Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Wednesday sounded the alarm over a slight increase in coronavirus cases in certain regions across Iran and warned against public complacency.
National
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01/14/2021 -
01/14/2021An expert in West Asian affairs said Iran’s “strategic patience and self-constraint” and its art of crisis management humiliated both Riyadh and Tel Aviv in their objective of inciting the adventurist US President Donald Trump to launch a military attack against Iran.
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01/14/2021Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday dismissed a recent claim by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Iran’s relations with the Al-Qaeda militant group, describing his assertions as “warmongering lies”.
Energy
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01/14/2021An estimated 1.75 million tons of urea fertilizer was delivered to the agriculture sector by petrochemical complexes from March 2020 to January, director of the production control department at the National Petrochemical Company said.
"The volume increased by about 30% compared to the same period last year," the Oil Ministry news agency Shana quoted Jalal Mirhashemi as saying.
With new petrochemical units coming on stream, Iran is self-sufficient in producing urea fertilizer for more than 10 years, he said, adding that “we are among the top exporters of this petrochemical in the world.” -
01/14/2021Projects to supply potable water to 100 villages in four provinces were inaugurated on Tuesday, the Energy Ministry news portal Paven reported.
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01/14/2021A water treatment plant in Malayer County, Hamedan Province, will start in February to provide water to the western county from Kalan Dam, managing director of the provincial Regional Water Company said.
“Twenty seven wells supply water to Malayer,” Mansour Sotoudeh said, adding that the new facility will supply 12 million cubic meters of drinking water from the dam to 330,000 people, the Energy Ministry news portal Paven reported him as saying.
“Kalan Dam can hold 45 million cubic meters of water and currently has 41 mcm,” Sotoudeh said. Built on Haram-Abad River, the dam is the largest in western Hamedan Province. -
01/14/2021Oil prices were higher on Wednesday, with US crude gaining for the seventh straight day, after industry data showed a bigger than expected drop in inventories and investors shrugged off rising new deaths and infections in the pandemic.
Domestic Economy
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01/14/2021The Iran-EEU Economic Diplomacy Forum is scheduled for January 27.
The event is organized by Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture and the Persian Gulf Studies Center in collaboration with Iran-Russia, Iran-Kazakhstan and Iran-Armenia joint chambers of commerce, TCCIM reported on its website.
All health protocols, including social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be observed at the event, which will also be held online.
TCCIM Chairman Masoud Khansari and other top ranking officials are expected to address the forum. -
01/14/2021Iran and Turkey exchanged $335.06 million worth of goods and commodities in November 2020, marking an increase in monthly trade for the second successive month.
According to the latest data released by Turkish Statistical Institute, the neighboring country's November trade with Iran was 5% higher than in November 2019.
This could be interpreted as a sign of recovery in trade between the two neighbors after it declined sharply during the pandemic.
Iran’s exports to Turkey accounted for $121.6 million of the sum, up 26.68% YOY, while Turkey’s exports to Iran stood at $211.464 million, down 4% year-on-year. -
01/14/2021The Purchasing Managers’ Index for industries during the ninth month of the current fiscal year (Nov. 21-Dec. 20) settled at 49.30 from 47.63 in the preceding month (Oct. 22-Nov. 20), indicating a 1.67-point or a 3.51% increase.
The announcement was made by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture. The center is measuring PMI, known by its Farsi acronym Shamekh, in Iran for the past 27 months.
An indicator of economic health for manufacturing and services sectors, PMI provides information about current business conditions to companies’ decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.
The headline PMI is a number from 0 to 100. A PMI above 50 represents an expansion when compared with the previous month. A PMI reading under 50 represents a contraction and a reading at 50 indicates no change. The further away from 50, the greater the level of change. -
01/14/2021With production worth 2.5 quadrillion rials ($10 billion) per year, Iran’s food industry accounts for around 10% of the country’s overall industrial output, according to deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, Mehdi Sadeqi Niyaraki.
“Iran has more than 8,700 active production units in the field of foodstuff, which have created around 370,000 jobs across the county,” he was quoted by IRNA as saying.
The official added that during the past few years some 2 million tons of different kinds of foodstuff worth nearly $3 billion were exported per year.
Latest available data show a total of 4.5 million tons of agricultural products worth $3.1 billion were exported from Iran during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.
The numbers indicate 26% and 13.86% growth in terms of tonnage and value respectively compared with the same period of last year, Exim News reported quoting Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi, deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration as saying. -
01/14/2021More than 80,960 billion rials ($324 million) worth of loans have been paid to the applicants of the government’s coronavirus relief package for businesses hurt by the outbreak of coronavirus thus far, says Hossein Mahmoudi, an official with the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare.
“The taskforce to combat economic consequences of coronavirus had estimated to receive loan applications worth 200,000 billion rials [$800 million]; however, banks have registered 522,533 loan applications which included loans worth 133,130 billion rials [$532 million] for 977,181 people so far,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
He added, “Registration for coronavirus loan started at kara.mcls.gov.ir on May 9, 2020 and ended on Oct. 21, 2020. The lending program is ongoing but there is no more registration possible except for businesses engaged in three fields namely tourism, culture and arts, and sports and youth. Businesses of these three fields have until Jan. 19 to apply for loans.
Business & Markets
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01/17/2021Banks gave 73.93 trillion rials ($302 million) in loans to 2,722 small and medium-sized businesses plus to pending business projects with physical progress above 60% in the first three quarters of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-Dec 20, 2020).
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01/17/2021President Hassan Rouhani has instructed the security apparatus to find and end illegal cryptocurrency mining following rare power outages across the country.
Environment
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01/14/2021Half of January has passed and air pollution charts continue to see “Red” on all days in Tehran, as the concentration of toxins hits worrying levels and officials drag their feet.
Air Quality Index has been riding an upward trajectory over the past four days and reached 170 on Tuesday, Tasnim News Agency reported.
According to Air Quality Control Company, during the past two weeks, eight days were marked as unhealthy for all citizens.
On Tuesday, Hossein Shahidzadeh, the head of AQCC, declared that the condition is expected to persist for at least four more days.
Shahidzadeh said air pollution is the top problem of the capital’s citizens.
“This a multidimensional issue that cannot be solved by one entity. A wise collective effort is required to alleviate the deteriorating condition,” he said.
