20,000 Industrial Units Out of Recession

Some 20,000 industrial units have emerged from recession since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2016), the deputy minister of industries, mining and trade said.

“About 140 trillion rials ($3.5 billion at market exchange rate) worth of loans have been granted to small- and medium-sized enterprises for their reactivation,” Reza Rahmani was quoted by IRNA as saying.

The loans are part of a stimulus plan prepared by the government's economic team recently, based on which loans worth 160 trillion rials ($4 billion) will be given to struggling SMEs in the industrial and agricultural sectors.

Sonya Pouryamin, an advisor to industries minister, said the government has also helped revive factories whose production had stopped.

“With the support of the incumbent administration, 3,319 shuttered industrial units have come back on track,” she said.

Some 88,000 manufacturing units are active in 992 industrial parks across Iran, which account for 42% of all employment in the industrial sector.

It is estimated that 96% of these businesses are considered small- and medium-size.

By definition, enterprises run by 100 workers or less, and 50 workers or less are considered small- and medium-sized respectively, according to Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization.

Iran's industrial sector saw the highest growth of 9.1% during the first six months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2016) among other economic sectors of Iran, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.

The overall GDP growth for the period under review stood at 6.5%, including the growth in oil sector, and 4.5% without it.

The report also shows agriculture and services sector experienced a 5.9% and 5% growth respectively.

The substantial growth is largely due to the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran, which led to the opening up of the Iranian economy and normalization of commercial ties with other countries.

The sanctions were lifted in January as part of a nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers after the country agreed to scale back the scope of its nuclear program.