(MENAFN) The Iranian government plans to raise USD30 billion at a low official exchange rate for the import of basic goods such as meat and medicine, Fars news agency reported.
Recently, the semi-official media reported that the government planned to introduce a three-tiered exchange rate system to purchase different classes of imports.
Fars cited Kiomars Kermanshahi, deputy of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, as saying that the government decided to allocate between USD24 billion to USD30 billion at the official exchange rate of 12,260 rials for the import of basic goods.
Kermanshahi named dozens of goods that could be imported using the cheaper dollars, including red meat, chicken meat, live sheep and cows, barley, corn, raw oil, raw sugar, industrial powdered milk, pharmaceutical drugs, medical equipment not produced inside Iran, truck tires, cotton, synthetic fibers, resins, coal, printing machines and tractors.
He also named luxury goods that will be imported using dollars at a free market rate, including olive oil, cameras, tobacco, lamps, washing machines, dishwashers, sauces, cigarette papers, suitcases, mobile phones, wallpaper, vehicles and clothing.
In April, Iran banned the importation of about 600 goods for which domestic equivalents were available and said only imported essential items would benefit from preferential exchange rates.
A state news agency report in April suggested the government would provide subsidized foreign currency for around half of all goods imported into the country this year.
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