The Central Bank of Iran has released the country’s main economic indices for the third quarter of last Iranian year that ended on March 20, 2023. CBI says the GDP growth stood at 5.3% during the period, adding that the rate stood at 4.5%, excluding oil production.
The sectors of “oil”, “agriculture”, “industries and mines”, and “services” registered 15.4%, 1.1%, 8.9% and 3.3% growth respectively.
Iran’s gross domestic product grew by 3.7% during the first three quarters of last fiscal year (March 21-Dec. 21, 2022) compared with the preceding year’s corresponding period, CBI had reported earlier. Without taking oil production into account, the growth rate stood at 3.2%. In Q1-3, the economic sectors of “agriculture”, “oil”, “industries and mines”, and “services” registered 1.1%, 9.3%, 5.6% and 2.8% growth respectively. The “services” sector has 12 sub-sectors, among which “accommodation and food services” saw the highest growth rate with 19.4% and “education” saw the lowest of -10.5%. The Statistical Center of Iran has put Q1-3 economic growth at 3.3%, which without oil amounted to 2.9%.
According to SCI, the “industries and mines”, and “services” groups registered 5.3% and 2.6% growth respectively, as “agriculture” contracted by 4.3%. The broad “industries and mines” group has five sub-categories of “crude oil extraction”, “other mines”, “industries”, “energy” and “construction”, which registered 5.6%, 0.9%, 5.1%, 9.5% and -2.2% in growth rates, the center added. According to SCI, Q1 and H1 growth rates reached 5.3% and 3.6% respectively. CBI’s recent data indicate Iran’s economy grew by 4% in the last fiscal year (March 2022-23).
The growth rate was down by 0.4% compared to the previous year when it stood at 4.4%, according to the bank. Without taking crude oil production into account, the GDP growth stood at 3.5% in the fiscal 2022-23.
The sectoral breakdown of GDP shows the main groups of agriculture, oil, industries and mines, and services expanded by 1.1%, 10%, 6.5% and 2.7%. The CBI report came after the Statistical Center of Iran said the domestic economy grew by 4.8% in the fiscal 2022-23, unchanged compared to the previous year.
SCI noted that the economy grew by 4.5%, excluding crude oil. Its Q1-4 rates indicated a growth of 6.4%, 3.2%, 4% and 5.6% respectively. The main groups of agriculture, industries and mines, and services registered a growth of 4.4%, 6.4%, and 4.4% during the period under review, SCI added.
The new CBI report has put the current account balance of the country at $15.8 billion in Q3. Exports and imports stood at $74.39 billion and $53.24 billion respectively. Iran’s foreign debt was put at $6.4 billion. Average annualized Inflation stood at 40.6%. Liquidity growth reportedly surged to 22.2%. According to CBI, the unemployment stood at 8.2% in Q3.
