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I I r r a a n n E E c c o o n n o o m m y y U U p p d d a a t t e e
Issue 101/2016 – Thursday September 22nd
Content
President Rouhani promotes “banking diplomacy” in New York
Rouhani Govt. launches new phase of combating contraband smuggling
12th Water & Sewage Int’l Exhibit has won greater attention of foreign firms this year: MoE official
Iranians’ income and expenditures are balanced; no saving for average households
President Rouhani promotes
“banking diplomacy” in New York
President Rouhani met on
Wednesday with the Italian, British and Japanese prime ministers as well as the Turkish and French presidents, and the daily Donyay-e Eghtesad argues that such meetings can bring about guarantees for Iranian and European banking relations.
According to the daily, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister told Rouhani that a banking
delegation will soon visit Tehran to hold technical negotiations, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi ensured that SACE Export Credit Agency is ready to offer necessary guarantees.
Donyay-e Eghtesad wrote that President Rouhani used such negotiations –being held on the sidelines of the 71th UN General Assembly -- to develop a “banking diplomacy”. The President
underscored that the European leaders should give guarantees and incentives to their banks to establish financial cooperation with Iran.
“As long as some technical issues have remained unresolved in banking and insurance issues, the other side’s commitments to Iran will remain unfulfilled,” Donyay-e Eghtesad quoted Rouhani as saying during his meeting with the British Prime Minister.
Rouhani also urged the Italian Prime minister to use the JCPOA to restore Italy’s previous vantage position as Iran’s top European trade partner. Renzi told Rouhani that a senior Italian delegation will visit Tehran in the next coming months. Also, in the meeting with his French counterpart, President Rouhani made similar remarks in regards to the banking issues and said the European leaders need to provide guarantees for their banks and insurance institutions for reestablishing relations with Iran.
In the same way, in a meeting he had with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday evening New York time, Rouhani raised the issue of banking impediments and called for
“accelerating joint efforts” in implementing bilateral banking
agreements. Rouhani also said Tehran is ready for drafting a 10- year roadmap for developing economic relations with Japan and said Iran welcomes Japanese investment in healthcare, environment, energy, and scientific realms.
Meanwhile, President Rouhani’s Chief of Staff Mohammad
Nahavandian told the Iranian state TV last night that the position of the European countries in lifting the banking and insurance sanctions is more in line with us than that of the US, and that Iran has asked the US to take more serious steps in this regard.
According to Tasnim News,
Nahavandian said the “unpleasant alliance that had previously been formed between the US and EU no longer exists and Europeans are now seriously looking for establishing economic relations with Iran.”
President Rouhani’s visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly coincides with
additional good news indicating the positive achievements of the
2 JCPOA. Bloomberg wrote on
September 21 that Switzerland’s MECI Group International has signed an agreement with Iran to build $839 million wind farm in northern Iran with the installed capacity of 270 MW. On the same day, Bloomberg reported that Boeing has won the approval of US Treasury Department to sell its first 17 jetliners to Iran. The grant license to Airbus and Boeing was issued on Wednesday. In a separate development, Press TV reported on Wednesday that German Engineering Group Siemens has confirmed shipment of the first F-class gas turbine to Iran for the construction of a power plant. The deal, according to Pres TV, also covers the transfer of know-how under a contract the company signed six months ago with Iran’s MAPNA Group.
Rouhani Govt. launches new phase of combating
contraband smuggling As part of the first phase of the Rouhani government’s battle against contraband smuggling, warnings have been issued to the retailers and stores selling
contraband goods and in the second phase and if the warnings are not headed, the contrabands will be removed from the shops, said Mohammad Tahan-Pour, the head of the Iranian Home
Appliance Union.
According to Tasnim News, Tahan- Pour said the government’s campaign to combat contraband
smuggling will be launched as of September 22nd and has been rolled out in cooperation with the Iranian Police forces, the Iranian Chamber of Guilds, the
Headquarter to Combat Smuggling of Goods, the ministry of Industry, Mine & Trade, and the Ta’zirat1, an organization within Iran’s judiciary. Tahan-Pour said Iranian retailers and shopkeepers are required to offer a valid purchase invoice indicating their goods are imported through legal channels.
Indeed, the government-
supported campaign to counter contraband smuggling was launched in July this year but failed to win the support of retailers and shopkeepers. The daily Shargh on July 3rd had published a report on how the launch of implementing the so- called Action Plan to Curb Contraband Smuggling as of July 2nd affected the Iranian retail stores at the country’s traditional bazaar. The daily reported that fabric dealers in Koocheh-Marvi2 in Tajrish Bazaar, northern Tehran, had emptied their shops and brought down shutters on fear of the rush of state inspectors that were tasked with launching probe into smuggled fabric, cosmetics, and hygiene products. The market
1 Tazirat –e Hokumati is a state organization within the Judiciary
2 Koocheh-Marvi is a renowned place in northern Tehran with most of the shopkeepers selling fabrics or hygiene &
cosmetics that are usually smuggled into the country.
inspectors were authorized to act against those shopkeepers who fail to provide valid purchase invoice.
According to some state officials, more than $20 billion worth of contraband is smuggled in Iran, which is almost half of the value of the country’s total annual imports through legal channels.
12th Water & Sewage Int’l Exhibit has won greater attention of foreign firms this year: MoE official
Kiumars Jalilian, the secretary of the 12th International Exhibition on Water, Sewage & Water Installation Industry (Sep 25-28) said the number of foreign companies attending this event has increased threefold this year compared with the previous events, which indicates that the world’s perception towards Iran has positively changed, ILNA reported on Wednesday.
“Apart from the outstanding participation of domestic firms, what makes this exhibition different from the ones held previously is the very extensive participation of foreign companies from central Europe to
Scandinavia and from Eastern Asia to the Persian Gulf states,” said Jalilian. He said the 12th exhibition will be held with the participation of 259 domestic and 140 foreign companies from 25 countries as opposed to the 10th exhibition with the participation of 25
3 companies from 16 countries and
11th exhibitions that were held with the participation of 52 companies from 17 countries.
Jalilian said companies of some countries will exhibit themselves at pavilions, including Germany which will have the biggest
pavilion, followed by countries like China, Turkey, and Austria.
“The most important purpose we pursue in holding such exhibitions is protecting domestic products, establishing connections between domestic and foreign firms, and exporting technical and
engineering services,” concluded Jalilian.
Iranians’ income and
expenditures are balanced; no saving for average households
The Central Bank of Iran has published a report on the status of income and expenditures of the Iranian families in the last Persian year of 1394 (ended 20 March 2016). According to ILNA, the CBI report shows that the average income of an Iranian family of four in this year was 35.259 million tomans ($9,876 yearly or about
$823 monthly), versus the average expenditures of 35.265 million tomans ($9,878 yearly or $823 monthly). The Iranian income and expenditures grew by 12.3% and 7.3%, respectively compared to the preceding year. The CBI report simply shows that for Iranian average families, income and
expenditures are almost balanced and no saving was done in this year.
About 35 percent of the family’s expenditures were housing, water, electricity, and energy expenses, 23.6% was spent on food and beverages, 10.2% on
transportation, 8.3% on
miscellaneous goods and services, 5.8% on hygiene, 4.5% on clothing and footwear, 4.1% on furnishing and household equipment, 2.1%
on restaurants and hotel, 2.1% on communication, 2% on recreation and culture, 1.9% on education, and 0.3% on tobacco.
The CBI report also shows that 26.4% of Iranian families have no employed members, 55.7% of households have one employed member, 14.7% have two, and 3.2% have three or more.
Compared to the preceding year of 1393, the number of
households without any employed member or with more than three employed members has increased, and the number of families with one or two members employed has decreased.
