President Hassan Rouhani sent a message to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to express congratulations on the Arab country’s National Day.
President Hassan Rouhani sent a message to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to express congratulations on the Arab country’s National Day.
President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday announced that in one month, the number of cities on the highest coronavirus alert has dived from 160 to zero, as stringent measures imposed in the past two months curbed the third wave of infections.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the importance of global support for the 2015 nuclear deal, calling on member states to engage in trade with Iran in compliance with the UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the agreement.
Investment in power plants, renewables and electricity infrastructure is incompatible with levels required to safeguard electricity security after 2022, managing director of Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said.
“Installed power capacity of 68 gigawatts is barely enough to meet current demand. Low investment by private firms has become a concern amid the likelihood that this key sector could face serious shortages in less than three years,” Mohsen Tarztalab was quoted as saying by ISNA on Saturday.
He spoke of “risks for the future sustainability of power systems” and warned that funding constraints could well become a lasting impediment, especially in the long-term, to electricity infrastructure projects.
Maroun Oil and Gas Production Company has prepared a new two-dimensional polymer from zinc and organic binders, which falls under the category of coordination polymers.
The chemical compound has been added to the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) as a new compound after its structure was determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, the Oil Ministry news agency Shana reported.
Mohammad Alizadeh, an expert at the MOGPC, conducted the research on the polymer as a doctoral project with professors from Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province and two professors from Degli University of Milan.
The research was published in the monthly Journal of Solid State Chemistry published by Elsevier.
Iran and Pakistan opened the Rimdan-Gabd border crossing on Monday in the presence of Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami and Pakistan’s Minister for Defense Production Zubaida Jalal Khan.
According to IRNA, the opening of Rimdan-Gabd crossing would ease the exchange of goods and transportation of passengers.
Rimdan in Dashtiari District is located 120 km from Chabahar in southeast Iran and 70 km from Pakistan’s Gwadar. It is the best access point for Iran to reach 37% of the population of the world living in Pakistan, China and India.
Most Iranian industries were on the path to growth during the second quarter of the current fiscal year (June 21-Sept. 21), according to the latest data on Industrial Production Index for large industrial units disclosed by Peyman Qorbani, a senior official with the Central Bank of Iran.
The three-month period saw IPI grow by 11.9% compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Noting that 70% of the added value of the industrial sector come from large industrial workshops with more than 100 workers, the official said, “The increase in Q2 Industrial Production Index resulted in a 6.8% growth of the index in the first half of the current year [March 20-Sept. 21].”
The central bank calculates IPI using data of large units with 100 workers or more operating in 24 industries.
According to the official, 21 out of 24 industries experienced positive growth in Q2.
The government earned 1,314 trillion rials ($5.05 billion) in tax revenues in the eight months to Nov. 20, which account for 64% of the sum predicted in the budget for the period.
The government’s tax revenues consist of its returns from tax on legal entities, income tax, wealth tax, tax on imports and tax on goods and services, Fars News Agency reported.
Earnings from taxing companies and legal entities stood at 347.53 trillion rials ($1.33 billion), which account for 78% of the sum projected in the budget for the period under review.
The Iranian National Tax Administration earned 257.75 trillion rials ($991.34 million) from taxing civil servants and workers (income tax), which is 74% of the budget’s projected figure.
Home prices have registered a 200% growth over the past five years, said Parvaneh Aslani, director general of Housing Economy Office of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, adding that such a considerable rise in prices has been registered for other consumer goods and assets as well.
The reference for measuring home prices is what actually happens in the real-estate market and deals that are being registered in the Tenement Management Information System (the so-called Tracking Code System) operated by the ministry. Extreme values are omitted and the average price is being calculated.
“So far, only prices of homes in Tehran were regarded as reference for calculating the value of housing deals but in the new reports of the ministry, statistics of home deals in District One and District Three were removed. As a result, home prices decreased by 100 million rials [$385],” Aslani was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Tehran's share market on Saturday recovered from a 4-day losing streak after share prices in most big companies climbed.
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, was up 2.2% gaining 31,565 points to close the session at 1,444,926 points. It pared some of the 6% loss last week.
The rally covered both large and small caps as seen in the 2% rise in equal-weighted index, which better reflects the performance of smaller listed companies.
The government on Saturday suspended enforcement of the new check issuance law until next March to prevent check-holders rushing to banks to settle payment issues arising from unfamiliarity with the new rules.
Vice president for economic affairs, Mohammad Nahavandian, said the decision was made by the National Coronavirus Headquarters (NCH) as part of lockdown measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.
"The NCH decided to postpone the law until the end of the year to provide enough time for people to become acquainted with the new law," he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Foreign exchange rates declined on Saturday impacted by prospect of a stronger rial in light of optimism that Iran’s financial and banking ties with the outside world were set to improve.
The dollar fluctuated between 259,000-261,000 rials for several days before pausing to lose 5,000 rials. It was worth 254,500 rials on Saturday, losing 1.5% in one day, a big daily loss compared to the 1.1% decline over the past week.
Other major currencies, namely euro, UK pound and UAE dirham also fell. The European currency retreated to 315,000 rials down 0.95% daily, the pound fetched 344,300 rials losing 1.7% and the dirham lost 1.4% to trade at 69,600 rials.
Major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro (IKCO) has slashed capital flight by $138 million through the localization of vehicle parts in the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 20–Nov. 20).
Farshad Moqimi, CEO of the company, said this has been attained with the support of industrial units affiliated with the Defense Ministry and knowledge-based companies, IRIB News Agency reported.
“Several projects have been launched to gradually slash capital flight caused by auto parts imports, which amount can reach $248 million per year,” he added.
Moqimi noted that the projects are curbing production costs and reducing IKCO’s annual import bill by $180 million while the company used to spend close to $360 million on the import of parts every year.
He called on the banks to extend support to domestic parts makers for upgrading their machinery and asked relevant authorities to cut their tax rates.
“Encouraging local parts makers for manufacturing high-tech imported components are on IKCO’s agenda,” he said.
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