Iran Looks to Eliminate Free Market in its Currency

Sanctions have been blamed for the crashing rial

Oct 3 (Reuters) - Iran is working to shrink and eventually eliminate the free market in its tumbling rial currency, the economy minister was quoted as saying amid signs that foreign exchange trade outside a government-sanctioned centre was drying up.

"The unofficial currency market will be gathered up," Shamseddin Hosseini was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency on Wednesday.

"The foreign exchange centre is being completed step by step, and its development will eventually lead to the elimination of the tricksters' market."