KRAN. The monetary unit of Persia. It is a silver coin con taining 71.04 grains of silver, 90o fine. Other pieces coined out of silver are those of five kran, two kran, a half-kran and a quarter kran. The subsidiary coin is known as a shahi, and 20 of these go to a kran. The toman is a gold coin, and so the ratio between the toman and kran is theoretically a fluctuating one.
The sterling value of the kran varies with the sterling price of silver. When silver is worth Sod. per ounce, the corresponding exchange on London should be 54•05 kran to the pound, making the kran worth approximately 4d. The actual exchange rate, so far as there is a quotation at all, naturally varies considerably at times from this theoretical parity, which in its turn is variable.
It must be remembered that Persia is a country which is only partially developed, and that the currency and coinage regulations are by no means perfect or strictly enforced. One of the prob lems the Government has had to face is that of the issue of de based and clipped coinage, and when prior to 1878 coins were issued by local mints, abuses were very prevalent. Since 1878, the right of coinage has been in the hands of the central Govern ment, but even so trouble has arisen. According to one report in 1927, no new dies had been received since the accession of the then ruling shah soon after the war, with the result that the coinage was once more beginning to sink into chaos and disrepute.
From 1922 to 1925, however, Persia enjoyed comparative pros perity and a favourable trade balance. This permitted the im portation of silver upon a fairly adequate scale. This arrived from England and Russia, and took the form partly of bars and partly of kran minted abroad. This aided the replacement of worn and debased coins by new coins, a policy which according to the British commercial secretary at Teheran, was vigorously pursued. It is unnecessary to describe "vigour" as practised by an Eastern Government.
Nevertheless, in 1926 there was still a shortage of good coins, and this led to "tight money" at home and a depreciation in the exchange abroad. Still even at the end of 1926, after one year of bad trade the exchange was 52.3o kran to the pound, against a theoretical parity (corresponding to the contemporary sterling piece of silver) of 55.78 kran—or in other words at a premium over sterling.
Notes are issued by the Imperial Bank of Persia in denomina tions of tomans. The Department of Overseas Trade gives the sterling value on March 3o, 1927, of the total issue as £2,155,000. Silver coin in circulation or held by the banks is estimated by the same authority at L5,000,000 in value. (N. E. C.)