The head of Iran’s parliamentary economic commission announced on Saturday that there now will be three official rates of exchange for the U.S. dollar.

According to the new regulations, the rate of 12,260 rials per dollar offered by the banks will now only be available for “the import of basic goods.”

Arsalan Fathipour told ISNA, that exchange for what he called “capital and brokered goods” will be offered at 15,000 rials per dollar, and luxury goods such as toys and foreign cars can only be imported at the open market rate for foreign currencies.

On Saturday, the U.S. dollar was traded at 19,100 rials on the Iranian open market.

A week earlier, Fathipour had announced parliamentary plans to examine the idea of three official exchange rates for foreign currencies.

The new plan has drawn severe criticism from the administration, with Minister of the Economy saying: “We do not agree with such a plan; we are even opposed to having two different exchange rates, let alone multiple rates… Our policy has always been directed at getting a single rate of exchange.”

Fathipour, however, has dismissed such criticism, saying the system of three official exchange rates is “the only way to regulate the price of goods in the domestic market and fight against inflation.”

Source: Radio Zamaneh