Washington, D.C. (CBI PR dept) -The central bank of Iran (CBI) delegation met governors and deputy governors from various countries and discussed banking relations in the sidelines of the IMF spring meeting.
in a meeting with IMF Money and Capital Market (MCM) Department officials Peyman Ghorbani, the CBI economic vice-governor explained the macro-economic indices of the country and elaborated the achievements made in the areas of inflation control, stability in foreign exchange market and latest transformations in Iranian economy. Pointing to the single-digit inflation rate, Mr. Ghorbani expressed the details of changing the base year, the economic performance in the first nine months of Iranian year as well as the investments made in machinery.

Monetary policies, credit crunch and prediction of the economic growth were among other topics of discussion. Mr. Ghorbani stressed that the current Iranian year will witness the continuation of non-oil economic growth. "Finance plays a substantial role in this regard and we need to continue the banking system reform plan while strengthening the role of the capital market and foreign finance", he added.
The latest statistical changes, the applied framework and ways to enhance statistics in the central bank were discussed in a meeting with experts from IMF Statistics Department.
In another meeting held in The IMF Institute for Capacity Development (ICD), the two sides emphasised the importance of international training courses and how Iran can benefit from such training. Gholam Ali Kamyab, the CBI vice-governor for Foreign Exchange Affairs said that the CBI has provided the requirements for unification of exchange rate in Iran. "Our only challenge is inadequate correspondence relations despite better conditions after JCPOA. Conversion and transfer of funds as well as supply of the required liquidity to make payments in different countries are not rapid enough yet", he continued.
The IMF Money and Capital Market (MCM) Department expressed its willingness to provide Iran with technical assistance in various areas including exchange rate unification, supervision, monetary policy and mechanisms for foreign exchange transactions in a unified environment.
 
Meeting authorities from IMF member countries
In a sideline meeting with Tiago Couto Berriel, the Deputy Governor for International Affairs and Corporate Risks in the Central Bank of Brazil, Mr. Kamyab referred to the volume of trade between the two countries in the past and said, "At the time being, trade between two countries take place through third parties including multinationals and payments are made outside banking channels. This is not what we anticipate. We hope that bilateral trade goes through formal settlement instruments such as LCs".
In agreement, Berriel stated that Brazil is interested in promoting bilateral relations. "One way to achieve this goal is for Iranian banks to open subsidiaries in Brazil", he said.
 In another meeting attended by Mr. Kamyab and Erkan Kilimci, Deputy Governor of the Central bank of Turkey, the two sides discussed the necessary steps to combat money laundery and financing terrorism. Mr. Kilimci admired Iran's positive and constructive measures in this regard. "We intend to send our compliance officers to Iran so that they can discuss the issues with Iranian banks and provide them with their experience," he said, "Meanwhile, the business school of the central bank of Turkey can play a remarkable role in exchange of experience and holding training courses".
In his meeting with Salvatore Rossi, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, Mr. Kamyab appreciated the endeavours made by the other party to enhance cooperation which led to opening accounts and banking relations between CBI and Italian commercial banks. "The accounts are active now. Other issues including the possibility to connect the national switches as well as training courses in the fields of treasury operations and compliance need further attention", he said.
Salvatore Rossi expressed his satisfaction with the expansion of banking ralations between the two countries. "Bank of Italy is well prepared to cooperate with Iran and offer its services based on international regulations", he added, "We believe that our cooperation should continue and move forward gradually. Holding training courses has already been mentioned in an MOU".
CBI delegation also met the governor of the central bank of Austria, the governor of the reserve bank of India, the South Korean deputy minister for finance and strategy and the deputy CEO of the New Development Bank (NDB) in the sidelines of the IMF spring meeting in washington in 19-21 April, 2017.