Russian representative to the United Nations said the issue of reviving global sanctions against Iran, which have been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, will not be discussed at the UN Security Council any more.
Russian representative to the United Nations said the issue of reviving global sanctions against Iran, which have been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, will not be discussed at the UN Security Council any more.
President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called on committees within the National Coronavirus Taskforce to put forward their proposals on stricter supervision of Covid-19 regulations and imposition of fines for Saturday’s meeting of the taskforce.
Oil prices were down 3% on Friday after Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 and negotiators failed to agree a US stimulus package just as rising global oil output threatens to overwhelm a weak price recovery.
The refinery of South Pars Gas Field Phase 14 will come online by mid-2021, project manager of the phase said.
“Construction of the refinery has registered 84% progress,” Mohammad Mehdi Tavassolipur was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry news agency Shana.
The giant South Pars field in the Persian Gulf has 24 phases, all but Phase 11 are up and running. Since no refinery will be built for this section, the Phase 14 refinery is the last onshore processing facility in the huge field that Iran shares with Qatar.
Power production from hydropower plants reached 14,500 gigawatt hours between March 20 and September 14, director of Iran Hydroelectric Power Management Center Farbod Estiri said.
“Hydroelectric power generated during this period accounted for 13% of total 110,000 GWh,” ISNA quoted Farbod Estiri as saying.
If the same volume of power was generated by thermal stations, close to 4 billion cubic meters of gas would have been consumed, he added.
“With 14,500 GWh output hydropower stations helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 9 million tons in the six months.”
A total of 1.68 million tons of goods worth $300 million were exported from South Khorasan Province’s customs terminals during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 20-Sept. 21), registering a 51% and 98% rises in weight and value respectively compared with the similar period of last year.
A total of $620 million worth of construction materials were exported from Iran during the last fiscal year (March 2019-20), according to the director general of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran's Arab and African Countries Division.
“Our exported products included wires and cables, tiles and ceramics, stone, light switches and sockets, china and ceramics, faucet, bathtub and shower, door and window, and pipe and profiles," Farzad Piltan was also quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, the UAE and Azerbaijan were the main destinations.
The official noted that only around $2 million of the total exports of these products were shipped to African countries, namely Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
He added that the main exporters to Africa’s lucrative construction materials market are China with $2.2 billion, Italy with $700 million, India with $400 million, France with $365 million and Turkey with $360 million per year.
Iran’s Niksun Sanat Company has signed a contract with Japanese Suzuki group for the joint manufacture of home appliances, the managing director of the Iranian company said on Wednesday.
Saeed Rezvani added that in the first phase of the contract, the two companies would cooperate in manufacturing refrigerators and freezers, and then they would expand their collaboration in producing other household items.
“The production line of Niksun Sanat is already established and will be functional for making Suzuki’s products. Therefore, it won’t take long to launch the licensed production of Suzuki-branded refrigerators and freezers. Products will be first offered in the domestic market and later they will be exported to Middle Eastern countries,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Suzuki has only one representative outside Japan, which can manufacture its products; Iran has managed to secure the confidence of the company to become the manufacturer’s second representative in the world,” he said.
Housing inflation in Iranian metropolises has resulted in an unprecedented rate of suburbanization over the past couple of years.
A total of 90,000 people moved to new towns in the last Iranian year (March 2019-20), which raised their total population by over one million.
Last year’s population shift from central urban areas into new towns was 2.2 times higher than the annual average of the past two decades.
Notably, the number of residents in new towns was as low as 58,000 in the year ending March 1997.
On average, a total of 36,000 were added to the number of new towns’ residents annually from the year ending March 1997 to March 2017. The figure increased to 40,000 between the fiscal 1996-97 and 2018-19, but last year, the average growth in the population of the new town surged by 90,000.
Such a one-year population growth in new towns was also recorded for the Iranian year ending March 2014. New satellite towns then saw the number of residents rise by 101,000, thanks to the completion of a phase of the so-called "Mehr Housing Project".
The Iranian National Tax Administration has released the list of products that are subject to the new environmental tax.
According to Mohammad Masihi, a senior official with INTA, the budget law of the current fiscal year (March 2020-21) has envisioned a 0.2% tax on domestically manufactured paint, coating, primer, tires, tubes, plastic and electronic toys, plastic containers, polyethylene terephthalate and melamine.
Imports of the above-mentioned products will be subject to a 0.5% tax.
Iran attracted $3.8 billion of foreign investments during the first half of the current fiscal year (March 20-Sept. 21) for the projects approved by the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran.
“Absorbing foreign investment is by far better than taking out foreign loans; foreign investment is synonymous with opening a gate to technology, new jobs and improved production,” Minister of Economic Affair and Finance Farhad Dejpasand was quoted as saying by IRNA.
"A foreign investor is, in fact, Iran’s ambassador in the country where they come from; they would demand their governments avoid taking decisions that might imperil their investment. In doing so, relations between the two countries are strengthened," he added.
The Majlis is reviewing a proposal to set up a union for safeguarding the interest of retail investors in the stock market, a deputy speaker of the parliament said.
“The ‘individual shareholders association’ would be created to allow retail investors in the bourse to have a say in decision-making”, Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Apart from partaking in regulatory decisions, the union could be tasked with improving the financial literacy of individual traders.
Data released by the payment network authority, Shaparak, indicate decline in the market share of leading payment companies in the fifth Iranian month (July 22- August 21).
The Central Bank of Iran says its efforts have delivered in curbing growth of the monetary base during the first six months of current fiscal year (March 20-Sep 21).
The monetary base grew by 5.4% in H1, losing momentum compared with 8.8% growth in fiscal Q1 (March-June), the CBI public relations office said.
Due to the impact on consumer prices, the CBI has regularly published data about the monetary base. Increase in the monetary base faster than the overall economic growth pushes up the rate of inflation.
The US dollar rose again in Tehran’s free market at the close of trading week on Thursday, moving incessantly toward 300,000 rials.
Having touched a milestone, the greenback declined slightly during the day but was traded at record highs. It closed at 299,000 rials, up 3,000 rials or 1% compared to the previous session.
Other major currencies also moved up. One euro was worth 350,460 rials, posting 1% increase or 3,550 rials. The UK pound sterling fetched 384,520 rials rising 0.66%.
Iran’s currency market was the second performing market in the last trading week with the dollar gaining 5.5%.
Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology and its affiliate, Iran National Innovation Fund, are seeking to mobilize more financial resources for the growing technology ecosystem, as they maintain that the current volume of lending and grants are insufficient.
During a Wednesday meeting in Tehran on broadening support for fledgling knowledge-based firms, Vice President Sorena Sattari said support for startups must be strengthened, IRNA reported.
The meeting was attended by Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of Iran's Presidential Office, Ali Vahdat, the INIF chief, and directors of several outstanding knowledge-based companies, along with CEOs of several local banks.
Acknowledging INIF’s generous support for tech units, Sattari said the National Development Fund has injected 10 trillion rials ($33.33 million) into INIF.
He hoped that with state support, new lines of credit will be extended to potentially strong technology teams.
Pointing to the fact that the technology ecosystem is capable of generating added value, the vice president said, “The startup ecosystem has created a knowledge-based economy in the past seven years. Currently, 41 technology companies are listed in the stock exchange with a net value of 250 trillion rials ($833.33 million), which earned 1.2 quadrillion rials ($4 billion) in the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2020).”
The European Central Bank must prepare to issue a digital euro to complement banknotes “if and when” it becomes necessary, ECB board member Fabio Panetta said on Friday.
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