Page 13 - IRANRptSep20
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3.0 Macro Economy
3.1 Macroeconomic overview
Iran moves to ease additional financial strain on citizens as COVID-19 crisis continues
Sanctions hammered Iran saw GDP shrink 8.7% in 2019 and can’t expect growth in 2020 says World Bank
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has announced further plans to ease financial strains on citizens amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, ISNA reported. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) previously announced that it would offer a commercial loan repayment holiday of three months for businesses in the country.
But as part of wider efforts, employees can now defer health insurance, income tax payments and utility bills for up to the next three months starting from March 17.
In addition, the monthly stipend sent to the poorest deciles of Iran will be increased during the continuing Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
Banks have, meanwhile, been instructed to remove restrictions and limits on cheque payments for businesses.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO's) emergencies head Michael Ryan said on March 11 that the COVID-19 situation in Iran was "very serious". The WHO had sent 40,000 testing kits to Iran but there was still a shortage of ventilators and oxygen, he added. "Iran and Italy are suffering now but I guarantee you other countries will be in that situation very soon," he commented.
The “economic war” waged by the US against Iran has exacted an even worse toll on the Islamic Republic’s economy than was anticipated if the latest World Bank assessment is correct.
In the January 2020 edition of its Global Economic Prospects report released on January 9, the World Bank estimates that Iranian GDP contracted by as much as 8.7% in 2019, a year that saw the Trump administration gradually introduce tougher and tougher sanctions against Tehran including a drive to squeeze all Iranian oil off world export markets.
Iranian GDP in 2018 shrank by 4.9% following growth of 3.8% in 2017.
The effects of the US throttling of Iran’s economy pushed Iranian inflation to more than 50% in mid-2019, partly reflecting the earlier severe depreciation of the Iranian rial (IRR) in the unofficial parallel market, but it subsided in late 2019 to below 30%.
13 IRAN Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com
