Iran Calls for ACU Members to Drop Dollar from Bilateral Trade
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran urged member states of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) to ditch US dollar in bilateral trade ties.
A nine-strong group of central banks including those of India, Pakistan and Iran – are to launch a new cross-border financial messaging system in the coming weeks, as an alternative to the main existing international network SWIFT.
According to officials from Iran – which currently chairs the body – the members of the bloc agreed at a meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran on May 24 that they would set up the new system within a month.
“The (ACU) countries decided to have a customized system for themselves, considering that Swift is not available to all countries and given that it has its own costs,” said Central Bank of Iran Deputy Governor Mohsen Karimi, Forbes reported.
The latest ACU initiative mirrors what Iran has already been doing on a bilateral basis with other countries.
