission meeting that the Central Bank has full control over the foreign currency market and administers the situation to maintain the balance of currency rate with prudence and with regard to the market factors.

In August 2018, Hemmati unveiled a new package of regulations on foreign currency trade which lifted a ban on the activity of money exchange markets.

In December 2016, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet had approved a motion put forward by the Central Bank to change the national currency from rial to toman, leading to a ten-fold decrease in banknote denomination.

Toman has been long used as the unofficial unit of money in Iran, while rial and dinar have been the country’s formal currency and non-decimal currency, respectively.

Rial came into being in 1798 as a coin worth 1,250 dinars.