Page 12 - IRANRptDec20

highest water stress, the others being Qatar, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan.
It also ranks sixth among the 20 countries with the most displaced people from disasters, with 520,000 people displaced by five disasters. In terms of disasters, the country is seen as most exposed to floods.
Iran also features in a group of 31 “hotspot” countries home to more than one billion people that face both high ecological threats and low levels of resilience.
3.0​ ​Macro Economy
3.1​ ​Macroeconomic overview
Iran’s GDP officially shrinks 3.5% in Persian year Q1
Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) officially contracted 3.5% y/y during the first quarter of the 2020/2021 Persian calendar year (March 20 to June 20), according to the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI).
A double whammy of inflationary pressure exerted on the economy by the impact of heavy US sanctions and a severe coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak wreaked havoc on the already struggling economy. Annual inflation is presently running at around 27%.
The economic contraction, excluding income accrued from oil products, stood at -1.7% y/y, the SCI also said.
Iran’s industry and services sectors shrank by -4.4% and -3.5% y/y, while agriculture saw a weak gain of 0.1% y/y.
Overall, the Iranian economy shrank by 6.9% in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year, with the contraction at -0.5% excluding the oil products sector.
In that year, the agricultural sector experienced growth of 2.8% while the industry and services sectors shrank 14.7% and 0.7%, respectively.
Iran’s GDP will contract 5% this year but bounce back by 3.2% next year, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) updated forecasting
12​ IRAN Country Report December 2020 www.intellinews.com