Iran censors currency rates as rial suffers

Iran on Tuesday stepped up censorship of websites that usually give foreign currency rates for its pummelled money, the rial, as the exchange market remained virtually paralysed and under tight scrutiny.

Sites such as Mesghal.com and Mazanex.com had rates blanked out for the rial's value against many other nations' currencies, extending a censorship that previously applied to dollar and euro rates.

The market rate for gold coins was also missing.

In Tehran's money changing district, licensed bureaux were doing no business at the rate of 28,500 rials to the dollar imposed since Saturday by the central bank in an effort to reverse a collapse of the money last week.

Instead, a few black market dealers were offering the dollar at 35,000 rials -- close to the all-time low of more than 36,000 reached last week when the rial plunged 40 percent in value.

Iran's currency market has effectively been frozen since October 3, when protests erupted in central Tehran over the sliding rial.

Although shopkeepers and exchange bureaux have since reopened, they are doing little trade.

Merchants in the city's historic Grand Bazaar, which packs political weight in Iran, have greatly increased prices, to the dismay of shoppers. Several were refusing to sell goods until the currency situation stabilises.

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Iran censors currency rates as rial suffers