From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Iran central bank takes steps to shore up rial
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleIran’s central bank announces a hike in deposit rates in a bid to shore up the value of the rial, after police in Tehran rounded up around 100 foreign exchange dealers.
The currency had lost a quarter of its value in six months, sliding to a record low of 48,400 to the dollar on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump’s threats to tear up a landmark 2015 nuclear deal dash hopes of a surge in foreign investment.
The central bank says that to encourage savers to keep their money in rials rather than buying hard currency, it will ease the cap it imposed last year on the deposit rates offered by lenders.
Banks will for the next two weeks be authorized to offer interest rates of up to 20 percent on fixed one-year deposits, against 15 percent previously.
— AFP
The Times of Israel Community.