Iranian cabinet approves removal of 4 zeros from national currency

Alsharq Tribune-AFP 

Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the country's cabinet on Sunday approved the removal of four zeros from the national currency, the rial, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Mohajerani made the announcement in an address to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran, one week after the Iranian parliament's economic commission passed a motion over the move.

She said the country's national currency would continue to be the rial, with its subdivision called the gheran, stressing that the zero removal process would be time taking, and for a while, two currencies would be used, without giving further details.

Earlier this month, Shamseddin Hosseini, chairman of Iranian parliament's economic commission, said the removal of the zeros from the rial was aimed at streamlining financial transactions.

According to Hosseini, one rial would be equivalent to 10,000 at the current value and be subdivided into 100 gherans.

The move has yet to be approved by Iran's parliament and the Constitutional Council.

Iran's currency has suffered sharp depreciations since the May 2018 U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the world's major countries. A reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against Iran followed.