Page 16 - IRANRptMay21

Iran currently on course for 2.5% growth in 2021 says IMF
$46.9bn by end-2023. Approximately 90% of Iran’s official reserves are frozen abroad due to US sanctions.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that Iran’s economy will expand by 2.5% in 2021 following estimated growth of 1.5% in 2020. Prior to possibly squeezing out some growth last year, Iran, under the burden of heavy US sanctions, was in an economic recession that lasted towards three years.
In its latest World Economic Outlook report released this week, the Fund also said Iran might achieve 2.1% growth in 2022.
However, all the predictions could change rapidly depending on the outcome of attempts to find a political accommodation between Iran and the US that could potentially reopen many Western and other markets to the Islamic Republic.
In its latest forecasting, the IMF also sees Iranian consumer price inflation this year moving up to 39% from last year’s 36.5% and a 2021 current account surplus equivalent to 1.2% of GDP. Iranian unemployment would likely stay at around 11% this year, the Fund added.
4.0 Real Economy 4.1 Industrial production
Iran’s SMEs record 17% exports growth in first half of Persian year
The value of products produced by Iranian small and medium sized enterprises grew 16.7% y/y growth in the first six months of the 2020/2021 Persian calendar year (March 20 - September 22), Mehr News Agency reported on October 4.
The depreciation of the Iranian rial (IRR), which hit 300,000 to the USD for the first time ever last week on the unregulated free market, was the principal contributor to the boost in exports, with regional neighbours seeing Iranian products favourable in terms of their cost compared with locally produced items.
Deputy CEO of the Iran Small Industries and Industrial Park Organization (ISIPO), Asghar Masaheb, reportedly referred to the boost caused by the
16 IRAN Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com