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can only be taken as another indication of the deleterious heavy sanctions campaign being waged against Iran by the US. Credit inside the country remains tight for lending, meanwhile, and the long hot summer in Iran is said to have hit demand across multiple sectors, impacting many factories.
Iran Chamber (full name Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture) publishes PMI data for industry overall and 12 of its subfields. It has plans to expand its PMI coverage to sectors including agriculture at a later date.
During the fifth calendar month, plastic and rubber production in Iran posted the highest PMI registering 56.3. Wood, paper and furnishings posted the lowest score, at 35.9.
Looking at index components, output and new and contributed to the month-on-month decrease in the headline PMI figure, while suppliers' delivery times and employment scores improved.
The reading for exports in the fifth month fell from to 44.65 from 46.84.
4.3 ​Labour and income
4.3.1​ Labour market, unemployment dynamics
Pandemic ‘could leave up to quarter of Iran’s workforce jobless’
As many as 6.43mn Iranians, making up around a quarter of the workforce of Iran, could find themselves jobless because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a study by Iran’s Parliament Research Centre.
A minimum of 2.87mn jobs would be lost amid the health and economic emergency, the study also concluded.
Given the added difficulties caused to US-sanctions-hit Iran by the virus outbreak, its economy would shrink between 7.5% and 11%, it also said. Iran’s non-oil dollar exports fell by almost 30% y/y in the four-week period starting February 20, while exports fell by 7% y/y in the year ended March 19, official statistics cited by the report showed.
President Hassan Rouhani on April 29 said Iran has reopened for business despite the persistent coronavirus difficulties as there was no end in sight to the crisis. "Due to uncertainty about when this virus will end, we are preparing for work, activity and science," he said.
"We have to follow all the medical instructions, but work and production are as essential as these precautions," he told a televised cabinet meeting.
Rouhani also said the number of people contracting the coronavirus was on the decline and that most of Iran’s hospital beds were now empty, IRNA reported.
Footage released by state broadcaster IRIB on April 30 showed busy streets in downtown Tehran with many people not wearing face masks seen in tight spaces including in shopping malls. A reporter was filmed asking people why they were out in such an environment. Many replied that they had no choice.
By the end of April 30, Iran had officially ​recorded​ 94,640 coronavirus
18​ IRAN Country Report June 2020 www.intellinews.com