TEHERAN: Iran’s Central Bank yesterday [Feb 12] announced that it had ended the rial’s direct link with the dollar — a move seen in European financial circles as further evidence of Middle East disquiet at the current weakness of the American currency. The rial is now to be related to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) — the IMF’s own reserve asset — which is worth about 1.2 dollars per unit at current values. … London Banking sources said last night that, while there were precedents for aligning currencies with SDRs rather than dollars, this is believed to be the first time a Middle East country has taken such a step. The sources said that the Central Bank’s move could be to protect Iranian oil revenues — which are mostly paid in dollars — from any serious decline on the American currency’s value.

[Meanwhile, according to news agencies in Lahore,] The Punjab Assembly … today [Feb 13], unanimously passed a resolution with two amendments recommending to the Parliament to prepare a law applicable to all the four provinces to completely ban “Riba” (interest) after consulting people belonging to various Islamic schools of thought… .

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2025