Iran's Non-Oil Growth at 4.5% in H1

Iran's economic growth during the first half of the current fiscal year (started March 20), excluding the oil sector, stood at 4.5%, the government spokesman and president of Planning and Budget Organization, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, said on Monday.

"Including the oil output, the GDP growth stood at 6.5%," he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

Nobakht said the growth's details for the six months will be published in the coming days.

His statements come after the Central Bank of Iran reported earlier this month that the gross domestic product during this period grew 7.4% compared with last year's corresponding period.

The CBI report added that most of the growth came from the oil sector.

Iran’s oil production increased by 18.8% to 3.92 million barrels per day during January-September 2016, the US Energy Information Agency reported on Friday.

According to the report, Iran’s oil output, including gas condensates, stood at 4.170 million bpd in September, about 20,000 bpd more than November and 870,000 bpd more than September 2015.

Iran’s September oil production was the highest since the late 1980s, the report said.

Iran aims to lift output to 5 million barrels a day within two or three years—at least 1.3 million barrels a day above what it was in 2010, the year before international sanctions were introduced.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Iran's real GDP will grow by at least 4.5% in 2016-17.

The World Bank forecasts 4.2% and 4.6% growth rates for Iran’s economy for 2016 and 2017 respectively.

The government has set an 8% annual growth target for the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21).