A senior diplomat said Iran’s decisions on the development of its nuclear program are based on its interests and not affected by foreign pressures.
A senior diplomat said Iran’s decisions on the development of its nuclear program are based on its interests and not affected by foreign pressures.
Overnight deaths caused by the coronavirus outbreak in Iran fell to its lowest in nearly two months, returning to just under 300, and confirmed cases sank below 12,000 for the first time in three weeks, as restrictions imposed since late October continued to slow transmission.
The rise in ground water salinity including from deep wells in Yazd has harmed the quality of drinking water in the arid region, managing director of the provincial water company said.
“Underground resources are depleting faster than anticipated and supplying rural areas even low quality water may not be possible in the long run,” Mohammad Mehdi Javadianzadeh was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry news website.
Rapid urbanization, excessive pumping of groundwater, rerouting rivers and streams, digging illegal wells and outdated farming methods are among the main causes of water crisis and increased salinity, Javadianzadeh said.
Iranian engineers indigenized some 1,000 parts used in Ramin Power Plant in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, during the first eight months of the current Persian calendar year (March 20-Nov. 20), managing director of the plant said.
“Manufacturing and repairing 1,027 parts by our engineers have helped reduced costs,” the Energy Ministry news portal Paven quoted Khalil Mohammadi as saying.
Ejector shafts, cooling tower gearbox shafts and chlorination pump shafts are among the equipment manufactured for the plant in the southwest.
Construction of two dams, Javeh and Azad, is underway in western Kurdistan Province and $90 million has already been spent on the two projects but work is slow due to funding constraints, managing director of Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company said.
“Javeh Dam is located 40 km southwest of the capital city, Sanandaj, in eastern part of Kurdistan. When completed, it can hold 350 million cubic meters of water, which will be used for agricultural and industrial purposes,” Seyed Hassan Razavi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“With $30 million spent so far the project has made 72% progress and needs $25 million to be completed,” he added.
A total of 133,000 tons of fresh tea leaves have been harvested in Iran in the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2020), registering close to a 5% increase compared with last year, according to the head of Iran Tea Organization.
"A total of 30,000 tons of processed tea were derived from this year’s yields,” Habibollah Jahansaz was quoted as saying by ILNA, adding that this figure also shows a 5% year-on-year rise.
This year’s harvest, he added, was worth 5.13 trillion rials ($19.73 million).
The Purchasing Managers' Index for the housing sector in the eighth month of the current fiscal year (Oct. 22-Nov. 20) settled at 50.78 from 53.13 in the preceding month (Sept. 22-Oct. 21).
Iran’s Chamber of Cooperatives has measured PMI for the country’s real-estate and construction sector, under the Farsi acronym “Shamekh”, for the eighth month of the current Iranian year ending Nov. 20.
The new data show the overall PMI settled at 50.78 in the eighth Iranian month from 53.13 in the seventh fiscal month, indicating a 4.42% decrease.
PMI is an indicator of the health of economic sectors. It provides information about current business conditions to decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.
Out of 533,752 businesses that registered at Kara.mcls.gov.ir and were introduced to the banks to receive government-backed coronavirus financial support, 365,841 businesses (70% of the total) have received their loans as of Nov. 30, while the documents and collaterals of the rest are under review, the Central Bank of Iran reported.
Close to 4.5 million hectares have so far gone under wheat cultivation this year, more than 1.27 million hectares of which are irrigated and 3.21 million hectares are rain-fed, showing a 7.4% and 3.7% increase respectively compared with the similar period of last year, according to the manager of the Agriculture Ministry’s “Wheat Project”.
The Ministry of Roads and Urban Development plans to inaugurate seven rail projects stretching 1,443 kilometers across the country by the end of next Iranian year (March 2022).
According to Abbas Khatibi, the head of Transportation Infrastructure Company, affiliated with the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, 101.46 trillion rials ($405 million) worth of investment have been made in these seven projects to date.
“The completion of these railroads is estimated to require investments worth 163.3 trillion rials [$653 million]. All these projects are missing links in the country’s transportation and transit corridors,” the official was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency...
The export of each ton of paint generates $2,200 on average, says an official with the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, adding that the figure is five times higher than the average price of non-oil goods exported from Iran.
The government has envisioned a 15% rise in customs duties on the import of cosmetics as per the budget bill for the next fiscal year (March 2021-22).
Tehran stock market extended a winning streak on Sunday with the benchmark of Tehran Stock Exchange climbing above 1.5 million points as positive developments boosted sentiment.
TSE's main index, TEDPIX, gained 32,429.66 points or 2.18% to end trading at 1,523,105.76. The equal-weighted index hiked 2.37%, showing that both small and large cap shares gained at the same space.
The government plan to augment its revenue by selling shares in the next fiscal budget (2021-22), efforts by the parliament to send the list of malefactors in the stock market to judicial authorities and the Majlis plan to source funds for its ongoing direct subsidy plan by selling government shares were positive signs for the bourse.
Foreign exchange and gold prices in Tehran saw no significant swing for the second successive day. The US dollar gained 0.38% or 1,000 rials on Sunday and bought 258,000 rials in the open market.
The greenback had lost 0.78% in Saturday’s trade. This is while it was traded at 254,100 rials at the regulated market down 0.25% compared to Saturday’s close.
The regulated market is a network of banks and certified moneychangers working under CBI supervision and dealing in wholesale trade.
The nationwide payment settlement network, Shaparak, processed approximately 2.76 billion payments worth 4,379.55 trillion rials ($16.8 billion) in the calendar month to Nov. 20.
Transactions were down 9.5% in value and 1.51% in volume compared to the month earlier when the company processed 2.8 billion transactions valued at 4,839.2 trillion rials ($18.61 billion)
Year-on-year basis transactions rose 23.87% and 73.61% in volume and value, respectively. Upsurge in value was due largely to increase in inflation during the course of the year.
The government has projected higher earnings from selling shares in state-owned companies in the next fiscal budget (March 2021-22) compared to the current budget.
As per the draft published by the Plan and Budget Organization, the government expects to generate 950 trillion rials ($3.8 billion) from selling assets in state-controlled companies.
That is almost eight times the 115 trillion rials ($460 million) mentioned in this year’s budget. It appears the government's outperformance in realizing the projected income this year has boosted its confidence to earn more in the coming year.
The Information and Communications Technologies Ministry and its affiliated organizations will get 38.1 trillion rials ($147.67 million) next year, according to the 2021-22 budget bill submitted to the Majlis on Wednesday.
In the proposed budget, published on the website of the Plan and Budget Organization, the ministry’s funding for the coming fiscal year is up 4.76% compared to 36.37 trillion rials ($140.69) in the current year that ends in March 2021.
As per the government’s proposal, the ministry’s operational expenditure is set to increase by 14.6% compared to this year, reaching 6.87 trillion rials ($26.57 million) from 5.99 trillion rials ($23.17 million), Peivast.com reported.
Funds for acquiring capital assets by the ICT Ministry have also increased by 0.3% to 31.23 trillion rials ($120.81 million) from last year’s 31.13 trillion rials ($120.42 million).
The budgetary figures can change, depending on the approval of lawmakers and the verification of Guardians Council before it becomes law.
The European Central Bank is set to unleash more stimulus for the eurozone at its last meeting of the year on Thursday, as the region's battered economy grapples with a second wave of Covid-19.
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