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IMF senior official met with senior Iranian economic authorities
Iran’s economy registered a 2-percent growth in winter 2016
Croatian president in Iran to promote economic cooperation agenda
Iran says ready to supply Indonesia with 200,000 bpd of oil
Iran and Algeria signed 19 cooperation MOUs Top News Stories
IMF senior official met with senior Iranian economic authorities
IMF says achieving an economic growth rate of 5 percent hinges upon addressing some challenges
...and global slowdown will subdue prospect of economic growth for emerging economies like Iran
David Lipton, first deputy managing director of the IMF accompanied by a delegation visited Tehran during May 15-17 and met with Mohammad Nahavandian, Chief of Staff of President Hassan Rouhani; Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, Govt.’s Spokesman & Head of the Management and Planning Organization, Bijan Zangeneh, Minister of Petroleum, and Valiollah Seif, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran. According to the IMF website, Mr. Lipton also exchanged views with representatives of the private sector, academics, bankers, and the youth in Iran. He also gave a speech at an event hosted by the Central Bank of Iran.
In a statement he released at the conclusion of his Tehran visit, Mr. Lipton confirmed what he termed as the “progress” of Iranian authorities in stabilizing the foreign exchange market and declining inflation rate to 8 percent from 45 percent. He said implementing the JCPOA and its impacts on higher oil prices, lower trade costs and reconnection of Iranian banks to the international financial system will contribute to achieving an economic growth rate of 4-4.5 percent over the medium term. The IMF official however underscored that achieving this economic growth requires addressing many structural challenges including attraction of foreign investment, reducing the cost of doing business, fostering private ownership, restructuring banks, strengthening the framework for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), and enhancing transparency and governance.
Also, in a speech at an event hosted by the Central Bank of Iran, Mr. Lipton told the audience that achieving positive results in Iranian economy’s reintegration with the global economy will depend on overcoming two major obstacles of (1) the difficult global economic situation and (2) building a competitive and flexible domestic economy. He explained that the expected global economic growth rate of 3.2 percent this year is unlikely to be a driving force to help lifting up emerging economies. The IMF senior official said Iran’s ultimate success in gaining from reintegration with the global economy will depend on what it does domestically. In the short run, he
Daily coverage of negotiations with foreign companies post-sanctions, latest macroeconomic data, banking and financial developments, economic events to watch...
Iran News Brief
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2 explained, Iran needs to continue containing liquidity growth, address its high levels of non-performing loans, deal with unlicensed financial institutions, and mobilize more non-oil tax revenue. The full text of Mr.
Lipton’s speech is available here Iran’s economy
registered a 2-percent growth in winter 2016
Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht, Government’s spokesman and head of the Management & Planning Organization (MPO) said the country’s economy registered a growth rate of 2 percent in winter 2016 (21 Dec – 20 March).
The daily Donyay-e Eghtesad has published details of the economic growth rate in winter and compared it with autumn.
Autumn % (22 Sep – 20 Dec)
Winter 2016 % (21 Dec – 20 March)
Agriculture 3.3 5.5
Industry -4.4 0.6
Industry & mine -1.3 3
Mine -7.3 9.1
Oil & gas extraction -9 16.5
Water, electricity, & gas -1.1 7.9
Construction -21.7 -16.5
Services 0.4 0.8
Foreign delegations in Iran Iran-
Croatia
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the president of Croatia who is leading a 120-strong economic delegation comprising representatives of more than 70 companies in shipbuilding, IT, food, medicine and construction industries and business services arrived in Tehran on Tuesday.
Representatives of Croatian oil company INA-Industrija nafte, Prvo plinarsko društvo (gas company) and companies in installation of electric transmission lines were present at the delegation. The Croatian president was also accompanied by her two ministers of Economy and Entrepreneurship & Crafts. Iran’s ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi said after some years’
hiatus during the former government, the fifth Iran-Croatia Trade Conference will be held in the near future. The economic daily wrote today that in their meeting on Wednesday, the Iranian and Croatian presidents specifically focused on developing economic relationships on the two areas of energy and transportation. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani termed Croatia as a potential gate for Iran’s relations with Europe.
Speaking at the Iran-Croatia Trade Conference, the president of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Mine (ICCIM) said the two countries’ private sectors are interested in developing cooperation in oil and gas exploration & development, petrochemical, medicine manufacturing, locomotive manufacturing, shipbuilding and tourism sectors. Donyay-e Eghtesad wrote that some MOUs were sealed among the Iranian ministries of Energy and Industry, Mine & Trade, and Croatian ministries of Economy and Entrepreneurship & Crafts including on establishing a joint commerce chamber. After meeting with the Croatian ministers of Economy as Entrepreneurship & Crafts, Iran’s Minister of Mohammadreza Nematzadeh reiterated the Islamic Republic’s industrial orientation post-sanctions, which is based on joint investment and manufacturing of goods.
MOUs and negotiations with other countries
Iran- Indonesia
Ali Tayyebnia and Bambang Brojonegoro, ministers of Economic Affairs of Iran and Indonesia met on Tuesday in Jakarta and negotiated developing bilateral relations and
3 connecting their banking systems to facilitate economic ties post-sanctions. Tayyebnia expressed dissatisfaction with the low volume of the two countries’ trade ties that now have declined to one tenth of the once peak size of $2 billion. Brojonegoro said his country welcomes cooperation in energy field, especially purchasing Iran’s crude oil and Iran’s investment in building refineries in Indonesia. Tayyebnia said Iran is ready to supply 200,000 bpd of oil to this Asian country. (Donyay-e Eghtesad 18 May).
Algeria On the sidelines of the Iran-Algeria joint committee to evaluate industrial cooperation, 19 MOUs were signed of which, 15 agreements were on automobile and auto part manufacturing, IRNA reported on Tuesday. The agreements were signed in front of Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine & Trade Mohammadreza Nematzadeh and his Algerian counterpart at the Tehran Permanent Fairground.
Norway Ms. Aud Lise Norheim, Norway’s ambassador to Tehran met on Tuesday with Mohammad Khazaie, the deputy minister of Economic Affairs & Finance and also head of OIETAI and showed her country’s public and private sector’s interest in investment in Iran, IRNA reported. She also called for identifying and addressing challenges in developing bilateral economic relations.
Azerbaijan The Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Cooperation Conference was held on Monday in Tehran, hosted by Mahmoud Hojjati, Iran’s minister of Agriculture, and attended by Heydar Asadov, the Azerbaijani minister of Agriculture. In an address to the conference, Hojjati said both countries are to wean themselves from oil revenues, and emphasized that expanding cooperation in agriculture sector can play a key role to this end.
Russia Andrey Belyaninov, head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia visited Tehran on Monday and Tuesday, and met with his Iranian counterpart Massoud Karbasian as well as with the chairman of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Mine. ISNA wrote that the two sides have concluded a customs assistance agreement to increase the volume of trade transactions. Asadollah Asgaroladi, the head of the Iran-Russia Commerce Chamber has explained that the agreement is expected to address the existing problems in the two countries’ trade relations.
