Page 24 - IRANRptSep20

“Our goal is to be able to meet five percent of our neighbouring countries’ needs, which would amount to more than $50 billion a year considering the total imports of all the 15 countries which is at least $1 trillion annually,” Modares Khiabani was reported as saying.
“Necessary planning and investigations have been made for achieving this target,” he added. Iran shares a border with the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Based on data published by Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), bilateral trade with these countries stood at more than $36.5bn in the last Iranian calendar year, representing around 41% of the country’s total non-oil trade.
Iran plans to launch 15 mega export projects to identify more target markets, according to TPO’s former acting head, Mohammadreza Modoudi.
5.1.1 ​current account dynamics
Iran current account, USD mn
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Balance of payments overall
-947
21,436
12,213
13,189
8,561
2,233
Current account balance
27,554
58,507
23,362
25,105
15,861
1,237
16,388
15,816
Current account balance: % of GDP
5.66
10.08
3.87
5.43
3.12
0.32
3.92
Total Exports
130,500
95,500
82,000
88,800
63,000
Total Imports
62,661
59,999
51,914
48,138
52,007
40,097
41,945
54,459
Trade Balance
68,692
42,049
32,291
35,231
20,5000
Source: CEIC, Central Bank of Iran
Iran had over $100bn of gross official reserves in 2019, says IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that the government held $112bn of foreign assets and reserves in March last year. It also indicated that Iran ran a current account surplus.​ The figures imply that Iran might withstand the sanctions without an external payments crisis.
But the IMF also noted that Tehran was having difficulty accessing some of its reserves as its relations with foreign banks were constrained by the threat of US sanctions. Meanwhile, sanctions could cut the current account surplus sharply given the severe disruption they are causing to trade.
The IMF estimated in its latest World Economic Outlook released on April 14 that Iran’s current account balance​ across 2019, 2020 and 2021 would likely be at -0.1%, -4.1% and -3.4% of GDP, respectively, as a result of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
5.1.2 ​Import/export dynamics
Iran, Turkey deal gives Iranian goods
An agreement under which Iranian goods can receive the European Economic Area (EEA) CE marking for EU standards in health, safety and
24​ IRAN Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com