Page 43 - IRANRptAug19

Iran has also lately relaxed visa requirements for visiting citizens of countries in the Caucasus and E urasianEconomicUnion(EEU) bloc,andTurkey and India .
Foreigners making use of Iran’s vast medical sector are generating annual revenue of $1.2bn, Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said at a recent conference in Tehran, the Financial Tribune reported on June 20. Given that the value of the Iranian rial (IRR) has collapsed by around 65% since March 2018, around when it was becoming clear that the US was set to switch back to imposing heavy sanctions on Iran, ‘medical tourists’, including many from Arabian countries in the Persian Gulf region, have found extra incentive to flock to the Islamic Republic for medical services. The depreciation made the cost of treatments including rhinoplasty, weight loss surgery and hair replacement very much cheaper.
“The number of foreign nationals travelling to Iran to receive medical care has increased by 10 times over the past decade to reach 300,000 per year,” the minister was also quoted as saying.
Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Azerbaijanis and Pakistanis are in particular very much known to make extensive use of Iran’s modern medical facilities, which to people of these nationalities are often cheaper to use than what’s on offer back home.
Looking at the potential for drawing in more medical tourists, Harirchi noted that the populations of Central Asian countries add up to around 500mn people. As part of Iran’s 20-year Vision Plan, some 20mn people from neighbouring countries could use Iranian medical facilities, he said. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan Turkey and Pakistan are along with Iran members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) established in 1985.
According to Iranian official statistics, some 7.8mn tourists travelled to Iran in the 2018-2019 Persian calendar year (ended March 20), but the numbers of medical tourists cannot be fully ascertained as thousands would have entered the country on a visa-free entry basis.
9.1.11 Metallurgy & mining sector news
In the first five months of 2019, Iran’s steel mills produced a total of 10.62mn tonnes of raw steel, Financial Tribune reported on July 8.
The five-month figures are 5.5% more year-on-year (y/y), according to World Steel Association (WSA) statistics.
Iran has been accused of dumping cheap steel on the international market for several years due to its low production costs. Meanwhile, Iranian metal exports are also a target of US sanctions , with the Trump administration placing exports from Iran under restrictions on May 8.
According to the Brussels-based international trade organisation for the steel industry, Iran’s production in May rose by 3.8% y/y to 2.23mn tonnes.
Iran's world rating remains unchanged, the figures suggest, despite the US sanctions imposed in May.
Overall, the country is in 10th place among the largest producers of raw steel in the world.
According to the new report, the country is located between Brazil (ninth place) with 14.02 million tonnes and Italy (11th place) with 10.47 million tonnes.
Iran’s steel companies produce much of their output for local delivery, including to auto manufacturing and machinery production customers.
However, with the recent collapse of the Iranian rial against hard currencies,
43 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com