In a meeting in Washington DC on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG), Seif and Masood Ahmed, the IMF Director for the Middle East and North Africa, exchanged views on ways to settle financial and banking problems facing regional countries.
Ahmed said that US bank regulations, such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and the use of dollar in international transactions have caused some difficulties for the banks in the region.
Seif confirmed that Iran has faced such problems in the past and emphasized that boosting cooperation among regional countries' central banks, establishing lines of credit (LOC) and using local currencies can be proper solutions to these problems.
Each year, the spring meetings bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.