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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Promises, promises: Iran to pay for Indian imports in two weeks |
| 2012-02-18 |
| NEW DELHI: Indian exporters will be able to receive payments in the restricted rupee currency for sales to Iran within two weeks, the chief of India's top exporters' body said on Friday, as New Delhi puts a mechanism in place to maintain trade despite US sanctions. About $3 billion in Iranian import arrears have accumulated since December 2010, M Rafeeque Ahmed said, when a previous payment conduit was closed under pressure from Washington, which is using sanctions to try to stop Tehran's suspected nuclear programme. "The government has told us the mechanism for payment in rupee (to Indian exporters) will be in place in two weeks' time," Ahmed, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, told Rooters in an interview. "Between December 2010 and January 2012 we have sent goods worth about $3 billion and almost all of it is stuck." Ahmed is taking part in government negotiations to find a solution to the payment problems that have hit trade between the two countries after US sanctions on dollar deals. His organization is a quasi-government body set up by the trade ministry. Indian oil importers have been paying for around $11 billion a year of crude since the middle of 2011 through Turkey's Halkbank, but this route would have been expensive for Iranian importers given sharp falls in the rial. India was Tehran's second-biggest crude customer last year after China and Iranian oil accounts for about 12 percent of its needs. Most of the Iranian arrears are for imports of iron and steel ($623 million), chemicals ($453 million) and cereals ($419 million), machinery ($143 million) and pharmaceuticals ($87 million), Ahmed said. Indian rice suppliers have also reported defaults by Iranian buyers and have said they are owed at least $144 million. With payments for oil through Halkbank now looking vulnerable to fresh sanctions, India and Iran have agreed to settle 45 percent of this trade in rupees and boost exports to narrow their trade gap. Oil buyers are waiting for tax issues to be cleared up before they use the mechanism. Iran's central bank has already deposited with India's UCO bank about $1 billion which had been used in the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), the longstanding mechanism that ended in 2010. This will be used to kick off rupee payments to India's exporters -- allowing Tehran a way to use the restricted currency it would otherwise find hard to spend. India abides by United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... sanctions on Iran, but has refused to go along with new financial measures imposed by the United States and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... which aim to punish Iran for its nuclear ambitions. India has pushed back the visit of a delegation to Iran to Mar. 10 to 14 from this month to explore boosting exports, said Ahmed, who will be part of that team. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Imam Wimpy: "I will gladly pay you Tuesday |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-02-18 08:56 |