The United Nations has welcomed recent efforts by parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to hold constructive dialogue for reviving the faltering agreement.
The United Nations has welcomed recent efforts by parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to hold constructive dialogue for reviving the faltering agreement.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the country will unveil 133 achievements in the nuclear technology sector on the occasion of National Nuclear Technology Day.
The Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that all of Iran’s 31 provincial capitals have been placed on red alert, as a fourth wave of infections is sweeping across the country at an unprecedented pace.
Iran is among the countries facing extreme water stress and the situation is very likely to deteriorate this summer due to low rainfall since the current water year (began Sept 2020), the chairman of the Technical Committee for Flood Evaluation & Dam Safety at the Iranian National Committee on Large Dams said.
“It is forecast that at least 200 cities in Iran will face water paucity in summer. However, the amount of rainfall can influence that number,” Mehr News Agency quoted Mostafa Fadaei as saying.
Water scarcity, which is broadly the lack of access to adequate quantities of water for human and environmental use, is increasingly being recognized in many countries as a serious and growing concern.
Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday on the prospects for stronger global economic growth amid a report that crude inventories in the United States, the world’s biggest fuel consumer, fell.
The Goureh-Jask crude oil pipe-laying operation has been completed and welding is in the final stages, managing director of the Petroleum Engineering and Development Co., a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, said.
“Close to 1,000 km of pipes are in place and first phase of the project is scheduled to come on stream by May. It will transfer 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Goureh oil terminal in Bushehr Province to Jask Port in Hormozgan Province,” Mehr News Agency quoted Touraj Dehghani as saying.
The pipes were made by three Iranian companies, he said, and added that Ahvaz Industrial Pipe Company, the Isfahan-based Mobarakeh Steel Company and Khuzestan Oxin Steel Company were involved.
The Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade's review of the first 11 months of the last Iranian year (March 20, 2020-Feb. 18) shows the output of 19 industrial products (out of 29 under review) registered growth compared with the corresponding period of the year before.
A total of 5,000 tons of acrylic fiber were produced during the 11 months, up by 293.2% year-on-year.
Production of washing machines rose by 49.9% to reach 1 million units.
A total of 591 combine harvesters were produced during the period under review, indicating a 48.9% YOY rise.
Iran and Turkey exchanged $758.29 million worth of goods during the first two months of 2021, registering a 16.3% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year.
According to the latest data released by Turkish Statistical Institute, the neighboring country's imports from Iran hit $342.18 million during the period, 37.20% higher year-on-year.
Turkey’s exports to Iran stood at $416.11 million, which shows a 3.46% YOY increase.
Trade between the two countries posted a growth of 32.79% in February to $419.15 million. Iran exported $181.08 million to its neighbor during the month, up 38.8% while Turkey's export to Iran grew by 28.49% to $238 million.
Bilateral trade stood at $3.43 billion in 2020 to register a decline of 45.82% compared with 2019.
Markazi Province filed the lowest unemployment rate of 6.8% among all Iranian provinces in the fourth quarter of last Iranian year (Dec. 21, 2020-March 20) while Kurdestan registered the highest unemployment rate of 18.8%.
Tehran Province, wherein lies the capital city, registered a 7% unemployment rate, the Statistical Center of Iran reported.
Eighteen provinces, namely Markazi Province (6.8%), East Azabaijan (7%), Tehran (7%), Khorasan Razavi (7%), Fars (7.4%), Gilan (8.1%), South Khorasan (8.3%), Semnan (8.5%), Mazandaran (8.6%), Ardabil (8.7%), Zanjan (8.8%), Golestan (9%), Hamedan (9%), Ilam (9.1%), Bushehr (9.3%), Qazvin (9.6%), Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province (9.7%) and Isfahan (9.8%), registered single-digit unemployment rates for people of ages 15 and above in Q4.
More than 240,000 public complaints were filed against goods and service providers with the industries, mining and trade organizations of Iranian provinces in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2021) to register a 7% decline compared with the year before.
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index of “housing and utilities (water, electricity, natural gas and other fuels)” in the 12-month period ending March 20, which marks the end of the 12th month of the fiscal 2020-21, increased by 25.3% compared with last year’s corresponding period.
The CPI of the group among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households, which has the biggest impact on total inflation rate with a coefficient of 35.5%, registered a year-on-year increase of 28.4%.
The index stood at 214.1 for the month under review, indicating a 1.5% rise compared with the month before, the Statistical Center of Iran reported.
The International Monetary Fund expects Iran’s economy to grow by 2.5% in 2021.
In its new World Economic Outlook report titled “Managing Divergent Recoveries”, IMF has put Iran’s GDP growth in 2020 at 1.5%. Projection for 2022 is at 2.1%.
According to IMF, the country experienced a 13.4% growth in 2016, the year Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was implemented, i.e., international sanctions against the Islamic Republic were lifted.
The massive growth was followed by a further 3.8% in 2017. But with the walkout of the US from JCPOA under the administration of Donald Trump and introduction of new rounds of sanctions, the Iranian economy shrank by 6% and 6.8% in the following two years.
In its preface, the “Managing Divergent Recoveries” report refers to implications of Covid-19 for the world economy and says: “We are now projecting a stronger recovery in 2021 and 2022 for the global economy compared to our previous forecast, with growth projected to be 6% in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022. Nonetheless, the outlook presents daunting challenges related to divergences in the speed of recovery both across and within countries and the potential for persistent economic damage from the crisis.”
Up to 2.8 million tons of essential goods, including rice, vegetable oils and unprocessed sugar, that were purchased in the fiscal 2020-21 will be imported during the first five months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Aug. 22), a senior official with Government Trading Corporation of Iran said.
“A total of 5 million tons of essential goods were imported during last [fiscal] year [March 2020-21], that is 10 times as much the volume imported in the year ending March 2018,” Amir Talebi was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Also known as necessity goods, essential goods are products consumers will buy, regardless of changes in income levels.
The Energy Ministry Wednesday published new regulations guiding cryptomining work. Miners will be charged 16,574 rials for one kilowatt-hour of electricity, the ministry website reported.
It said the base rate will be cut by half when household consumption is low and the national grid is not under pressure as usually is the case in the summer months.
The base rate, however, is four times higher than previous 4,800 rial for one kilowatt-hour. Electricity prices are set based on power export tariffs based on currency parity rates at Nima -- a currency platform were foreign currency is traded among importers and exporters. Base rates will be updated at three- month intervals and subject to forex rates.
Rates will double during restrictions like when power plants do not receive enough gas as feedstock or the national grid struggles to meet household demand.
The Expediency Council on Wednesday cancelled a meeting to discuss two bills demanded by the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money laundering watchdog, citing the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Referring to the lockdowns and restrictions on gatherings announced by the National Coronavirus Center, Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the EC said "the session couldn’t be held virtually due to lack of technical preparedness."
With many big cities in Iran on red alert and new coronavirus infections and deaths rising, health authorities have urged the people to avoid public and private gatherings. Health officials reported 21,000 new cases and 193 deaths on Wednesday.
Tehran shares closed trading week on Wednesday in negative territory as sell side pressure continued to depress prices for seven sessions in a row.
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, lost 10,875 points or 0.86% to end trading at 1,249,910. The decline put the TSE weekly loss at 3.5%.
Amid incessant liquidity outflow, prices of 317 tickers declined accounting for 67% of total tickers, according to the Persian-language economic website Eghtesad News.
The Government Economic Coordination Council has expanded the purview that allows exporters to meet their forex repatriation commitment via "import in lieu of export".
According to Hamid Zadboum, head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization, export companies can benefit from the new rules in meeting their financial commitments related to returning their foreign earnings.
The new decision allows exporters to use part of their foreign earnings from fiscal 2018-19 to import goods either for their own needs or for a third party.
Over one-third of vehicles used in Tehran failed to meet emission standards and pass technical inspection tests.
Hossein Moqaddam, the CEO of Tehran Vehicle Technical Inspection Bureau, said that in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2021), 1.66 million vehicles visited the capital's technical inspection centers, of which 1.19 million were under four years old and underwent their first technical check, Hamshahri Online reported.
"Of the 597,600 new vehicles rejected, 17% did not receive the certificate due to high emission, 11% for wheel alignment, 4% for shock absorber failure, 13% for brake system problems and 16% for appearance issues,” he added.
The official noted that during the period, 1.13 technical certificates have been issued, of which 850,000 were regular and 283,000 were premium type.
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