A “harsh revenge” for the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani will be taken definitely, the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Quds Force said.
A “harsh revenge” for the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani will be taken definitely, the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Quds Force said.
President Hassan Rouhani said the government is doing all in its power to neutralize unjust and illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the administration of outgoing US President Donald Trump.
Although the coronavirus infection rate has slowed, the National Coronavirus Headquarters announced on Saturday that it will extend the nightly curfew to most cities across the country to keep the contagious outbreak at bay.
Russia expects to support an increase in oil production by the group, known as OPEC+, of another 500,000 barrels per day from February at next month’s summit of the leading global oil producers, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced some businesses to close and reduced working hours in many organizations and companies across the board.
Lockdowns have led to a reduction in traffic as large numbers of employees work from home while many have been laid off. But the extended period of tough restrictions have had little to no positive impact on air quality.
Pollution continues to plague the big cities, especially Tehran, and worn-out cars and power plants using mazut are blamed.
Rains do help curb pollution for a few days but smog and pollution returns soon after with the weatherman appealing to seniors, those with pre-existing conditions and kids to stay indoors, especially in winter.
Water stored water in dams around the catchment area of Lake Urmia has decreased by 30% compared to last year, managing director of West Azarbaijan Regional Water Company said.
“There are eight dams in the catchment area which now hold less than 490 million cubic meters of water, down 30% compared to a year ago when they held 700 mcm,” Atabak Jafari was quoted as saying by Energy Today website.
Since the beginning of the current water year in September, the inflow of water into dams that feed the ailing lake namely Salmas, Zola, Boukan, Agh-Chai, Shahre-Chai, Mahabad, Aras and Sarouq dams (all in West Azarbaijan Province) has been around 920 mcm – down 23% compared to the same period in 2019 when more than 1.2 billion cubic meters flowed into the dams, he added.
Iran and members of Economic Cooperation Organization traded 10.91 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $5.72 billion during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Nov. 20), according to the spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration show.
“Latest data released by IRICA show that Iran exported 7.43 million tons of goods worth $2.94 billion to ECO member states during the period,” Rouhollah Latifi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that Iran’s main exports included liquefied petroleum gas, oil derivatives, fish and shrimps, tomato paste, vegetables, fresh and dried fruit, flowers and ornamental plants, saffron and nuts.
“With Iranian exports worth $1.21 billion, Afghanistan was our biggest destination from among the ECO members, followed by Turkey and Azerbaijan,” he said.
Iran exported 3.74 million tons of agricultural and food products worth $2.6 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year (March 20-Sept. 21).
The figures indicate a 25.65% and 12.75% rise in tonnage and value respectively compared with last year’s corresponding period, the Agriculture Ministry’s website reported.
Fresh and dried pistachio topped the list of exports in terms of value, reaching $310.17 million during the six months.
Tomato was the second major agricultural export product in terms of value with $140.31 million, followed by watermelon with $126.78 million, tomato paste with $88.09 million and fresh and dried pistachio kernel with $82.45 million.
In terms of tonnage, watermelons topped the list with 568,370 tons, followed by tomatoes with 302,680 tons, potato with 270,540 tons, apples with 167,240 tons and melons with 127,940 tons.
The new decision by the National Coronavirus Headquarters recognizes a landlord’s right to forfeit a lease agreement during the time of coronavirus, if they prove that they need their properties for the use of their sons or parents, a deputy minister of roads and urban development said.
Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh added that in such cases, the tenant must vacate the premises, News.mrud.ir reported.
In the early months of the coronavirus disease, the taskforce ordered the mandatory extension of lease agreements to protect renters at a time when the country was battling the health crisis, plus three months after the Health Ministry declares the end of the outbreak.
Ten million out of 23 million residential buildings in Iran do not have skeletal frames, which accommodate between 30-35 million people, says the head of Engineering Seismology Department at Road, Housing and Urban Development Research Center.
Iran’s flag carrier, IranAir, has returned a total of 316.44 billion rials ($1.2 million) to customers over the cancellation of Covid-related flights, since the beginning of the current fiscal year (March 20).
According to Alireza Barkhor, IranAir’s CEO, 38.34 billion rials ($153,000) have also been spent to cover virus-related expenses.
“Homa [as IranAir is known in Persian] has operated 17,479 flights since the outbreak of the coronavirus in February … More than 117,000 passengers have been transported by the flag carrier during the period,” he was quoted as saying by TINN recently.
Iran advanced one spot to rank 70th among 189 countries in the 2020 Human Development Index, according to a report released by the United Nations Development Program.
Human Development Index is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: A long and healthy life, access to education and a decent standard of living.
In the 30th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report, “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene”, Iran scored 0.783 points, compared with last year’s 0.785 points, which puts the country in the “high human development category”.
HDI classifications are based on HDI fixed cutoff points, which are derived from the quartiles of distributions of component indicators. The cutoff points are HDI of less than 0.550 for low human development, 0.550–0.699 for medium human development, 0.700–0.799 for high human development and 0.800 or greater for very high human development.
The ratio of tax revenues government gained in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20) to GDP (when current prices are used) stood at 4.2%.
A total of 1,410 trillion rials ($5.52 billion) were gained from taxes last year, of which 820 trillion rials ($3.21 billion) came from direct taxes and 590 trillion rials ($2.31 billion) from tax on goods and services.
The ratio of tax revenues to operating budget stood at 41.4% and to general expenditure at 32.7%, Fars News Agency reported.
According to the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22), the ratio of tax revenues to GDP is targeted to reach 8-10%.
Noting that the tax-to-GDP ratio in Turkey is at 24%, the US 30%, Germany about 50% and in OECD countries at 35%, Hossein Abbasi, a lecturer in the Department of Economics of University of Maryland, said the relatively low rate indicates that a big part of the Iranian economy does not pay tax.
While small caps continue to eke out gains, the big listed companies extended losses on Saturday with the main index of Tehran Stock Exchange losing 1.7%. TEDPIX lost 24,407.5 points to end trading at 1,423,507.44.
Books of brokerage firms operating in Iran's capital market show significant improvement in performance in the Iranian month to Dec. 20.
Deals worth 6,750 trillion rials ($27 billion) were recorded by the brokers, which was 180% higher than a month earlier.
On annualized basis, the deals shot up 680% thanks to a myriad of factors, most importantly the entry of new investors in the bourse, increase in listed companies and trading instruments plus traction of the market.
The Central Bank of Iran is studying the issuance of “crypto-rial” as a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and a digital form of the country’s fiat money, the CBI director of Payment Systems Department said.
“If issued, the crypto-rial could be used for small cashless transactions…it helps us reduce money circulation and can be used for interbank settlement,” the CBI website quoted Mohammad Reza Mani Yekta as saying.
The CBI said earlier that it was trying to develop a national cryptocurrency to promote financial and payment services in the domestic banking industry at the inter-bank and micro-banking levels.
The Central Bank of Iran on Saturday announced financial relief to businesses battered by months of lockdowns to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
Proposed by the National Coronavirus Headquarters "non-government businesses hit by the virus are allowed to defer two loan repayment installments".
Debt repayments that matured in the last calendar month to Dec. 20 and those that mature by the end of the current month (January 19) will be eligible for the relief on the condition that their debt is in the ‘performing loans’ category.
The subway system in Karaj, the provincial center of Alborz Province, will start partial operation in six months, the chief of Tehran City Council said.
Mohsen Hashemi added that 90% of the first phase of Tehran Metro’s Line 2 tunneling have been completed, while it some major equipment need to be procured, YJC reported.
After completion, the line will connect Kamalshahr in the far west to Shahid Soltani Bridge in the east of the city with 27 kilometers of railroad and 27 stations.
Hashemi, who headed Tehran Metro Company before his present designation, visited the construction site early this week.
During the visit, he said tunneling has reached 14 km, 6.2 km of which are between Golshahr and Jahanshahr in the city center and will hopefully come on stream in a couple of months.
Speaking of financial issues, Hashemi said participatory bonds issued last year are yet to be redeemed.
The government has allocated 4 trillion rials ($15.56 million) to the project for the current fiscal year that ends in March 2021.
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