According to Total News, quoted by the Iran Online Chamber, the prolongation of the process of securing and allocating currency for the import of basic goods has caused the import process to increase in costs, which is objected by the private sector. On the other hand, this issue has slowed down the supply of market needs and has had negative effects on various aspects of the economy.
In this regard, the recent meeting of the specialized working group of the dialogue council between the government and the private sector was devoted to planning and examining the issue of prolonging the process of providing and allocating currency for the import of basic goods; However, due to the absence of the representative of the central bank in the meeting, the members could not reach a specific conclusion about this, and it was decided that the issue and strategic proposals of the private sector, which have been approved by the members of the working group, will be discussed in the main meeting of the dialogue council.
The members of this working group are the representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, the Ministry of Economy, the Food and Drug Organization, the Veterinary Organization, the Parliament Research Center, Human and Animal Medicine Syndicates, the Heads of the import and customs commissions of the Iran Chamber, the Head of the joint chamber of Iran and the UAE, and the private bank exchange offices
In this meeting, what was raised as the main challenge is the process of approving currency allocation and sending remittances for preferred currencies (equivalent to $28,500), which requires the approval of managers or individuals in the form of individual recognition in the Food and Drug Organization and Agricultural Jihad, and sometimes it takes several months, and after that, long payment processes by Central Bank agents are one of the problems of the activists in this field, which are paid to the importer beneficiaries about two to three months after securing the funds.
In fact, according to private sector activists, this long process has negative effects on the supply of basic goods and the production process. Therefore, we are talking about the fact that since the foreign exchange resources of the government are limited and the allocation priorities are clear, a certain order should govern the work, every source that exists must be allocated regularly to avoid interruptions in the allocation of currency.
Another issue that is objected by the importers of basic goods is the modification of the groups and the one-time changes that happen in the commodity groups to allocate the type of currency and make the allocation process longer than it is.
The important request of economic activists is that the change in product groups is not one-time and continuous. They want to manage this issue because uncertainty in the allocation of currencies is a serious challenge in the provision and distribution of basic goods, especially medicine, at the community level.
In the other part of this meeting, the situation of veterinary drugs was taken into consideration, which was recently moved from the 21st to the 22nd commodity group. According to the statements of the activists of this field, the lowest amount of foreign currency was allocated to this sector last year, and orders were registered that are related to a year ago, and assignments have not yet been determined. It takes only three percent of that share for veterinary drugs.
Further, the representative of the Food and Drug Organization pointed out the limited foreign exchange quota of this organization and the prioritization that must be done in the allocations. From his point of view, the presence of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade in the work process and the process of allocating currency and determining drug product groups has complicated it.
Management of foreign exchange expenses is with the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade
Saleh Asgari, the deputy of commercial services of the Trade Development Organization, pointed out the legal obligation in response to what was raised about the role of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade in the allocations and determination of commodity groups.
According to his statements, this ministry has been given a duty by the law to manage the foreign exchange expenses, and this issue has been approved by the Heads of the three branches. In this order, according to the law on the change of commodity groups, in the allocation of foreign currency and the related criteria, decisions are made in the Article 3 committee. On the other hand, this ministry is also in charge of the comprehensive trade system.
In the other part of his speech, Asgari pointed to the process of currency allocation and the decisions that have been made about it, during the recent meetings in the government, goods must receive currency at the rate of 28 thousand 500 tomans, it has been determined and will be announced soon. The amount that should be allocated to each of these basic goods has been determined.
Deputy Director of Trade Development Organization added, Product group 21 is for products that are supposed to receive foreign currency at the rate of 28 thousand 500 tomans. In group 22, there are goods that have dual uses and in order to allocate currency to them, they must have the opinion of both institutions, for example, the idea of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry, Mines and Trade or the Ministry of Health is that, they can be traded in the first hall and the currency of 28 thousand 500 Tomans be received.
Allocation of preferred currency to medicine is for market management
In response to the statements of drug manufacturers who declare that they do not need preferential currency, he said, the allocation of 28,500 tomans to this sector was made with the opinion of the policy-making body with the aim of regulating the market and controlling inflation. Currently, 75% of the total imports of the Ministry of Health are made with preferred currency. Of course, there has been a slowdown in trends that needs to be managed.
Asgari said about the staggered blocking of bank deposits of foreign currency applicants for import and the request to remove these amounts due to the various restrictions that govern the trade process, he said, this law was not supposed to apply to producers and the same result was reached in the previous meeting of the dialogue council. We agreed and decided to follow up. Unfortunately, despite the measures that have been taken, we still did not succeed in getting the producers out of this law; Of course, the issue is still on the agenda and will be followed.
Finally, according to what was explained in this meeting, the members decided that the currency allocation procedure should be fully reviewed and modified by using the capacity of the deregulation board to witness the reduction of its time taking into account the limitation of foreign exchange resources.
It was also decided that the proposals of the private sector, which are decided by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade, will be sent and followed up by the secretariat of the dialogue council to this ministry, and a meeting on the review of the status of the tariff code centered on the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, Mines and Trade, the Veterinary Organization and the private sector should be held and the result sent to the secretariat.