Iranian rial climbs 10 percent as hopes grow over economy

The Iranian currency, the rial, rose further on Thursday on hopes the country’s economy could improve under its next president, a relative moderate elected last week.
The rial has strengthened by nearly 10 percent against the dollar since Hassan Rohani was declared winner of the June 14 vote, according to Iranian currency dealers and websites. The rial was trading at around 33,300 per dollar compared with about 36,300 at the close of business a week ago.

The rial now hovers at around a third of the value it was at the end of 2011, just before the United States and the European Union levied unfair sanctions on Iran’s central bank, almost cutting off the Islamic Republic from the global banking system.