Iran government approves to drop four zeros from Rial

A bill to remove four zeros from the national currency had already been presented to the government by the Central Bank of Iran.

The Iranian government has approved to remove four zeros from the national currency, the Fars news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Central Bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati.

"The council of ministers approved today to drop four zeros from the national currency," Fars said, stating that Hemmati confirmed the decision after the cabinet session which was presided by President Hassan Rouhani.

A bill by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to remove four zeros from the rial had been presented to the government in January.

The plan now has to go before the parliament for vote and final approval by the Guardian Council which vets legislation before it takes effect.

Iran had been weighing to toss several zeros from the rial for years, but the idea found traction after the national currency lost more than 60 percent of its value in 2018.

It went into a tailspin in anticipation of US sanctions after President Donald Trump decided to pull the United States out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and vowed “maximum pressure” on Iran's economy.

The steep drop disrupted Iran’s foreign trade and led to a spike in inflation as commodity prices shot through the roof, prompting the country to take drastic measures to arrest the downward spiral.

Those measures have helped the rial to regain some of its value, trading recently at a rate not seen in months against major foreign currencies.

On Wednesday, the currency was trading at about 120,500 rials per US dollar on the unofficial market, up from its historic lows around 190,000 last September.

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