Not just the Mullahs: Iranians increasingly writing checks they can't cash

Iranian individuals and companies are seeing returned checks at rates not seen since the COVID crisis hit its peak in mid-2020, according to Iran International.

The Iranian Central Bank released figures showing a rate of returned checks higher than at any point since May 2020, at the peak of the COVID crisis, with about half of these checks being returned in the capital of Tehran and the remainder in other areas.

Although the Iranian government has seen growth in the oil and government services, economic growth in other sectors is reportedly fairly flat or even negative, a fact which may be borne out by the recent data.