Iran Has Established Unsanctionable Intl. Banking Ties: Hemmati

The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that the country has created international banking ties which are neither sanctionable nor FATF-reliant. As Abdolnaser Hemmati describes on an Instagram post, "Our country has been able to create unsanctionable banking and monetary ties with the world out of the FATF framework." "The Central Bank, along with other economic sectors, will continue its efforts to facilitate supply of the country's sustainable business needs," he added.

He informed that hundreds of millions of dollars have been injected to domestic financial system by Iranian exporters assuring that the recent rampant inflation in forex rates will be curbed in near future. FATF has put Iran on its blacklist after Iran allegedly failed to comply with international anti-terrorism financing norms. Reuters revealed the news, adding that however, the FATF appeared to leave the door ajar for Iran saying “countries should also be able to apply countermeasures independently of any call by the FATF to do so.”

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering body, had given Iran a final deadline of February 2020 to implement a set of four bills to meet the standards set by the watchdog. Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi said that the government is taking decisive measures to neutralize effects of FATF's decision.

“All responsible organizations and institutions should concentrate on developing the country which is of paramount importance especially at the current situation that the country is facing tough sanctions," he said on February 24.

He emphasized the government’s support of the activity of private sector and delegation of authority of public enterprises to the private sector and added, “President Rohani believes that as long as economy of the country is not administered by the private sector, the economy will not boom, so, the government has focused on delegating activities to the private sector.” - Mehr