Page 11 - IRANRptAug19

2.8 Polls & Sociology
Iran drops six places to 170 on latest World Press Freedom Index
Iran has placed 170th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2019 compiled by Reporters Without Borders, six places down on where it finished in the previous year’s ranking.
The decline has coincided with the sanctions-led economic attack which the US launched last year to strangle Iran's economy to force concessions on its Middle East policies. Analysts say this has given hardliners in Iran the upper hand in many areas of Iranian society which were previously starting to liberalise as economic growth rates improved in line with the multilateral nuclear deal. Since the US walked out of that deal and imposed its heaviest sanctions ever on the Islamic Republic, the country has found itself pushed back into recession.
In a short summary put out with the latest ranking, the Reporters Without Borders said: “Iran has been one of the world’s most repressive countries for journalists for the past 40 years. State control of news and information is unrelenting and at least 860 journalists and citizen-journalists have been imprisoned or executed since 1979.
It added: “The Islamic regime exercises extensive control over the media landscape and its harassment of independent journalists, citizen-journalists and independent media has not let up. They are constantly subjected to intimidation, arbitrary arrest and long jail sentences imposed by revolutionary courts at the end of unfair trials.
“The media that are still resisting increasingly lack the resources to report freely and independently. As a result, it is the citizen-journalists on social networks who are now at the centre of the battles for freely- reported news and information and for political change in Iran. The regime has extended its fight against media freedom beyond the country’s borders and also targets the international media.”
3.0 Macro Economy
3.1 Macroeconomic overview
IMF anticipates Iran will experience growth contraction of at least 6% and up to 50% inflation in 2019
Iran’s economy is expected to shrink for a second consecutive year in 2019 while the country’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation could hit 50%, the International Monetary Fund said on April 29.
The US will from May step up its attempt to throttle the Iranian economy to force concessions on Tehran’s approach to Middle East affairs by trying to force Iran’s crude oil exports to zero. Last year’s reintroduction of sanctions against Iran pushed the Iranians back into recession, with growth contracting by 3.9% in 2018, IMF estimates suggest. The Fund now sees Iran on course for at least a 6% decline in GDP in 2019, according to Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department, who spoke to Bloomberg. CPI prices, he said, could average 50% higher this year, given the tougher situation the economy is exposed to. Before the announcement on driving to eliminate oil exports, the IMF was predicting inflation of 37%.
11 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com