Iran said European powers are pursuing the United States’ “maximum pressure” policy against Iran under the guise of demanding fresh talks.
Iran said European powers are pursuing the United States’ “maximum pressure” policy against Iran under the guise of demanding fresh talks.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad discussed a broad range of issues in a meeting in Tehran on Monday.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Sunday night cautioned against false assumptions of a return to normality due to the recent drop in cases and deaths, noting that complacency could make the approaching winter harsher than autumn when an influx of Covid-19 patients overwhelmed hospitals across the country.
Oil prices fell on Monday as a continued surge in coronavirus cases globally forced a series of renewed lockdowns, including strict new measures in Southern California in the United States, the world’s top oil consumer.
Residential gas consumption rises in the cold seasons and as a result gas supply to power plants declines, an Energy Ministry spokesman said.
“If homes do not reduce gas consumption there will be power outages,” Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry news portal Paven.
Almost all urban homes are primarily heated with natural gas. In recent years infrastructure has been expanding to supply piped gas to most rural areas not excluding the rugged mountain regions where winter temperatures fall to below 10-15 degrees Celsius.
Tamkar Gas Equipment Company, a knowledge-based firm, has developed an associated petroleum gas (APG) or flare gas recovery system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Parsi Oilfield near Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, managing director of the company said.
“With a wealth of experience in the construction of high-pressure gas compressors, TGEC has launched a gas compressor station to collect 220,000 cubic meters of flare gas per day,” Ezatollah Hejazi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Flare gas pressure in Parsi Oilfield is 15 pound-force per square inch (psi). TGEC compressors boost the pressure to as high as 120 psi before it is used or injected into other oilfields in Khuzestan namely Karanj, Hejazi noted.
The system has been billed as having a suitable technical performance and high economic feasibility.
The OPEC+ decision Dec. 3 to ease its output cut by an initial 500,000 bpd in January is unlikely to unbalance oil markets amid hopes for oil demand recovery from the early introduction of coronavirus vaccines, Petroleum Association of Japan President Tsutomu Sugimori said.
A total of 166,533 tons of commodities worth $189 million were exported from Semnan Province to 45 countries during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Nov. 20), showing a 9% decline and an 11% increase in weight and value respectively compared with the similar period of last year.
A total of 20,429 public complaints were filed against goods and service providers with the industries, mining and trade organizations of Iranian provinces during the Iranian month ending Nov. 20, showing a 7% decline compared with the similar period of last year.
The overall Purchasing Managers’ Index, known by its Farsi acronym Shamekh, for the overall economy settled at 45.70 in the month ending Nov. 20 from 44.47 in the month ending Oct. 21, indicating an improvement of 1.23 points or 2.77%.
A report by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture—the sponsor and coordinator of the survey, shows prices of raw materials and producer goods declined for the first time in seven months thanks to the appreciation of local currency’s exchange rate against foreign currencies.
The headline PMI is a number from 0 to 100, such that over 50 shows an expansion of the economy when compared with the previous month. A PMI reading under 50 indicates contraction and a reading of 50 implies no change.
Travel agencies suffered losses to the tune of 10 trillion rials ($38.5 million) in the first two months of the Covid-19 pandemic in Iran alone, of which 40% were due to the decline in domestic tourists and 60% by fall in the number of international tourists, says the head of Travel Agents Guild Association.
“Travel and tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus. Losses incurred by businesses active in the field are even more startling in Iran compared with other countries because most governments have lent financial support to the sector whereas in here the government has failed to offer adequate help to the tourism industry,” Hormatollah Rafiei was also quoted as saying by the news portal of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
The official noted that travel agencies and airlines alone had 50,000 people on their payroll, which has now reduced to fewer than 10,000, which shows that 40,000 people have lost their jobs following the outbreak of coronavirus.
“Today, only 20% of travel agencies have managed to keep their companies afloat, while others have shuttered and jobs have been lost. Of those still active, more than 60-70% have downsized their staff. An agency, which used to have 100 employees, is now working with 20,” he said.
Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Alireza Razm-Hosseini appointed Vajihollah Jafari to replace Khodadad Gharibpour as the chairman of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization.
Real-estate development by individuals who don’t have the expertise needed in the field has reduced the industry to jerry-building, the managing director of Maskan Investment Group, the parent company of Bank Maskan, Rouzbeh Zahiri Hashemi, said.
“Iran’s construction sector has faced the influx of inefficient and unprofessional investors for years now. The absence of an integrated regulation regarding people who are both investors and builders has led to the decline in construction quality and age, as well as the rapid deterioration of residential properties,” he was quoted as saying by Hibna.
The decline in prices of homes located in districts one, two, three and six, which are affluent neighborhoods of Tehran, have been sharper than those in other districts of the capital city, says Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh, deputy minister of roads and urban development.
“Home prices in these four districts have decreased by 20% on average over the past month, following the appreciation of the local currency rial’s exchange rate against foreign currencies,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Speculative practices in the housing sector are often focused on districts one and three, and then two and six. These districts are highly influenced by developments in other markets. Prices of land, construction materials and services are the main factors affecting home prices. As no price decrease has been reported regarding these three factors, the decline in home prices of late can be attributed to those from outside the housing market.”
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index of “communications” in the 12-month period ending Nov. 20, which marks the end of the eighth Iranian month, increased by 10% compared with the previous year’s corresponding period, making it the lowest among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the CPI of the group stood at 181.9 in the period, indicating a 0.8% growth compared with the month before.
The index, with a coefficient of 2.87%, registered a year-on-year increase of 25.4%.
Iran Insurance Company (IIC) and ISACO, a major auto aftersales services company affiliated to Iran Khodro (IKCO), signed a deal on Monday to develop a joint platform for digitizing claims procedures.
Holders of IIC third party auto policy, who also own a vehicle produced by Iran Khodro, will receive a range of services remotely through websites of the two companies when the platform is launched.
“Determining the loss amount and claim settlement will be carried out right at the location of the accident. ISACO will tow the vehicle of the policyholder to certified repair shops for repairs as per the standards of the vehicle producer,” the IIC website said.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati said efforts to transfer money for buying the coronavirus have been futile due to United States economic siege.
In a note posted on his social media account Monday, Hemmati said Donald Trump’s America is lying when it says humanitarian trade, mainly import of food and medicine, is exempt from the hostile sanctions.
"Vaccine purchase must be done through covax and the official route of World Health Organization. All the routes for transferring money are blocked due to the vicious US sanctions and obligation [of vaccine suppliers] to get permission from OFAC," he wrote. The Office of Foreign Assets Control is the financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department.
Iran Fara Bourse, the junior equity market, hosted a subscription for units of a private equity fund on Monday -- the second of its kind.
The fund is dubbed as Turquoise Servat Afarin Private Equity Fund and its ticker symbol is displayed on the IFB bulletin board as ‘Servat’. It is operated by Turquoise Partners, a leading financial service company in Tehran, the IFB news portal reported.
A PE fund is a pooled investment scheme used for investments in equities. Institutional and retail investors provide the capital for the private equity, and capital can be utilized to fund new technology, expand working capital and bolster balance sheets of the companies.
Tehran stocks opened trade on Monday in positive territory only to jump later into the red under sell-side pressure.
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, gained 10,000 points at the beginning of the session but pared much of the gains and closed more than 10,000 points lower.
TEDPIX lost 0.67% for the day to end trade at 1,512,962 points. The sell-off was led by large cap stocks. However, the equal weighted index closed 0.15% higher amid stronger demand for shares of small cap companies. The index gives the same weight to all shares irrespective of their market capitalization.
In the next fiscal year (starting March 2021), Tehran Municipality will receive 17.5 trillion rials ($67.3 million) for streamlining the metropolis’s public transportation, almost half the amount allocated to the sector in the current year.
Speaking to reporters, Mohsen Hashemi, the head of Tehran City Council, said only 600 billion rials ($2.3 million) have been earmarked for new subway wagons, Borna reported.
The share of public transportation in the current year’s budget was 34 trillion rials ($130.76).
Censuring the government for overlooking the vital role of public transportation in setting the budget bill, Hashemi said, “The council had repeatedly reminded the government that the ailing public transport in Tehran requires at least 20 trillion rials [$769.2 million] to improve services.”
He added that the allocated amount is disappointing and woefully inadequate for the worrying state of transport system.
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