The Iranian rial falls against the dollar and falls to a record low

The Iranian rial has fallen to a new low as the economy suffers as a result of the Corona epidemic and U.S. sanctions.

The dollar sold for up to 263,500 riyals in the informal market against 257,000 on Friday, according to the foreign exchange price website Bonbast.com.

Dunia Al-Iqtisad daily newspaper said on its website that the dollar registered 260,800 Iranian riyals, 5100 riyals higher than Friday's price.

The currency lost about 49 percent of its value in 2020, after the decline in oil prices contributed to the economic crisis in Iran, which also recorded the largest number of deaths from the coronavirus in the Middle East.

Iranian officials say US sanctions are hampering their efforts to deal with the outbreak.

The Iranian rial lost about 70 percent of its value over several months of 2018 due to a weak economy, financial difficulties in local banks and a heavy demand for dollars among Iranians, who feared that Iran's oil exports would diminish due to Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the re-imposition of sanctions.