Reza Olfatnasab, head of the Virtual Businesses Union, has written a letter to the head of the judiciary, calling for a halt to the Central Bank’s order restricting online transactions.
According to Ideaagency, this letter was written following the issuance of a circular by the Central Bank, coinciding with the turn of the year, which announced that “transactions via API for corporate customers will be limited to $20,000 per day until April 4, 2025.”
The head of the Virtual Business Union wrote in the letter:
“In a last-minute move and without informing stakeholders during the Nowruz 2025 holiday, the Central Bank has limited the limit for offline withdrawals from online businesses’ accounts to $20,000 per day; thus disrupting the cash flow of businesses and putting their lives in danger. Such a move is unacceptable in itself and harms the chain of stakeholders in the digital economy, but it is also necessary to note that during the Nowruz holidays, online businesses are one of the main pillars of meeting the needs of retail customers across the country, and the ill-considered implementation of such a move will double the losses incurred by all stakeholders in this field.”
Olfatnasab emphasized: “Based on Article 24 of the Law on Improving the Business Environment, the government and executive agencies are required to inform the public of any changes in economic policies, regulations, and procedures through mass media at the appropriate time before implementation, in order to clarify economic policies and programs and create economic stability and security and investment, which has not been done.”
He considered this order to be the cause of some problems and wrote: pushing for informal transactions and weakening the country’s currency, disrupting the cash flow of businesses, weakening service provision to members of society, failure to pay suppliers’ debts, small and home businesses, and the flight of investors, and weakening employment are among these challenges.
The head of the Virtual Business Union noted: “In a year that has been named ‘Investment for Production,’ it is truly impossible to justify such measures. In a situation where the efforts of most private sector businesses are focused on survival, such a small measure will disappoint the hopes of entrepreneurs and investors and target their willingness to invest in this area, which will result in a continued decline in employment and innovation.”
It also states: “The country’s digital economy was formed by the people and for the people, and disrupting it will first affect the people and then the governance of the country’s digital economy; naturally, in such circumstances, the government and the Central Bank will not be immune from this damage.”
Referring to Article 30 of the Law on Continuous Improvement of the Business Environment, Olfatnasab explained: “Executive agencies are required to inform the public and economic activists of their draft regulations, instructions, or circulars on their websites one week before issuance, so that there is the necessary opportunity to express the opinions of the public or economic activists and organizations. In addition, the entry into force of the regulations is subject to their publication on the website of the Presidential Legal Office, otherwise they are not mandatory.”
In his thesis, he requested Mohseni-Eje’i: “Make the necessary preparations to stop this illegal order so that the minimum necessary conditions are provided for the continuation of online businesses’ activities during these times and to prevent a decrease in their level of activity during this period of time.”
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