Agro Growth Lowest in 6 Years

The agriculture sector grew by 1% during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21, 2017), experiencing the lowest growth over the past six years, based on the latest figures released by the Statistical Center of Iran.
According to SCI, the agro sector growth in the fiscal 2012-13 stood at 3%. The figure fell 0.2% to 2.8% in the following year before rebounding to 4.7% in 2014-15. In the following two years, growth fell to 4% in 2015-16 and declined to 3.3% in 2016-17, the Persian daily Shahrvand reported. 
SCI has yet to release growth estimates for the entire current fiscal year (ending March 20). 
Figures by the Central Bank of Iran show more or less the same trend, yet with different growth rates of 4.7% for the fiscal 2012-13, 5.5% for 2013-14, 5.4% for 2014-15, 4.6% for 2015-16 and 4.2% for 2016-17. CBI estimates agro growth in 2017-18 to stand at 3.8%.
The decline in growth, according to Shahrvand, is related to the acute water crisis facing the country.