President Hassan Rouhani held phone conversations with the top authorities of regional Muslim countries on Saturday to discuss ways of expanding bilateral ties.
President Hassan Rouhani held phone conversations with the top authorities of regional Muslim countries on Saturday to discuss ways of expanding bilateral ties.
Iran is to implement stringent coronavirus-related health protocols in the midst of a second wave that has infected over 70,000 in the past month.
Since the beginning of the current water year (last September) Iran unlike previous years has been receiving its fair share of water from Hirmand (Helmand) River as per an agreement signed with Afghanistan in 1972, the energy minister said.
“As per the treaty, Iran is getting its share that will reach 800 million cubic meters by next September,” Reza Ardakanian was quoted as saying by ILNA on Saturday.
Following regular meetings in Tehran and Kabul since 2005 regarding Iran's water rights from the border river, the Afghan side accepted to pursue its water development projects on the shared basin in a way that will not harm Iran’s water share.
“Construction plans on the river should not restrict Iran's share of the joint basin under any circumstances,” the minister said.
Iran is saddled with severe water shortages in its southeastern regions bordering Afghanistan. A big part of the problem is linked directly Kabul respecting the 1972 agreement in the breach.
Millions of barrels of oil refinery capacity might permanently close across the global energy complex after being lost when demand crashed during the coronavirus pandemic, US refiners said on Friday.
Kimia Pars Middle East Petrochemical Complex in Asalouyeh, which started production at the end of spring, is trying to increase output for the export market, the managing director said.
“Total capacity of the complex is 1.65 million tons per year. But due to the lack of oxygen feedstock, we are now working at 70% capacity,” Abbas Dolatizadeh was quoted as saying by the National Petrochemical Company’s news website Nipna.
The plan is boost daily production to 5,000 tons and as total output is for export the target is to earn $1 million a day, he added.
Chevron Corporation reported on Friday a net loss of $8.3 billion for the second quarter on the back of impairment charges due to lower commodity price outlook and write-off its Venezuela operations due to the US sanctions.
A total of $131.47 million tons of goods were exported from the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province to the neighboring Pakistan during the first three month of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 20) to register a 26% rise compared with the similar period of last year.
According to Davoud Shahraki, the head of Sistan-Baluchestan Trade Promotion Organization, exports to Pakistan accounted for 36% of the province’s total exports in Q1 ($369.35 million).
Mirjaveh was the busiest border crossing for trade during the period under review, from which $78 million worth of commodities were exported, registering an 18% year-on-year increase, ILNA reported.
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the Iranian rail sector.
During the first quarter of the current year (March 20—June 20), Iran’s foreign trade was at its lowest level in the month ending April 19 and at its peak in the month ending May 20, Otaghiranonline.ir reported citing data by the Central Bank of Iran.
During the first month of the current year (March 20-April 19), exports and imports stood at 5.34 million tons and 2.52 million tons worth $1.65 billion and $1.93 billion, respectively.
In the month ending May 20, exports and imports hovered around 9.17 million tons and 3.87 million tons worth $2.64 billion and $3.11 billion, respectively.
During the third Iranian month (May 21-June 20), exports and imports stuck around 7.4 million tons and 2.51 million tons worth $2.06 billion and $2.57 billion, respectively.
Iran’s trade with Turkey totaled $1.07 billion during January-June to register a decrease of 72.54% compared with the first half of 2019, data released by Turkish Statistical Institute show.
Iran exported $417.5 million worth of goods to Turkey during the six months under review to register an 84.64% year-on-year drop.
Imports stood at $652.19 million, down 44.63% YOY.
Bilateral trade amounted to $267.08 million in June to register an 11.81% decline compared to June 2019. Exports to Turkey accounted for $85.81 million of the figure, down 41.83% YOY, while Turkey’s exports to Iran stood at $181.26 million, down by 16.71% YOY.
Iran was Turkey’s 33rd biggest trading partner during the period.
The growth in overall Consumer Price Index in the fourth month of the current Iranian year (June 21-July 21) was the highest (8.2%) in Ardabil Province when compared with the month before.
This is while, according to data released by the Statistical Center of Iran, Ilam posted the lowest month-on-month inflation of 3.9% last month.
The overall CPI, using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year, stood at 227.9 in the month under review, indicating a 6.4% rise compared with the previous month.
Hormozgan Province’s goods and services consumer inflation registered a rise of 32% during the month ending July 21 compared with the similar month of the year before, the highest among all provinces.
Tehran’s stock market moved higher at the start of trading week on Saturday as investors’ attention shifted again toward giants in the market.
The benchmark of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, soared more than 57,325 points, or 3.01%, to close trade at 1,961,649.
Led by large-cap shares, shares of a broad range of smaller companies also gained pushing up the equal-weighted index to 2.16%.
Cryptocurrency miners have one month to register smuggled mining equipment, said a deputy minister of Industries, Mining and Trade, the body in charge of authorizing crypto mining industry.
"Most miners are using illegal hardware smuggled prior to legalization of the business. The government has decided to give miners one month to pay taxes and fees and legalize their business," IRNA quoted Saied Zarandi as saying.
According to the official unregistered mining equipment will be considered illegal and impounded after the deadline.
Experts say the sale of most cryptocurrency mining hardware is legal because the hardware and devices are also used in other sectors and imported legally by computer and technical hardware companies.
The Central Bank of Iran said increase in sight deposits far outpaced term deposits in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 20-June 20), reflecting depositors’ reluctance to keep money in banks for extended periods.
Total sight deposits rose by 780.9 trillion rials ($3.4 billion) in Q1 to reach 4,442.5 trillion rials ($19.4b), posting 21.3% growth. On annualized basis, sight deposits rose 70.4%, according to a CBI monthly monetary report published on its website.
This is while term deposits registered only 5.2% hike during the same period, growing by 968.6 trillion rials ($4.2b) to reach 19,536.62 trillion rials ($85b). Term deposits rose by 27.7% year-on-year.
Long term deposits stood at 11,981 trillion rials ($52b) by June 20, registering 4.3% growth and 30.2% on the annualized basis. Short-term deposits rose to 7,555.6 trillion rials ($32.8b), up 23.9% annually and 6.7% growth during the Q1.
Major currencies closed Saturday’s session unchanged while in the bullion market prices slipped after the gold coin peaked to new highs on Thursday.
Hitting a historic high of 113.6 million rials on Thursday, the Emami gold coin declined 1.8%, or 2 million rials, to be offered at 111.6 million rials.
Bahar Azadi gold coin dropped by 1 million rials, or 1%, to be traded at 107 million rials. One gram of 18-carat gold dropped by 1.27% to reach 10.7 million rials, according to the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union.
Air pollution monitoring stations of the capital city Tehran have recorded more days with ground-level ozone in July, posing a serious risk to citizens’ health and the environment.
According to data published by Tehran Air Quality Control Company, Tehran’s residents have been exposed to high levels of ground-level ozone in the month, a source of air pollution that becomes conspicuous when temperature rises.
Based on TAQCC charts, during the period under review, ozone pollutant hit emergency levels and Air Pollution Index entered the “unhealthy” threshold for all citizens on two days, as API stood between 151 and 200.
The index categorizes conditions dictated by a measure of polluting matters into good (0-50), moderate (51-100), unhealthy for sensitive groups (101-150), unhealthy (151-200), very unhealthy (201-300) and hazardous (301-500).
In addition, the index hovered in the range of 101 to 150 in 18 days, which indicates unhealthy condition for sensitive groups.
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