Iran’s Cabinet passes monetary reform motion

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet on Wednesday approved a motion put forward by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to change the national currency from rial to toman, leading to a ten-fold decrease in banknote denomination, Tasnim reports.

Based on the CBI-drafted motion, which allows for a series of reforms, toman will be officially declared as the country’s currency.

The motion will take effect after receiving parliament’s approval.

Toman has been long used as the unofficial unit of money in Iran, while rial and dinar have been the country’s formal currency and non-decimal currency, respectively.

If ratified by the lawmakers, the reform will result in the removal of a zero from the local currency, converting every 10 rials to 1 toman.

Rial came into being in 1798 as a coin worth 1,250 dinars.