Iranian President Hassan Rouhani presented a $42.7 billion budget to parliament for next year, the first since the U.S. reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic after President Trump in May withdrew from the 2015 multilateral nuclear accord. Those sanctions are expected to shrink Iran’s economy next year, while inflation is in double digits and continues to accelerate. More in the Region The nominally balanced draft budget of about 4,700 trillion Iranian rials for the next Iranian year, which starts in March, is up from roughly 4,400 trillion rials for this year. The rial currently trades at around 110,000 to the dollar at free-market rates, which has been used by The Wall Street Journal to value next year’s budget in dollar terms. The government itself predicts an exchange rate of 57,000 rials to the dollar for the budget, suggesting a hopeful forecast for the currency’s strength after it fell by […]