President Hassan Rouhani said Iran is determined to revitalize its economy by promoting international business after sanctions are removed under the July 14 nuclear deal with major powers.
The accord, clinched with P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany), has promised Iran sanctions relief in return for time-bound curbs on its nuclear program.
The prospect of an end to sanctions on an economy, which has remained untapped for several years, has sparked a surge in interest from foreign businesses to gain a foothold in the Iranian market.
“We will be opening the door of the economy to the world to boost economic development in line with our [electoral] promises to the people,” the president was quoted as saying by IRNA while addressing a public gathering in Rey, Tehran Province, on Monday.
Rouhani was elected president in 2013 on a platform of improving foreign relations and reviving the economy.
Highlighting his government’s successful record in containing the inflation, Rouhani said, “We have managed to reduce point-to-point inflation from 45% to the single-digit rate of 9.9%.”
International sanctions targeting the oil sector and the drop in oil prices by about two-thirds since last year have dealt major blows to Iran’s oil-based economy.
The president said the government has been able to substantially cut the country’s overreliance on oil money, so the money accounts only for 25% of the budget planned for the next Iranian year, starting March 21, compared with 95% in 2013.
“The budget drawn up for the next year, to be submitted for parliament’s approval in coming weeks, totals 2,670 trillion rials, of which only 25% are envisaged to be provided by oil revenues,” he said.
