Iran is "raising the barriers against imports" for the next Iranian year (starting March 20, 2016) to stabilize the economy, Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Valiollah Afkhamirad announced.
Iran's finances have been strained by plummeting oil sales that forced the government to tighten its grip on its limited supply of foreign exchange. Thus, it is limiting the volume and variety of goods that can be imported with the Central Bank of Iran's 22% discount in foreign exchange rates.
It is also changing import duty groups and whittling them down to eight instead of the previous 10.
According to Afkhamirad, Iran's trade balance was positive in the first nine months of the current fiscal year due to a larger drop in imports compared to exports.
Non-oil exports fell 11% to $32 billion during the period, outpacing imports at $31.2 billion, down 22% compared to the same period of last year. The dip in exports is due to a 42% plunge in gas distillate exports.
According to Iran Customs Administration, major imports during the period included corn feed, wheat, soybean and soybean meal.
China, the UAE, South Korea, Turkey and Switzerland were the top exporting countries to Iran.
Major exports included gas and hydrocarbons, liquefied propane and bitumen, primarily destined for China, Iraq, the UAE, India and Afghanistan.
