Iran to ditch dollar as anger builds over Trump ban

Iran says it is preparing to stop using the dollar in its official statements – a move that had been in the offing but appears to have been expedited after Washington included the country in a list of seven nations that are banned from entering the United States.

Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, was quoted by domestic media as saying that Iran would either replace the US dollar with a new common foreign currency or use a basket of currencies in all official financial and foreign exchange reports.

Seif also said, according to Press TV, that the move would take effect from the start of the new fiscal year on March 21, 2017, the media reported.  

Iran’s emerging switch to non-dollar currencies comes at a time that outrage is building up in the country over an executive order by US President Donald Trump to ban Iranians from entering the United States. 

Apart from Iran, citizens of Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen have also been banned from entering the US for a period of 90 days.  

The move drew an immediate reaction from Iran with the country's Foreign Ministry pledging a response in kind. 

Seif further emphasized that Iran should use a foreign currency in its official reports that would have a high degree of stability and would be more common in foreign trade.   

He added that the US dollar has an insignificant share in Iran’s foreign exchanges and that the alternative to the dollar should be what would suit the country's trade with its current key partners such as the European Union member states, China and the United Arab Emirates. 

Iran has already signed agreements with several countries including Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iraq to ditch the dollar and use mutual currencies. 

However, Seif emphasized that the agreements were yet to become effective given that the volume of trade with those countries was not at a level to warrant a switch to non-dollar currencies. 

EA