XE Currency Popularity Rankings: Iran Rials Ranked 58 Between 167 Countries
Below is the ranked popularity of the currencies listed in XE services:
Rank
1 USD United States Dollars 47.334%
2 EUR Euro 30.852%
3 GBP United Kingdom Pounds 21.357%
4 INR India Rupees 13.310%
5 AUD Australia Dollars 9.985%
6 CAD Canada Dollars 9.668%
7 ZAR South Africa Rand 4.163%
8 NZD New Zealand Dollars 3.544%
9 JPY Japan Yen 3.276%
10 SGD Singapore Dollars 3.126%
58 IRR Iran Rials 0.204%
Iranpod Business Report: October 11, 2010 [Report # IBREPORT1]
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Iran currency slumps, central bank says to act
By Robin Pomeroy
TEHRAN, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Iran's rial has fallen more than 10 percent in the last two days, prompting speculation about a
shortage of hard currency in a country whose financial sector has been hit by international sanctions.
The dollar was selling for 12,200 rials on Wednesday, Mehr news agency reported, up from 10,850 on Monday. A Reuters
witness said some dealers had stopped selling dollars at all, only offering to buy them.
One newspaper said the dollar peaked at 13,000 rials on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon the central bank governor
appeared on television to reassure Iranians about their currency.
"I assure you from tomorrow (Thursday) the dollar will be offered at a much lower price," Mahmoud Bahmani told
students news agency ISNA.
"Part of the price hike was real, but the other part was unreal and the central bank will intervene to curb this false price
hike."
Iran usually keeps its money pegged to major world currencies on an informal basis, with the Central Bank of Iran selling
currencies early in the morning to traders who then retail them with a certain mark-up.
"The foreign currency rate is set by the market," Bahmani said, but acknowledged that the government played a key role in
Iran's "managed floating exchange rate regime".
The dollar's rise was accompanied by an increase in the price of gold, supporting the view that Iranians were moving their
assets into "safe havens".
Newspapers were full of speculation about the rial's sudden slump. Many said money changers were having difficulty
selling rials in the United Arab Emirates -- a vital trading partner across the Gulf which has cracked down recently on
some business with Iran due to international sanctions.
One newspaper said the drop in the rial might be a deliberate devaluation ahead of the massive cuts the government is
about to make in subsidies it currently hands out to hold down prices of energy and other essential goods. The subsidy
cuts are likely to have an inflationary effect.
Iranpod Business Report: October 11, 2010 [Report # IBREPORT2]
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Stop at a Hookah café
If a city has even a small population of Iranians, you will likely find a hookah café. Not just for coffee, these
cafés offer a different kind of experience; people come and enjoy smoking different flavoured herbs in a
hookah, a water-based device for smoking.
With popular Persian music often playing in the background, these cafés are a place where Iranian Canadians
can feel closer to their ancestry. Most hookah shops in Canada offer non-tobacco herbs with flavours like
pomegranate and lemon.
How many Iranians in Canada?
88,220 Iranians in Canada 20,490 live in Vancouver area 41,295 live in Toronto
[Source: 2005 data from Statistics Canada]
Iranpod Business Report: October 12, 2010 [Report # IBREPORT3]
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