Rouhani cabinet votes to knock zero off Iranian rial and rename it toman

By bne IntelliNews July 26, 2017

Members of the Rouhani administration have unanimously agreed to rename Iran’s rial currency as the toman and to remove one zero from future issued bank notes, the Iranian Banker Journal reported on July 26.

Iran has suffered from more than 30 years of currency devaluation, with one euro now worth IRR44,000 at bureaux de change. However, Iran's population does not recognise the last zero of the rial and informally refers to the toman, a former official currency which was eliminated back in the 1910s.  

The announcement of changes ahead by the administration was quickly followed by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) adding that the proposal has to gain approval from Iran’s parliament, the Majlis.

Removing one zero from the currency would help with tax collection and accounting, as many businesses often mistakenly remove a zero due to the weak recognition of the official currency's standing.

In 2010, the Ahmadinejad administration and CBI proposed removing all the zeros from the currency, while they also offered a selection of names with which to rename the rial. In an online vote, people suggested changing it to the irani. However, the subsequent administration has opted for toman as the proposed future name.

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