Iran moves to change currency unit back to toman

TEHRAN

AP photo

Iran plans to revalue its rial tenfold and revert to the currency’s old name, the toman, according to a bill approved on Dec. 7 by President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet, the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has reported.

The currency was called the toman until the 1930s and most Iranians still refer to it by that name.

One toman would be worth 10 rials, or around 3,200 to a dollar at official exchange rates, and 3,900 to a dollar at unofficial rates.

Dramatic fall of the national currency dates back to the former government during which Rial lost value 300 percent, according to IRNA report. 

When the government of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 the U.S. dollar used to be sold at 10,000 rials at the banks, it stated. 

Devaluation of the national currency brought up the U.S. dollar to 30,000 rials when the eight-year term of the former Iranian government came to an end in 2013, added the report.