Non-oil sanctions cost each Iranian $500 yearly, ex-banker says

International sanctions are costing each Iranian citizen an estimated 530 million rials or about $500 annually in the non-oil trade sector alone, a former central bank governor has said.

Mohammad Hossein Adeli, the former head of the Central Bank of Iran under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, told the Khabar Online website that sanctions force Iranian traders to pay a premium of 10% to 20% above market prices for goods destined for Iran.

Economic hardships for Iranians have mounted as US-led sanctions and official mismanagement have sent costs of living soaring and the currency to historic lows.

The need to use covert routes to bypass sanctions necessitates multiple layers of documentation to conceal the final destination of goods, he added.

Establishing shell companies in third countries to aid in obscuring the destination further inflates the final price of imported goods.

Estimating the sanctions-evasion processes add almost a third to the original price of each product, Adeli referred to Iran's foreign trade volume of approximately $150 billion in the Iranian year 1402 (March 2023-March 2024).

"Thirty percent of this amount is $50 billion. This figure... is equivalent to the government's annual budget."

The figure totals 530 million rials per Iranian citizen annually, meaning a family of four effectively bears an additional monthly expense of 180 million rials (about $180) due to the sanctions' impact on non-oil trade.

While Iranian authorities estimate a family of three requires about $400 monthly for basic needs, the average worker earns approximately $120 per month.

Adeli's assessment focuses solely on the non-oil trade sector. Oil exports, which make up the bulk of government revenue, are also heavily sanctioned.

In a report late last year, Iran International estimated that sanctions-evasion tactics and the use of trustee companies cost Iran at least $13.5 billion in oil export revenue during the Iranian year 1403 (March 2024-March 2025).

In February, US President Donald Trump signed a directive to reinstate the so-called maximum pressure policy against Iran, aimed at bringing Iranian oil exports to zero. He emphasized that the Islamic Republic should no longer be able to sell oil to other countries.