The cabinet of President Ebrahim Raisi gave a vote of confidence to Farzin as the top banker at a meeting on Thursday.
Farzin has served as CEO of Bank Melli, Iran’s largest lender, for the past 16 months. He holds a PhD in economics and has a history of serving in top government jobs in a former administration that left office in 2013.
He replaces Ali Salehabadi, CBI’s youngest-ever governor. The government has given no clear reason for Salehabadi’s resignation although reports over the past weeks have suggested that President Raisi was dissatisfied with his performance in the job.
Salehabadi had been criticized in domestic economic circles for his failure to control rising hard currency prices.
The price of the US dollar rose to an all-time high of 430,000 Iranian rials on Thursday, up 10,000 rials from a day earlier, Press TV reported.
Experts welcomed Farzin’s appointment as CBI governor and said it could help ease the crisis in the foreign exchange market.