TEHRAN - Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Ali Salehabadi has said that the country’s economy grew by 3.6% in the quarter to September 22.
Salehabadi announced the figure and dismissed criticism about CBI’s failure to control rising foreign currency prices in Iran.
He said that Iran’s economy had expanded by 3% in March-September with oil sector being the best performer among the economic sectors with a 6.6% growth reported over the period.
The top banker said other sectors of the Iranian economy, including manufacturing and mining, agriculture and services sectors, had also expanded over the two quarters to late September.
The remarks come days after the CBI dismissed rumors suggesting there would be an imminent change in the bank’s leadership after Salehabadi was criticized in economic circles for his failure to control foreign currency prices.
The U.S. dollar sold for 395,000 Iranian rials on Sunday, up from 385,000 rials reported on Thursday, according to currency monitoring websites and reports published in local economic newspapers.
Salehabadi said prices in the unofficial currency market were not transparent although he admitted that the CBI does not reject them altogether.
He also said Iran was still in talks with South Korea to work out a mechanism that could lead to the release of more than $7 billion in Iranian funds that have remained blocked in the East Asian country since 2018 because of U.S. sanctions on Iran.