The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has unveiled a plan to earmark $3.5 billion to subsidize imports of medicine, medical equipment, and baby formula in the current Iranian calendar year ending March 2024.
The fund will be allocated at the subsidized price of 285,000 rials for the dollar, a rate the government uses as an incentive for imports of basic goods, including medicine and medical equipment, CBI Governor Mohammad Reza Farzin said on Tuesday.
The dollar is being exchanged at a rate of slightly above 500,000 rials in the open market.
Farzin stated that the Central Bank will supply around $300 million per month for medical imports, a move he said is aimed at addressing shortages in the country.
US sanctions, re-imposed against Iran in 2018 after Washington pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal, have restricted the financial channels necessary to pay for basic goods and medicine in the country.
The CBI governor said the Central Bank plans to provide 300 trillion rials in new loans to pharmaceutical companies this calendar year through working capital funds at agent banks.