self sufficiency economy in Iran
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A very interesting article,it clearly shows that a lot of countries are finally waking up to the economic threat posed by us financial hegemony and its increasingly aggressive misuse of that power.Iran needs to get serious about dumping the dollar and avoiding its use in any sector of the iranian economy.Ultimately iran needs to start getting very creative with its sanctions busting and coming up with the same sorts of forward looking and unconventional strategies for its economy just as it did for its military,because playing the game,be it military or economic,by the wests rules isnt going to get iran anywhere.
PS
The part on instex is great for a laugh tho,especially the "It’s a ten-to-twenty-year thing"
comment,I`m hoping that was actually meant as a joke because if it wasnt then it truly shows just how deluded the eurotrash......sorry eurovassals actually are.
Dethroning the dollar
America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign
Its rivals and allies are both looking at other options
https://www.economist.com/briefing/...-use-of-sanctions-endangers-the-dollars-reign
EVER SINCE the dollar cemented its role as the world’s dominant currency in the 1950s, it has been clear that America’s position as the sole financial superpower gives it extraordinary influence over other countries’ economic destinies. But it is only under President Donald Trump that America has used its powers routinely and to their full extent, by engaging in financial warfare. The results have been awe-inspiring and shocking. They have in turn prompted other countries to seek to break free of American financial hegemony.
In 2018 America’s Treasury put legal measures in place that prevented Rusal, a strategically important Russian aluminium firm, from freely accessing the dollar-based financial system—with devastating effect. Overnight it was unable to deal with many counterparties. Western clearing houses refused to settle its debt securities. The price of its bonds collapsed (the restrictions were later lifted). America now has over 30 active financial- and trade-sanctions programmes. On January 10th it announced measures that the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said would “cut off billions of dollars of support to the Iranian regime”. The State Department, meanwhile, said that Iraq could lose access to its government account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That would restrict Iraq’s use of oil revenues, causing a cash crunch and flattening its economy.
America is uniquely well positioned to use financial warfare in the service of foreign policy. The dollar is used globally as a unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange. At least half of cross-border trade invoices are in dollars. That is five times America’s share of world goods imports, and three times its share of exports. The dollar is the preferred currency of central banks and capital markets, accounting for close to two-thirds of global securities issuance and foreign-exchange reserves.
The world’s financial rhythm is American: when interest rates move or risk appetite on Wall Street shifts, global markets respond. The world’s financial plumbing has Uncle Sam’s imprint on it, too. Most international transactions are ultimately cleared in dollars through New York by American “correspondent” banks. America has a tight grip on the main cross-border messaging system used by banks, SWIFT, whose members ping each other 30m times a day. Another part of the US-centric network is CHIPS, a clearing house that processes $1.5trn-worth of payments daily. America uses these systems to monitor activity. Denied access to this infrastructure, an organisation becomes isolated and, usually, financially crippled. Individuals and institutions across the planet are thus subject to American jurisdiction—and vulnerable to punishment.
America began to flex its financial muscles after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. It imposed huge fines on foreign banks for money-laundering and sanctions-busting; in 2014 a $9bn penalty against BNP Paribas shook the French establishment. Mr Trump has taken the weaponisation of finance to a new level (see chart). He has used sanctions to throttle Iran, North Korea, Russia, Turkey (briefly), Venezuela and others. His arsenal also includes tariffs and legal assaults on companies, most strikingly Huawei, which Mr Trump accuses of spying for China. “Secondary” sanctions target other countries’ companies that trade with blacklisted states. After America pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, European firms fled Iran, even as the EU encouraged them to stay. SWIFT quickly fell into line when America threatened action if it did not cut off Iranian banks after the reimposition of sanctions in 2018.
Using the dollar to extend the reach of American law and policy fits Mr Trump’s “America first” credo. Other countries view it as an abuse of power. That includes adversaries such as China and Russia; Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, talks of the dollar being used as a “political weapon”. And it includes allies, such as Britain and France, who worry that Mr Trump risks undermining America’s role as guarantor of orderliness in global commerce. It may eventually lead to the demise of America’s financial hegemony, as other countries seek to dethrone its mighty currency.
The new age of international monetary experimentation features the de-dollarisation of assets, trade workarounds using local currencies and swaps, and new bank-to-bank payment mechanisms and digital currencies. In June the Chinese and Russian presidents said they would expand settlement of bilateral trade in their own currencies. On the sidelines of a recent summit, leaders from Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar proposed using cryptocurrencies, national currencies, gold and barter for trade. Such activity marks an “inflection point”, says Tom Keatinge of RUSI, a think-tank. Countries that used merely to gripe about America’s financial might are now pushing back.
Russia has gone furthest. It has designated expendable entities to engage in commerce with countries America considers rogue, in order to avoid putting important banks and firms at risk. State-backed Promsvyazbank PJSC is used for trade in arms so as to shield bigger banks like Sberbank and VTB from the threat of sanctions.
Russia has also been busy de-dollarising parts of its financial system. Since 2013 its central bank has cut the dollar share of its foreign-exchange reserves from over 40% to 24%. Since 2018 the bank’s holdings of American Treasury debt have fallen from nearly $100bn to under $10bn. Russia’s finance ministry recently announced plans to lower the dollar share of its $125bn sovereign-wealth fund. “We aren’t aiming to ditch the dollar,” Mr Putin has said. “The dollar is ditching us.”
Elvira Nabiullina, Russia’s central-bank governor, says the move was partly motivated by American sanctions (which were imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014), but also by a desire to diversify currency risk. “I see a global shift in mood,” she says. “We are gradually moving towards a more multi-currency international monetary system.” Ms Nabiullina echoes Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, who said in August that the dollar-centric system “won’t hold”.
Russia’s debt is being de-dollarised, too. New issuance is often in roubles or euros, and the government is exploring selling yuan-denominated bonds. Russian companies have shrunk their foreign debts by $260bn since 2014; of that, $200bn was dollar-denominated. Conversely, Russian firms and households retain a fondness for dollars when it comes to holding international assets: they have $80bn more than they did in 2014. Dmitry Dolgin of ING, a bank, finds this “puzzling”, but suspects it could be that the interest rates on dollar assets, higher than on euro equivalents, outweigh the perceived risk from sanctions.
Dasvidaniya, dollar
ING expects 62% of Russia’s goods and services exports to have been settled in dollars in 2019, down from 80% in 2013. Its trade with China was almost all in dollars in 2013; now less than half is. Trade with India, much of it in the sanctions-sensitive defence sector, shifted from almost all dollars to almost all roubles over that period. One reason for this shift, say Russian officials, is that it speeds trade up, since dollar payments can be delayed for weeks as financial intermediaries run sanctions checks.
Energy and commodities firms are among Russia’s most active de-dollarisers. The greenback is the global benchmark currency for oil trading, and escaping its grip is hard. “The key thing to understand is that risk management, the entire derivatives complex, is in dollars,” explains the boss of a global energy firm. “So if you want to have risk management—as an oil trader, buyer or producer—you have to have contact with the dollar system.”
Nonetheless Rosneft, a state-backed producer that accounts for over 40% of Russia’s crude output, has denominated its tender contracts in euros. Surgutneftegas, another producer, still prices in dollars but has added a clause to contracts saying they can be switched to euros at its request—“a back-up plan in case Trump throws shit at the fan”, says a trader. Last March Gazprom priced a natural-gas shipment to western Europe in roubles for the first time. The cost of switching out of dollars is modest, says an executive at a global oil-trading firm: “an extra person in the finance department and a bit more currency risk.”
Will China follow the trail blazed by Russia? Mr Trump has exposed China’s profound vulnerability to the dollar-centric financial system. America’s ability to blacklist or hobble Chinese tech firms, such as Huawei, ultimately rests on punishing suppliers and other counterparties who do business with them through the dollar-based banking and payments system. An American legal case against a senior Huawei executive, who is fighting extradition from Canada, reportedly relies in part on evidence from an American-appointed overseer at HSBC, an Asia-centric bank run from London. In October America sanctioned eight cutting-edge Chinese tech firms for alleged human-rights abuses in Xinjiang province. The administration has threatened to block listings by Chinese firms in New York and restrict purchases by American investors of Chinese shares.
China’s first attempt to bypass the dollar was bungled. After the financial crisis in 2007-09 it promoted the international use of the yuan and pressed for it to become part of the IMF’s “Special Drawing Rights”, in effect receiving the fund’s imprimatur as a reserve currency. China set up currency swap deals with foreign central banks (it has done over 35). There was heady talk of the yuan challenging the dollar for the top spot by 2020. Then came a stockmarket panic in 2015 and the government clumsily tightened capital controls. The yuan’s share of global payment by value has stayed at about 2% for several years. Zhou Xiaochuan, a former governor of China’s central bank, has said that yuan internationalisation, which he promoted while in office, was “a premature baby”.
America’s display of financial firepower and new technologies are changing the calculus again. China has some of the building blocks to become more autonomous. It has its own domestic payments and settlement infrastructure, called CIPS. Launched in 2015, it has so far complemented SWIFT (which it uses for interbank messaging). It is tiny, processing less in 2018 than SWIFT does each day. But it simplifies cross-border payments in yuan, giving banks lots of nodes for settlements. Reports suggest that China, India and others may be exploring a jointly run SWIFT alternative.
A will and a Huawei
Parts of the world’s consumer-finance system are coming under China’s sway thanks to its digital-platform firms, which have globalised faster than its conventional banks. Payments through Alibaba (and its affiliate Ant Financial) are accepted by merchants in 56 countries. The Alipay logo is, in some places, as common as Visa’s. In capital markets, in 2018 China introduced a yuan-denominated crude-oil futures contract on a Shanghai exchange. Known as the “petroyuan”, it is seen by some as a potential rival to the dollar in pricing oil. China has encouraged important firms listed in America to list their shares closer to home as well. On November 26th Alibaba, China’s most valuable company, which in 2014 floated in New York rather than in Hong Kong or Shanghai, completed a $13.4bn additional listing in Hong Kong (the funds were raised in Hong Kong dollars). “As a result of the continuous innovation and changes to the Hong Kong capital market, we are able to realise what we regrettably missed out on five years ago,” said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief executive.
China’s central bank is reported to be working on a new digital currency, though details are sparse. Some speculate that it wants to get a head-start on America in building whatever international system emerges for managing payments in central bank-issued digital currencies. It discussed creating a common cryptocurrency with other BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) at a recent summit. China may end up doing Bitcoin with an authoritarian twist: instead of anonymity it may want all data to be trackable and centrally stored.
That America’s geopolitical rivals want to escape the dollar’s dominance is no surprise. Perhaps more striking is that its allies are flirting with it, too. In her manifesto for 2019-24, Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, said: “I want to strengthen the international role of the euro.” Jean-Claude Juncker, her predecessor, has called the dollar’s dominance in European energy trade an “aberration” (when just 2% of imports come from America). The commission is working on a new action plan, part of which involves encouraging EU countries to eliminate “undue reference” to the dollar in payments and trade invoicing, according to a staffer.
So far the EU’s main initiative has involved Iran. It has tried to create a way for its banks and firms to trade with it, while shielding them from America’s wrath. But Instex, a clearing house created for this purpose by Britain, France and Germany, with the commission’s support, is crude and limited. It is essentially a barter mechanism and does not cover oil sales (it is limited to non-sanctioned humanitarian trade). It was structured to allow firms to engage in commerce without resort to the dollar or SWIFT. But they have stayed away for fear of incurring secondary sanctions.
The stuttering performance of Instex reflects the sheer scope of America’s reach. As Adam M. Smith, a sanctions expert at Gibson Dunn, a law firm, points out, America can claim jurisdiction if a transaction has any American “nexus”, even if it is not denominated in dollars. This includes transactions that rely on banks under American jurisdiction, or where a foreign counterparty relies on American nationals to approve, facilitate or process the transaction, or where one party uses a back-end payment, accounting or email system that is stored on servers in America.
Despite this, some European officials remain optimistic. On November 29th six more EU states said they planned to join Instex. “It’s a ten-to-twenty-year thing, and hopefully not only covering Iran. You can’t undo decades of policy in a year,” says a French official. And, if Europe manages to reform the inner workings of the euro, its financial reach will expand. “We need to complete the project first: banking union, fiscal integration, genuine capital-markets union, and so on,” another French official says. European powers are likely to play a leading role in central-bank efforts to create a global electronic currency. Last year Mr Carney floated the idea of a network of central-bank digital monies that could serve as a global invoicing currency. If it happens America may not be invited.
A haven above
The true test of any reserve currency is a financial crisis. Eswar Prasad of Cornell University, the author of “The Dollar Trap”, notes that the greenback benefits during times of turmoil. The 2007-09 crisis, which originated in America, paradoxically strengthened its status as a safe haven. When global trade, saving, borrowing and reserves are largely in one currency, these strengths are mutually reinforcing. No other capital market comes close to America’s for depth and liquidity, a key factor when choosing a currency for commerce.
Yet financial supremacy depends on a heady mix of economic clout, incumbency and legitimacy. And the martial approach that America has adopted threatens the dollar’s dominance, reckons Jeffrey Frankel of Harvard University. A former American treasury secretary agrees. In 2016, while still in office, Jack Lew told an audience in Washington: “It is a mistake to think that [sanctions] are low-cost. And if they make the business environment too complicated, or unpredictable, or if they excessively interfere with the flow of funds worldwide, financial transactions may begin to move outside of the United States entirely—which could threaten the central role of the US financial system globally, not to mention the effectiveness of our sanctions in the future.” As the Trump administration continues to use sanctions aggressively, efforts to circumvent them will accelerate. America does not have a monopoly on financial ingenuity.■
PS
The part on instex is great for a laugh tho,especially the "It’s a ten-to-twenty-year thing"
comment,I`m hoping that was actually meant as a joke because if it wasnt then it truly shows just how deluded the eurotrash......sorry eurovassals actually are.
Dethroning the dollar
America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign
Its rivals and allies are both looking at other options
https://www.economist.com/briefing/...-use-of-sanctions-endangers-the-dollars-reign
EVER SINCE the dollar cemented its role as the world’s dominant currency in the 1950s, it has been clear that America’s position as the sole financial superpower gives it extraordinary influence over other countries’ economic destinies. But it is only under President Donald Trump that America has used its powers routinely and to their full extent, by engaging in financial warfare. The results have been awe-inspiring and shocking. They have in turn prompted other countries to seek to break free of American financial hegemony.
In 2018 America’s Treasury put legal measures in place that prevented Rusal, a strategically important Russian aluminium firm, from freely accessing the dollar-based financial system—with devastating effect. Overnight it was unable to deal with many counterparties. Western clearing houses refused to settle its debt securities. The price of its bonds collapsed (the restrictions were later lifted). America now has over 30 active financial- and trade-sanctions programmes. On January 10th it announced measures that the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said would “cut off billions of dollars of support to the Iranian regime”. The State Department, meanwhile, said that Iraq could lose access to its government account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That would restrict Iraq’s use of oil revenues, causing a cash crunch and flattening its economy.
America is uniquely well positioned to use financial warfare in the service of foreign policy. The dollar is used globally as a unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange. At least half of cross-border trade invoices are in dollars. That is five times America’s share of world goods imports, and three times its share of exports. The dollar is the preferred currency of central banks and capital markets, accounting for close to two-thirds of global securities issuance and foreign-exchange reserves.
The world’s financial rhythm is American: when interest rates move or risk appetite on Wall Street shifts, global markets respond. The world’s financial plumbing has Uncle Sam’s imprint on it, too. Most international transactions are ultimately cleared in dollars through New York by American “correspondent” banks. America has a tight grip on the main cross-border messaging system used by banks, SWIFT, whose members ping each other 30m times a day. Another part of the US-centric network is CHIPS, a clearing house that processes $1.5trn-worth of payments daily. America uses these systems to monitor activity. Denied access to this infrastructure, an organisation becomes isolated and, usually, financially crippled. Individuals and institutions across the planet are thus subject to American jurisdiction—and vulnerable to punishment.
America began to flex its financial muscles after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. It imposed huge fines on foreign banks for money-laundering and sanctions-busting; in 2014 a $9bn penalty against BNP Paribas shook the French establishment. Mr Trump has taken the weaponisation of finance to a new level (see chart). He has used sanctions to throttle Iran, North Korea, Russia, Turkey (briefly), Venezuela and others. His arsenal also includes tariffs and legal assaults on companies, most strikingly Huawei, which Mr Trump accuses of spying for China. “Secondary” sanctions target other countries’ companies that trade with blacklisted states. After America pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, European firms fled Iran, even as the EU encouraged them to stay. SWIFT quickly fell into line when America threatened action if it did not cut off Iranian banks after the reimposition of sanctions in 2018.
Using the dollar to extend the reach of American law and policy fits Mr Trump’s “America first” credo. Other countries view it as an abuse of power. That includes adversaries such as China and Russia; Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, talks of the dollar being used as a “political weapon”. And it includes allies, such as Britain and France, who worry that Mr Trump risks undermining America’s role as guarantor of orderliness in global commerce. It may eventually lead to the demise of America’s financial hegemony, as other countries seek to dethrone its mighty currency.
The new age of international monetary experimentation features the de-dollarisation of assets, trade workarounds using local currencies and swaps, and new bank-to-bank payment mechanisms and digital currencies. In June the Chinese and Russian presidents said they would expand settlement of bilateral trade in their own currencies. On the sidelines of a recent summit, leaders from Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar proposed using cryptocurrencies, national currencies, gold and barter for trade. Such activity marks an “inflection point”, says Tom Keatinge of RUSI, a think-tank. Countries that used merely to gripe about America’s financial might are now pushing back.
Russia has gone furthest. It has designated expendable entities to engage in commerce with countries America considers rogue, in order to avoid putting important banks and firms at risk. State-backed Promsvyazbank PJSC is used for trade in arms so as to shield bigger banks like Sberbank and VTB from the threat of sanctions.
Russia has also been busy de-dollarising parts of its financial system. Since 2013 its central bank has cut the dollar share of its foreign-exchange reserves from over 40% to 24%. Since 2018 the bank’s holdings of American Treasury debt have fallen from nearly $100bn to under $10bn. Russia’s finance ministry recently announced plans to lower the dollar share of its $125bn sovereign-wealth fund. “We aren’t aiming to ditch the dollar,” Mr Putin has said. “The dollar is ditching us.”
Elvira Nabiullina, Russia’s central-bank governor, says the move was partly motivated by American sanctions (which were imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014), but also by a desire to diversify currency risk. “I see a global shift in mood,” she says. “We are gradually moving towards a more multi-currency international monetary system.” Ms Nabiullina echoes Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, who said in August that the dollar-centric system “won’t hold”.
Russia’s debt is being de-dollarised, too. New issuance is often in roubles or euros, and the government is exploring selling yuan-denominated bonds. Russian companies have shrunk their foreign debts by $260bn since 2014; of that, $200bn was dollar-denominated. Conversely, Russian firms and households retain a fondness for dollars when it comes to holding international assets: they have $80bn more than they did in 2014. Dmitry Dolgin of ING, a bank, finds this “puzzling”, but suspects it could be that the interest rates on dollar assets, higher than on euro equivalents, outweigh the perceived risk from sanctions.
Dasvidaniya, dollar
ING expects 62% of Russia’s goods and services exports to have been settled in dollars in 2019, down from 80% in 2013. Its trade with China was almost all in dollars in 2013; now less than half is. Trade with India, much of it in the sanctions-sensitive defence sector, shifted from almost all dollars to almost all roubles over that period. One reason for this shift, say Russian officials, is that it speeds trade up, since dollar payments can be delayed for weeks as financial intermediaries run sanctions checks.
Energy and commodities firms are among Russia’s most active de-dollarisers. The greenback is the global benchmark currency for oil trading, and escaping its grip is hard. “The key thing to understand is that risk management, the entire derivatives complex, is in dollars,” explains the boss of a global energy firm. “So if you want to have risk management—as an oil trader, buyer or producer—you have to have contact with the dollar system.”
Nonetheless Rosneft, a state-backed producer that accounts for over 40% of Russia’s crude output, has denominated its tender contracts in euros. Surgutneftegas, another producer, still prices in dollars but has added a clause to contracts saying they can be switched to euros at its request—“a back-up plan in case Trump throws shit at the fan”, says a trader. Last March Gazprom priced a natural-gas shipment to western Europe in roubles for the first time. The cost of switching out of dollars is modest, says an executive at a global oil-trading firm: “an extra person in the finance department and a bit more currency risk.”
Will China follow the trail blazed by Russia? Mr Trump has exposed China’s profound vulnerability to the dollar-centric financial system. America’s ability to blacklist or hobble Chinese tech firms, such as Huawei, ultimately rests on punishing suppliers and other counterparties who do business with them through the dollar-based banking and payments system. An American legal case against a senior Huawei executive, who is fighting extradition from Canada, reportedly relies in part on evidence from an American-appointed overseer at HSBC, an Asia-centric bank run from London. In October America sanctioned eight cutting-edge Chinese tech firms for alleged human-rights abuses in Xinjiang province. The administration has threatened to block listings by Chinese firms in New York and restrict purchases by American investors of Chinese shares.
China’s first attempt to bypass the dollar was bungled. After the financial crisis in 2007-09 it promoted the international use of the yuan and pressed for it to become part of the IMF’s “Special Drawing Rights”, in effect receiving the fund’s imprimatur as a reserve currency. China set up currency swap deals with foreign central banks (it has done over 35). There was heady talk of the yuan challenging the dollar for the top spot by 2020. Then came a stockmarket panic in 2015 and the government clumsily tightened capital controls. The yuan’s share of global payment by value has stayed at about 2% for several years. Zhou Xiaochuan, a former governor of China’s central bank, has said that yuan internationalisation, which he promoted while in office, was “a premature baby”.
America’s display of financial firepower and new technologies are changing the calculus again. China has some of the building blocks to become more autonomous. It has its own domestic payments and settlement infrastructure, called CIPS. Launched in 2015, it has so far complemented SWIFT (which it uses for interbank messaging). It is tiny, processing less in 2018 than SWIFT does each day. But it simplifies cross-border payments in yuan, giving banks lots of nodes for settlements. Reports suggest that China, India and others may be exploring a jointly run SWIFT alternative.
A will and a Huawei
Parts of the world’s consumer-finance system are coming under China’s sway thanks to its digital-platform firms, which have globalised faster than its conventional banks. Payments through Alibaba (and its affiliate Ant Financial) are accepted by merchants in 56 countries. The Alipay logo is, in some places, as common as Visa’s. In capital markets, in 2018 China introduced a yuan-denominated crude-oil futures contract on a Shanghai exchange. Known as the “petroyuan”, it is seen by some as a potential rival to the dollar in pricing oil. China has encouraged important firms listed in America to list their shares closer to home as well. On November 26th Alibaba, China’s most valuable company, which in 2014 floated in New York rather than in Hong Kong or Shanghai, completed a $13.4bn additional listing in Hong Kong (the funds were raised in Hong Kong dollars). “As a result of the continuous innovation and changes to the Hong Kong capital market, we are able to realise what we regrettably missed out on five years ago,” said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief executive.
China’s central bank is reported to be working on a new digital currency, though details are sparse. Some speculate that it wants to get a head-start on America in building whatever international system emerges for managing payments in central bank-issued digital currencies. It discussed creating a common cryptocurrency with other BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) at a recent summit. China may end up doing Bitcoin with an authoritarian twist: instead of anonymity it may want all data to be trackable and centrally stored.
That America’s geopolitical rivals want to escape the dollar’s dominance is no surprise. Perhaps more striking is that its allies are flirting with it, too. In her manifesto for 2019-24, Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, said: “I want to strengthen the international role of the euro.” Jean-Claude Juncker, her predecessor, has called the dollar’s dominance in European energy trade an “aberration” (when just 2% of imports come from America). The commission is working on a new action plan, part of which involves encouraging EU countries to eliminate “undue reference” to the dollar in payments and trade invoicing, according to a staffer.
So far the EU’s main initiative has involved Iran. It has tried to create a way for its banks and firms to trade with it, while shielding them from America’s wrath. But Instex, a clearing house created for this purpose by Britain, France and Germany, with the commission’s support, is crude and limited. It is essentially a barter mechanism and does not cover oil sales (it is limited to non-sanctioned humanitarian trade). It was structured to allow firms to engage in commerce without resort to the dollar or SWIFT. But they have stayed away for fear of incurring secondary sanctions.
The stuttering performance of Instex reflects the sheer scope of America’s reach. As Adam M. Smith, a sanctions expert at Gibson Dunn, a law firm, points out, America can claim jurisdiction if a transaction has any American “nexus”, even if it is not denominated in dollars. This includes transactions that rely on banks under American jurisdiction, or where a foreign counterparty relies on American nationals to approve, facilitate or process the transaction, or where one party uses a back-end payment, accounting or email system that is stored on servers in America.
Despite this, some European officials remain optimistic. On November 29th six more EU states said they planned to join Instex. “It’s a ten-to-twenty-year thing, and hopefully not only covering Iran. You can’t undo decades of policy in a year,” says a French official. And, if Europe manages to reform the inner workings of the euro, its financial reach will expand. “We need to complete the project first: banking union, fiscal integration, genuine capital-markets union, and so on,” another French official says. European powers are likely to play a leading role in central-bank efforts to create a global electronic currency. Last year Mr Carney floated the idea of a network of central-bank digital monies that could serve as a global invoicing currency. If it happens America may not be invited.
A haven above
The true test of any reserve currency is a financial crisis. Eswar Prasad of Cornell University, the author of “The Dollar Trap”, notes that the greenback benefits during times of turmoil. The 2007-09 crisis, which originated in America, paradoxically strengthened its status as a safe haven. When global trade, saving, borrowing and reserves are largely in one currency, these strengths are mutually reinforcing. No other capital market comes close to America’s for depth and liquidity, a key factor when choosing a currency for commerce.
Yet financial supremacy depends on a heady mix of economic clout, incumbency and legitimacy. And the martial approach that America has adopted threatens the dollar’s dominance, reckons Jeffrey Frankel of Harvard University. A former American treasury secretary agrees. In 2016, while still in office, Jack Lew told an audience in Washington: “It is a mistake to think that [sanctions] are low-cost. And if they make the business environment too complicated, or unpredictable, or if they excessively interfere with the flow of funds worldwide, financial transactions may begin to move outside of the United States entirely—which could threaten the central role of the US financial system globally, not to mention the effectiveness of our sanctions in the future.” As the Trump administration continues to use sanctions aggressively, efforts to circumvent them will accelerate. America does not have a monopoly on financial ingenuity.■
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Iran basks in ‘miracle’ of $32 billion in non-oil exports
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 10:41 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 10:58 AM ]
Non-oil exports have almost replaced oil exports, Iran’s Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani says.
Iran has exported $32 billion of non-oil goods so far in the current Persian year ending March 21, 2020, shoring up its economy which is under severe pressure from unprecedented US sanctions.
“This is like a miracle in the current economic situation of the country,” Iran’s Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani told an exports quality summit in Tehran, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.
The Iranian economy has been carrying on at a relatively steady clip after a period of turmoil when the Trump administration unleashed its most ferocious economic attack on the country in November 2018 with a pledge to sink its oil exports to zero.
The sanctions are part of Washington’s “maximum pressure” policy which the US administration hopes would ultimately force Iran to negotiate a sweeping deal, covering its ballistic missile program and its role in Middle East.
The Islamic Republic, however, has held its ground and said it will not renegotiate a 2015 nuclear deal which President Donald Trump abandoned in May 2018 and announced the most draconian sanctions ever on the country.
“Non-oil exports have almost replaced oil exports, and the country is governed by the revenues of the non-oil sector,” Modares Khiabani said.
However, the Trump administration is gerrymandering, tweaking the contours of its supposed sanctions relief from time to time to put more aspects of the Iranian economy under strain.
The US Treasury Department announced last month that its new sanctions targeting Iran's air and maritime transport industries would lead to the restriction of trade related to humanitarian goods.
New sanctions to ban humanitarian trade with Iran: US Treasury
The US has said that newly announced anti-Iran sanctions will ban humanitarian trade with the country.
The Treasury's guidelines said US persons would be prohibited from engaging in transactions for the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices to Iran.
The announcement put an end to Washington's oft-repeated claim that its sanctions did not affect Iran's access to humanitarian goods.
Earlier this month, the US administration announced new sanctions, targeting Iran’s construction, manufacturing, textiles, mining, aluminum, copper, iron and steel industries and set to hit much of Iran’s economy as well as Chinese companies that have conducted business with Iran.
China has long been Iran’s largest trading partner and the Islamic Republic is one of its major suppliers of oil. But the relationship has recently come under greater scrutiny.
Oil pricing agency S&P Global Platts said this month US officials were working behind the scenes to pressure China into halting all its oil and condensate imports from Iran.
China has dismissed the US sanctions, saying they amount to “bullying” and has defended its trade with Iran as legitimate and legal.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Trump administration was seeking to keep pressure on Iran after assassinating top military commander General Qassem Soleimani.
Senior US officials, the paper said, are urging Trump to keep imposing economic sanctions and wait to see if European leaders move to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran.
Some of those who backed the decision to assassinate Gen. Soleimani on Jan. 3 argue that continuing to squeeze Iran could weaken the government, the Times added.
The New York Times, however, castigated the "wrong track for confronting Iran”.
According to the paper, Iran’s signing of the 2015 nuclear deal and recent sporadic protests in the country "may have convinced Washington that the Islamic Republic is teetering, and that more pressure could topple it”.
"But the Iranian state is not as weak as Washington estimates,” the New York Times said.
The US assassination of General Soleimani, it said, has only strengthened the Islamic Republic and the enormous crowds that gathered to mourn the general give it a mandate and confidence in the country’s ability to take on the United States.
"President Trump has not fully grasped that Iran’s position in the region is stronger today than it was when the United States began to contain” the country, the paper said in an opinion piece written by dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies Vali Nasr.
Iran basks in ‘miracle’ of $32 billion in non-oil exports
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 10:41 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 10:58 AM ]
Non-oil exports have almost replaced oil exports, Iran’s Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani says.
Iran has exported $32 billion of non-oil goods so far in the current Persian year ending March 21, 2020, shoring up its economy which is under severe pressure from unprecedented US sanctions.
“This is like a miracle in the current economic situation of the country,” Iran’s Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani told an exports quality summit in Tehran, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.
The Iranian economy has been carrying on at a relatively steady clip after a period of turmoil when the Trump administration unleashed its most ferocious economic attack on the country in November 2018 with a pledge to sink its oil exports to zero.
The sanctions are part of Washington’s “maximum pressure” policy which the US administration hopes would ultimately force Iran to negotiate a sweeping deal, covering its ballistic missile program and its role in Middle East.
The Islamic Republic, however, has held its ground and said it will not renegotiate a 2015 nuclear deal which President Donald Trump abandoned in May 2018 and announced the most draconian sanctions ever on the country.
“Non-oil exports have almost replaced oil exports, and the country is governed by the revenues of the non-oil sector,” Modares Khiabani said.
However, the Trump administration is gerrymandering, tweaking the contours of its supposed sanctions relief from time to time to put more aspects of the Iranian economy under strain.
The US Treasury Department announced last month that its new sanctions targeting Iran's air and maritime transport industries would lead to the restriction of trade related to humanitarian goods.
New sanctions to ban humanitarian trade with Iran: US Treasury
The US has said that newly announced anti-Iran sanctions will ban humanitarian trade with the country.
The Treasury's guidelines said US persons would be prohibited from engaging in transactions for the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices to Iran.
The announcement put an end to Washington's oft-repeated claim that its sanctions did not affect Iran's access to humanitarian goods.
Earlier this month, the US administration announced new sanctions, targeting Iran’s construction, manufacturing, textiles, mining, aluminum, copper, iron and steel industries and set to hit much of Iran’s economy as well as Chinese companies that have conducted business with Iran.
China has long been Iran’s largest trading partner and the Islamic Republic is one of its major suppliers of oil. But the relationship has recently come under greater scrutiny.
Oil pricing agency S&P Global Platts said this month US officials were working behind the scenes to pressure China into halting all its oil and condensate imports from Iran.
China has dismissed the US sanctions, saying they amount to “bullying” and has defended its trade with Iran as legitimate and legal.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Trump administration was seeking to keep pressure on Iran after assassinating top military commander General Qassem Soleimani.
Senior US officials, the paper said, are urging Trump to keep imposing economic sanctions and wait to see if European leaders move to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran.
Some of those who backed the decision to assassinate Gen. Soleimani on Jan. 3 argue that continuing to squeeze Iran could weaken the government, the Times added.
The New York Times, however, castigated the "wrong track for confronting Iran”.
According to the paper, Iran’s signing of the 2015 nuclear deal and recent sporadic protests in the country "may have convinced Washington that the Islamic Republic is teetering, and that more pressure could topple it”.
"But the Iranian state is not as weak as Washington estimates,” the New York Times said.
The US assassination of General Soleimani, it said, has only strengthened the Islamic Republic and the enormous crowds that gathered to mourn the general give it a mandate and confidence in the country’s ability to take on the United States.
"President Trump has not fully grasped that Iran’s position in the region is stronger today than it was when the United States began to contain” the country, the paper said in an opinion piece written by dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies Vali Nasr.
DESERT FIGHTER
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Im surprised that despite being neighbours and trading for thousands of years we still have very limited people to people contact and trade.
Apart from pilgrims not many Pak visit Iran and same could be said for Iranis visiting Pak.
Apart from pilgrims not many Pak visit Iran and same could be said for Iranis visiting Pak.
SubWater
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News / Economy
Iran set to open first section of Tehran-Shomal Freeway in February
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 7:44 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 7:50 PM ]
This January 21, 2020 photo by Mehr agency shows workers inside a tunnel in Tehran-Shomal Freeway as authorities prepare to open the project in early February.
Iranian authorities say a first section of a major road project meant to ease traffic between the capital Tehran and northern parts of the country is set to open next month.
Iranian vice president for budgeting affairs said on Tuesday that the 32-kilometer section of the Tehran-Shomal Freeway will be ready for use when the country marks the anniversary of the Islamic revolution of 1979 in early February.
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said that the project had cost more than 100 trillion rials, or nearly $1 billion, adding that it would shorten travel time from Tehran to Chalus, a resort city located on the Caspian Sea, by at least 30 minutes.
He said the road was a manifestation of Iran’s determination to beef up infrastructure even at a time the country is facing some of the harshest sanctions ever imposed by foreigners.
Finishing the ambitious Tehran-Shomal Freeway became a major challenge for the current Iranian administrative government after companies from China and South Korea withdrew from the project due to the American sanctions and other financial issues.
Snow exposes flawed restoration at Iranian world heritage site
Snow gives a bizarre look to the mosque dome in Isfahan, prompting concerns about restoration work.
A consortium of seven Iranian companies led by the Mostazafan Foundation has built the first section of the freeway which includes some of the longest road tunnels in Iran.
A final section of the road, a short drive between Marzanabad and Chalus, was finished in March 2013. The current government has promised it would spend some $150 million to open another 22 kilometers of the road next year.
No timetable has been announced yet for the construction of the third and longest section of the road which would span 47 kilometers from Pol-e Zanguleh to Marzanabad.
Iran set to open first section of Tehran-Shomal Freeway in February
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 7:44 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 7:50 PM ]
This January 21, 2020 photo by Mehr agency shows workers inside a tunnel in Tehran-Shomal Freeway as authorities prepare to open the project in early February.
Iranian authorities say a first section of a major road project meant to ease traffic between the capital Tehran and northern parts of the country is set to open next month.
Iranian vice president for budgeting affairs said on Tuesday that the 32-kilometer section of the Tehran-Shomal Freeway will be ready for use when the country marks the anniversary of the Islamic revolution of 1979 in early February.
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said that the project had cost more than 100 trillion rials, or nearly $1 billion, adding that it would shorten travel time from Tehran to Chalus, a resort city located on the Caspian Sea, by at least 30 minutes.
He said the road was a manifestation of Iran’s determination to beef up infrastructure even at a time the country is facing some of the harshest sanctions ever imposed by foreigners.
Finishing the ambitious Tehran-Shomal Freeway became a major challenge for the current Iranian administrative government after companies from China and South Korea withdrew from the project due to the American sanctions and other financial issues.
Snow exposes flawed restoration at Iranian world heritage site
Snow gives a bizarre look to the mosque dome in Isfahan, prompting concerns about restoration work.
A consortium of seven Iranian companies led by the Mostazafan Foundation has built the first section of the freeway which includes some of the longest road tunnels in Iran.
A final section of the road, a short drive between Marzanabad and Chalus, was finished in March 2013. The current government has promised it would spend some $150 million to open another 22 kilometers of the road next year.
No timetable has been announced yet for the construction of the third and longest section of the road which would span 47 kilometers from Pol-e Zanguleh to Marzanabad.
SubWater
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Iran can reach a target of $20bn in annual tax revenues: Economist
Thursday, 23 January 2020 6:40 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 January 2020 6:47 PM ]
An economist believes Iranian government can reach a target of $20bn in annual tax revenues.
An Iranian economist says the country can count on a maximum of $20 billion in annual tax revenues despite claims that the government would fail to pocket around $14 billion worth of taxes to finance its budget in the next Iranian calendar year beginning in March.
“Iran’s tax capacity is much higher than the tax revenues (currently) earned and this government is facing no problem with regards to tax collection,” said Ehsan Khandouzi, an economics lecturer at Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabayi University.
The comments, made at a Thursday interview with ILNA news agency, comes despite suspicions raised by other experts who say the government would miss a target of more than $14 billion in tax revenues introduced in a draft budget for the next calendar year.
The draft, touted by the government as the first in Iran’s recent history to rely on resources other than oil revenues, is currently being debated in the Iranian parliament.
Commercial banks owe $15.5 bn to Iran’s central bank: Report
A report shows total borrowing of banks from Iran’s central bank currently stands at $15.5 bn.
Critics say targets introduced for tax collection schemes in the 2020-2021 Iranian budget are unrealistic and the government should come up with other solutions to offset the impacts of the American sanctions on its direct sale of crude.
Khandouzi said, however, that the 1,750 trillion rials that the Iranian government seeks to raise from tax next year would be “receivable”.
“The figure included in the ... budget is absolutely not difficult to get to and it is even lower than the country’s tax collection potential,” he said.
The economist said the government needed to tighten its rules for fighting tax avoidance while trying to remove unnecessary exemptions or reliefs given to certain taxpayers.
A report in early December showed that the government had received 780 trillion rials (nearly $6 billion) in tax revenues in the first seven months of the current calendar year.
Total tax revenues for the year ending in March 2020 are expected to reach more than $11 billion, said the report.
Iran can reach a target of $20bn in annual tax revenues: Economist
Thursday, 23 January 2020 6:40 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 January 2020 6:47 PM ]
An economist believes Iranian government can reach a target of $20bn in annual tax revenues.
An Iranian economist says the country can count on a maximum of $20 billion in annual tax revenues despite claims that the government would fail to pocket around $14 billion worth of taxes to finance its budget in the next Iranian calendar year beginning in March.
“Iran’s tax capacity is much higher than the tax revenues (currently) earned and this government is facing no problem with regards to tax collection,” said Ehsan Khandouzi, an economics lecturer at Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabayi University.
The comments, made at a Thursday interview with ILNA news agency, comes despite suspicions raised by other experts who say the government would miss a target of more than $14 billion in tax revenues introduced in a draft budget for the next calendar year.
The draft, touted by the government as the first in Iran’s recent history to rely on resources other than oil revenues, is currently being debated in the Iranian parliament.
Commercial banks owe $15.5 bn to Iran’s central bank: Report
A report shows total borrowing of banks from Iran’s central bank currently stands at $15.5 bn.
Critics say targets introduced for tax collection schemes in the 2020-2021 Iranian budget are unrealistic and the government should come up with other solutions to offset the impacts of the American sanctions on its direct sale of crude.
Khandouzi said, however, that the 1,750 trillion rials that the Iranian government seeks to raise from tax next year would be “receivable”.
“The figure included in the ... budget is absolutely not difficult to get to and it is even lower than the country’s tax collection potential,” he said.
The economist said the government needed to tighten its rules for fighting tax avoidance while trying to remove unnecessary exemptions or reliefs given to certain taxpayers.
A report in early December showed that the government had received 780 trillion rials (nearly $6 billion) in tax revenues in the first seven months of the current calendar year.
Total tax revenues for the year ending in March 2020 are expected to reach more than $11 billion, said the report.
Raghfarm007
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Trump has forced Iran to fix its tax and banking system.... he really is trying to make Iran great again
Hack-Hook
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Taxing system well they are working on it but at a lot slower pace than its desired. Banking system well please don't kid yourself its the same shit as it was in the last 90 year's .
Sina-1
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Also diversifying the economy and export. Iran was a net importer if steel products not so long ago and now they are exporting 5b$. It’s an achievement however you want to spin it!
SubWater
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News / Energy
Iran first OPEC nation to produce, export oil processing catalysts: Manufacturer
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:39 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:46 PM ]
This photo by IRNA agency shows samples of catalysts on display at a fair in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran has become the first member state of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that can produce and export sophisticated catalysts used in oil and gas processing.
An Iranian manufacturer said on Tuesday that the country was no longer in need of importing oil processing catalysts from countries like the United States, adding that Iranian companies had mastered the technology needed for producing at least 44 types of catalysts that are frequently used across the industry.
“Iran is the first OPEC county and one of the few in the world which has broken up... the monopoly of major catalyst-manufacturing companies of the world,” said Abdolreza Hamidi, who chairs the association of Iranian catalyst producers.
Iran has been importing various types of catalysts it needs for its petroleum industry from Western countries with American company Honeywell UOP being a main supplier for years.
Iran’s South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output: Contractor
South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output as cold season begins to set in across Iran.
That comes as Washington has imposed a series of tough sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas industry since November last year, making it difficult for Iranian developers and contractors to access advanced devices needed to increase production or to expand activities in the country’s petrochemical sector.
Hamidi said Iranian companies had managed to break up the monopoly of 14 global companies that produce catalysts used in the oil and gas industry.
He said Iran had started supply of such catalysts to customers in countries like Iraq, Armenia, Pakistan, Syria, Kazakhstan and others.
Experts believe American sanctions on Iran’s direct sale of crude have backfired in certain ways as they have led to a boom in manufacturing and non-oil trade in the country despite their impact on government finances.
Iran first OPEC nation to produce, export oil processing catalysts: Manufacturer
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:39 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:46 PM ]
This photo by IRNA agency shows samples of catalysts on display at a fair in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran has become the first member state of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that can produce and export sophisticated catalysts used in oil and gas processing.
An Iranian manufacturer said on Tuesday that the country was no longer in need of importing oil processing catalysts from countries like the United States, adding that Iranian companies had mastered the technology needed for producing at least 44 types of catalysts that are frequently used across the industry.
“Iran is the first OPEC county and one of the few in the world which has broken up... the monopoly of major catalyst-manufacturing companies of the world,” said Abdolreza Hamidi, who chairs the association of Iranian catalyst producers.
Iran has been importing various types of catalysts it needs for its petroleum industry from Western countries with American company Honeywell UOP being a main supplier for years.
Iran’s South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output: Contractor
South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output as cold season begins to set in across Iran.
That comes as Washington has imposed a series of tough sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas industry since November last year, making it difficult for Iranian developers and contractors to access advanced devices needed to increase production or to expand activities in the country’s petrochemical sector.
Hamidi said Iranian companies had managed to break up the monopoly of 14 global companies that produce catalysts used in the oil and gas industry.
He said Iran had started supply of such catalysts to customers in countries like Iraq, Armenia, Pakistan, Syria, Kazakhstan and others.
Experts believe American sanctions on Iran’s direct sale of crude have backfired in certain ways as they have led to a boom in manufacturing and non-oil trade in the country despite their impact on government finances.
Sineva
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You`d have thought that this was exactly the sort of technology that iran and the other oil producing nations would`ve indigenized years ago,and yet today its only iran that has made the effort to do so.Still perhaps this iranian success might encourage the other persian gulf oil producers to attempt the same feat.........then again maybe not.News / Energy
Iran first OPEC nation to produce, export oil processing catalysts: Manufacturer
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:39 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:46 PM ]
This photo by IRNA agency shows samples of catalysts on display at a fair in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran has become the first member state of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that can produce and export sophisticated catalysts used in oil and gas processing.
An Iranian manufacturer said on Tuesday that the country was no longer in need of importing oil processing catalysts from countries like the United States, adding that Iranian companies had mastered the technology needed for producing at least 44 types of catalysts that are frequently used across the industry.
“Iran is the first OPEC county and one of the few in the world which has broken up... the monopoly of major catalyst-manufacturing companies of the world,” said Abdolreza Hamidi, who chairs the association of Iranian catalyst producers.
Iran has been importing various types of catalysts it needs for its petroleum industry from Western countries with American company Honeywell UOP being a main supplier for years.
Iran’s South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output: Contractor
South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output as cold season begins to set in across Iran.
That comes as Washington has imposed a series of tough sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas industry since November last year, making it difficult for Iranian developers and contractors to access advanced devices needed to increase production or to expand activities in the country’s petrochemical sector.
Hamidi said Iranian companies had managed to break up the monopoly of 14 global companies that produce catalysts used in the oil and gas industry.
He said Iran had started supply of such catalysts to customers in countries like Iraq, Armenia, Pakistan, Syria, Kazakhstan and others.
Experts believe American sanctions on Iran’s direct sale of crude have backfired in certain ways as they have led to a boom in manufacturing and non-oil trade in the country despite their impact on government finances.
Myself
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News / Energy
Iran first OPEC nation to produce, export oil processing catalysts: Manufacturer
Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:39 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 January 2020 5:46 PM ]
.
This photo by IRNA agency shows samples of catalysts on display at a fair in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran has become the first member state of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that can produce and export sophisticated catalysts used in oil and gas processing.
An Iranian manufacturer said on Tuesday that the country was no longer in need of importing oil processing catalysts from countries like the United States, adding that Iranian companies had mastered the technology needed for producing at least 44 types of catalysts that are frequently used across the industry.
“Iran is the first OPEC county and one of the few in the world which has broken up... the monopoly of major catalyst-manufacturing companies of the world,” said Abdolreza Hamidi, who chairs the association of Iranian catalyst producers.
Iran has been importing various types of catalysts it needs for its petroleum industry from Western countries with American company Honeywell UOP being a main supplier for years.
Iran’s South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output: Contractor
South Pars gas field reaches 630 mcm in daily output as cold season begins to set in across Iran.
That comes as Washington has imposed a series of tough sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas industry since November last year, making it difficult for Iranian developers and contractors to access advanced devices needed to increase production or to expand activities in the country’s petrochemical sector.
Hamidi said Iranian companies had managed to break up the monopoly of 14 global companies that produce catalysts used in the oil and gas industry.
He said Iran had started supply of such catalysts to customers in countries like Iraq, Armenia, Pakistan, Syria, Kazakhstan and others.
Experts believe American sanctions on Iran’s direct sale of crude have backfired in certain ways as they have led to a boom in manufacturing and non-oil trade in the country despite their impact on government finances.
The lead scientist in Sarv got the concept during the time he was doing his post doc in Haldor Topsoe (DK). The original manufacturing line was based on Indian technology [United Catalyst India). The current manufacturing line is slightly modified now, especially in the furnace side used for curing the catalyst support
Sineva
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https://financialtribune.com/articles/energy/101897/nigc-indigenizes-25-mw-gas-turbine
https://financialtribune.com/articles/energy/101897/nigc-indigenizes-25-mw-gas-turbine
The National Iranian Gas Company has indigenized a gas turbine for use in domestic gas pressure stations, head of the company’s research department said.
"The 25 megawatt gas turbine was designed and built jointly with the Oil Turbo Compressor Construction Company," Mohsen Mazloun Farsibaf was quoted as saying by ILNA.
The turbine (capable of transferring 35 mcm/d of gas) was installed in Dahagh compressor station in Isfahan Province and carries a 3-year warranty.
https://financialtribune.com/articles/energy/101897/nigc-indigenizes-25-mw-gas-turbine
The National Iranian Gas Company has indigenized a gas turbine for use in domestic gas pressure stations, head of the company’s research department said.
"The 25 megawatt gas turbine was designed and built jointly with the Oil Turbo Compressor Construction Company," Mohsen Mazloun Farsibaf was quoted as saying by ILNA.
The turbine (capable of transferring 35 mcm/d of gas) was installed in Dahagh compressor station in Isfahan Province and carries a 3-year warranty.
Sineva
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https://ifpnews.com/rise-in-irans-sugar-output-saves-1-billion-in-expenses
https://ifpnews.com/rise-in-irans-sugar-output-saves-1-billion-in-expenses
Rise in Iran’s Sugar Output Saves $1 Billion in Expenses
Caretaker of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture says a rise in the domestic production of sugar has helped the government save nearly $1 billion in imports from abroad over the past seven years.
Addressing a meeting on the cultivation of spring sugar beet, Abbas Keshavarz said the careful planning and efforts during the past seven years have led to an increase in the domestic production of sugar and helped the country save around $1 billion in imports.
Highlighting the growing transparency in the competition among the local producers of sugar and the government intervention to regulate prices, the caretaker said the domestic farmers have shown more enthusiasm for the cultivation of sugar beet and have also generated more revenue in recent years.
Keshavarz also pointed to the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to help farmers get a real price for their products, saying the flooding in the country in the current Iranian year adversely affected the production of sugar beet and led to a rise in the sugar prices.
Sugar beet is a strategic plant that plays a leading role in the production of sugar, forage, and other agricultural produce, he added, and called for efforts to stimulate investment in farming, support the farmers, factories and associations, and to establish processing factories in the areas that are major producers of sugar beet in order to reduce the costs.
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/new...ts-new-domestic-bond-to-support-manufacturers
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/new...ts-new-domestic-bond-to-support-manufacturers
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/new...ts-new-domestic-bond-to-support-manufacturers
Iran Starts New Domestic Bond to Support Manufacturers
Iran has launched a new domestic bond to support manufacturers and non-oil sectors, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said.
Hemmati said he expects the local bonds, dubbed “Gam,” or “step” in Farsi, will raise 50,000 trillion rials from the first round of issue, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Tuesday. That’s equivalent to $11.9 billion, according to the Central Bank of Iran’s official fixed exchange rate, or $3.6 billion on the open, unregulated market.
Four national banks – Melli, Mellat, Tejarat, and Saderat – will use the bonds to finance manufacturing.
“I am confident that the measures taken by the banking system will see growth in the country’s production and economy,” Hemmati said at the launch.
Iran has sought to boost its non-oil sectors after U.S. sanctions drastically reduced crude oil exports.
The loss of revenue from oil exports, Iran’s main source of hard currency, dealt a blow to the currency, fueling inflation and shortages of some imports.'
https://ifpnews.com/rise-in-irans-sugar-output-saves-1-billion-in-expenses
Rise in Iran’s Sugar Output Saves $1 Billion in Expenses
Caretaker of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture says a rise in the domestic production of sugar has helped the government save nearly $1 billion in imports from abroad over the past seven years.
Addressing a meeting on the cultivation of spring sugar beet, Abbas Keshavarz said the careful planning and efforts during the past seven years have led to an increase in the domestic production of sugar and helped the country save around $1 billion in imports.
Highlighting the growing transparency in the competition among the local producers of sugar and the government intervention to regulate prices, the caretaker said the domestic farmers have shown more enthusiasm for the cultivation of sugar beet and have also generated more revenue in recent years.
Keshavarz also pointed to the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to help farmers get a real price for their products, saying the flooding in the country in the current Iranian year adversely affected the production of sugar beet and led to a rise in the sugar prices.
Sugar beet is a strategic plant that plays a leading role in the production of sugar, forage, and other agricultural produce, he added, and called for efforts to stimulate investment in farming, support the farmers, factories and associations, and to establish processing factories in the areas that are major producers of sugar beet in order to reduce the costs.
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/new...ts-new-domestic-bond-to-support-manufacturers
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/new...ts-new-domestic-bond-to-support-manufacturers
https://www.bourseandbazaar.com/new...ts-new-domestic-bond-to-support-manufacturers
Iran Starts New Domestic Bond to Support Manufacturers
Iran has launched a new domestic bond to support manufacturers and non-oil sectors, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said.
Hemmati said he expects the local bonds, dubbed “Gam,” or “step” in Farsi, will raise 50,000 trillion rials from the first round of issue, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Tuesday. That’s equivalent to $11.9 billion, according to the Central Bank of Iran’s official fixed exchange rate, or $3.6 billion on the open, unregulated market.
Four national banks – Melli, Mellat, Tejarat, and Saderat – will use the bonds to finance manufacturing.
“I am confident that the measures taken by the banking system will see growth in the country’s production and economy,” Hemmati said at the launch.
Iran has sought to boost its non-oil sectors after U.S. sanctions drastically reduced crude oil exports.
The loss of revenue from oil exports, Iran’s main source of hard currency, dealt a blow to the currency, fueling inflation and shortages of some imports.'
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