Page 39 - IRANRptMay19

Persian calendar year (March 21-January 20).
Iran’s definition of a tourist is "a foreigner who visits the country for a brief period", thus the figure includes those hopping over the border from neighbours including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey to take advantage of the severe devaluation of the rial caused by US sanctions.
The data was announced by Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO) official Leila Azhdari.
The largest contributor to foreign arrivals in Iran was Iraq with 2.2mn people. It was followed by Azerbaijan from where 1.3mn visitors hailed. The figures also recorded 700,000 arrivals from Afghanistan.
Azhdari noted that the number of European visitors declined year on year but declined to give a figure on the decrease.
She added that "1,980 US citizens entered the country during the period". Most likely many were visiting Iranian relatives. Very few Americans would have made the trip to Iran for other reasons in the assessed period given the hostility between Washington and Iran over the sanctions-led economic attack which the Trump administration has launched against Tehran.
Looking to reduce fears of travellers to Iran anxious that they might be persecuted at their next destination—particularly with regard to the US and Israel—Iran announced last year that it would no longer stamp the passports of foreigners entering the country.
Iran’s tourism industry has been hit by foreign airlines, wary of getting hit by secondary US sanctions, scrapping their flights to the country.
There have been recent efforts to boost tourism from friendly countries, including Russia and India, but Iran has failed to turn the tide on its declining tourism trade.
In November, Iran and Russia took another step towards mutually abolishing tourist visas .
9.1.10 Metallurgy & mining sector news
Iranian crude steel production amounted to 4.245mn tonnes in the first two months of 2019, marking a 7.6% y/y increase and keeping Iran in 11th place in the world steel volumes league, latest World Steel Association (WSA) data shows.
The devaluation of the Iranian rial (IRR) by around 70% against the dollar in the face of US sanctions may have helped steel producers in Iran as regards labour costs, which are now cheaper than they are for other steel producers such as China and Russia.
All of Iran’s steel output gain must have come in January as the WSA data showed output down 9.6% y/y at 2.015mn tonnes in February.
The association put global steel output at 287.609mn tonnes during the two months, up 3.7% y/y.
9.1.11 Renewable energy sector news
Iran’s nominal electricity production capacity has reached 80,000 megawatts (MW), with several small and medium sized power plants having been brought online around the country in recent months, Tasnim News Agency has reported.
Like its predecessor Ahmadinejad administration, the Rouhani administration has supported the development of several different types of power generation models for the vast country of 80mn people through public-private partnership projects. Nuclear, gas, hydroelectric, solar and wind power have been the most
39 IRAN Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com