Page 11 - IRANRptJul18

A football player, Ali Karimi, who is not part of the current squad at the World Cup in Russia, has become one leading voice among the so-called “Instagrameratti”. His channel boasts more than one hundred thousand followers.
There is hot debate in the country of 80 million under the “I won’t buy” hashtag about positions taken by the Rouhani administration prior to, and after, the US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and announced sanctions designed to throttle the Iranian economy in a bid to force Tehran to the table to negotiate a wider-ranging accord—or, according to some analysts, in an effort to provoke social discord and trigger regime change. There is also debate over the poor state of negotiations on adherence to international banking laws, such as in relation to intergovernmental organisation Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering), otherwise known as FATF.
Meanwhile, in another sign of growing discontent among Iranians over their declining economic situation, students who have formed the “Justice Seeking Movement”, have written to the Tehran Prosecutor General’s office to call for the immediate eviction of former Chief-of-Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Hassan Firouzabadi from his home of 25 years. They claim he has not paid any rent on the state property.
3.0 Macro Economy
3.1 Macroeconomic overview, outlook
Iranian GDP growth in 2017-18 Persian calendar year gauged at 3.7%
I ran’s economy expanded by 3.7% during the 2017-2018 Persian calendar year (ended March 20), according to a report released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) on June 16.
The report, compiled in conjunction with the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI), is the first such announcement jointly publicly endorsed by the two data providers, which often contradict one another on inflation and economic growth.
In April, the latest edition of the World Economic Outlook issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) determined that Iran’s GDP growth was set to edge down to 4.0% in both 2018 and 2019 after coming in at 4.3% in 2017.
The whole of last year and the January to early May period of this year were affected by foreign traders and investors holding off on doing business with Iran or slowing down the expansion of commercial relationships with Iranian companies given the anticipation that Donald Trump would move to withdraw the US from the nuclear deal and impose new sanctions on Tehran — something he went on to do in his announcement of May 8 . Further revisions of expected GDP growth in Iran, a country with a population of 80mn, can be expected as the impact of t he sanctions , and the secondary sanctions directed at foreign companies who opt to continue doing business with Iran, becomes clear. The US is intent on throttling Iran’s economy to achieve its ends.
The joint CBI/SCI report also stated that in the 2017-2018 Persian calendar
11 IRAN Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com