Iran petrochemicals under pressure for failing to return export proceeds
Iranian petrochemical companies have been criticized by the country’s central bank and economic experts for failing to do enough to calm a hard currency crisis that has fueled inflation.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said on Monday that petrochemical companies had failed to return some 30% of the hard currency they have earned from exports in the calendar year that started in late March 2024.
The bank said that petchem companies had also failed to return 12% of their last calendar year’s export proceeds.
Iranian state-run companies, including those that export petrochemicals and metals, are required to sell the hard currency they earn from exports on a CBI-controlled exchange market where importers can access currency at rates lower than those existing in the free market.
However, companies have blamed US sanctions and their rising expenditures for the delayed return of their hard currency revenues.
The CBI announcement came a day after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei referred to the failure of state companies to return their export proceeds as a major cause of economic problems in Iran.
That comes as the price of the US dollar and other international currencies have risen to record levels in the Iranian market in recent weeks.
The semi-official Fars news agency said in a report on Monday that petrochemicals, refineries, and metal companies had failed to return some $6.4 billion worth of their export proceeds in the 11 months to late February.
Citing figures from the Supreme Audit Court of Iran, the report said that those companies were responsible for more than half of the total liabilities related to the return of export proceeds in the April-February period.
Experts say the rise of currency prices can have huge inflationary impacts on the Iranian economy and can even lead to social and political dissatisfaction.
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