Tehran, Iran – President Hassan Rouhani fired the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Abdolnasser Hemmati Presidential candidate In the election on June 18.

The cabinet said in a statement on Sunday that Hamati had been removed because his candidacy “prevented him from having enough seats in the central bank and prevented him from fulfilling his important duties as president in sensitive areas of currency and foreign currencies.” .

The cabinet voted to replace Hemati by Vice-Chairman Akbar Komijani, who also replaced Hemati at an economic meeting hosted by Rouhani on Sunday.

Komijani has served as deputy governor for the past seven years and has approximately two decades of experience in the central bank.

If he is not fired, Hamati will lead the central bank until 2023, after which his governor can be extended for another five years.

Ebrahim Raisi is considered the leader of the election, and he remains the head of the judiciary.

Hemmati is a veteran of the Iranian banking and insurance industry. He was a former reporter of the national television station. He took over as the head of the central bank in July 2018. At the time of turbulence, Iran’s currency, the Rial, had been hit hard.

The rial was in free fall. The then U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers in May last year and imposed severe unilateral sanctions.

Hemmati’s predecessor, Valiollah Seif, became the target of a judicial investigation, and several of his representatives were arrested. A senior prosecutor stated earlier this month, indictment It was issued because Seif was “waste” more than US$30 billion and 60 tons of gold reserves.

But the rial continued to depreciate sharply under the leadership of Hemmati, and reached its lowest point of 320,000 against the U.S. dollar on the open market in October 2020, before the Trump administration took “maximum pressure” actions on Iran. , The exchange price of the U.S. dollar against the U.S. dollar is less than 40,000.

The troubled currency has since partially recovered, having risen to a level of approximately US$210,000 to US$1 last month. Vienna talks Work to restore the nuclear agreement and lift US sanctions continues. But since then it has depreciated again, reaching $240,000 on Sunday.

Subsidiary Central Bank

The Central Bank of Iran suffers from a severe lack of government independence. Over the past four decades, excessive printing of money has been one of the main factors leading to rising inflation.

Legislation to enhance the independence of regulators has been lagging in several parliaments for more than a decade.

In this situation, the presidential candidate Hemmati has been trying to oppose the critics’ comments, who said he is one of the main people in charge of dealing with the current economic difficulties (including more than 40% inflation).

He stated earlier this week that he has risked changing his veritable reputation and changed long-term foreign exchange and monetary policies, and said that if he is not allowed to stand up and defend those who wish to maintain the status quo, the economic situation may be deteriorating. Worse.

In the case of public disappointment, the voter turnout in the election is expected to be low, and the candidate also expressed his desire to become the voice of a “silent majority”.

Hemmati was one of those who opposed a controversial policy initiated by Rouhani’s government in 2018, which set an artificial exchange rate of 42,000 rials to the US dollar to force the “unification” of the country. Exchange rate. Multiple exchange rates. This exchange rate continues to this day, but it is only used to import essential goods.

But he shares the same mindset with Rohanani and his moderate administration on certain issues, mainly because of the need to approve the remaining fiscal transparency Legislation to complete Iran’s action plan with the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental supervisory agency.