Iran central bank governor resigns amid currency crisis
The Islamic Repubic named a new governor for its central bank and arrested currency brokers, as the rial nosedived to the lowest rates ever recorded.
The Iranian government named a new governor for the country's central bank, and arrested 96 currency brokers in an attempt to halt unprecedented plummeting of the national currency.
Following a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Thursday, Mohammad-Reza Farzin replaced former central bank governor Ali Saleh-Abadi, who resigned from his post following weeks of pressure.
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, President Ebrahim Raisi advised the new governor "to consult observers" in his decision-making. Prior to the reshuffle, the 57-year-old economist was serving as the director of Bank Melli, Iran's largest state-run bank.
The replacement comes after weeks-long sharp declines in the value of the rial, and one day after it dropped to all-time lows, with one US dollar sold for 440,000 rials. The troubled market had triggered the removal of the central bank's foreign exchange chief only two weeks ago.
