The reports also noted that Iran’s forex reserves stood at $111.7b by the end of 2017. The figures show that despite the U.S. efforts to impose all-out sanctions and maximizing the pressures on Iran’s economy, the country’s revenues and forex reserves have increased.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Iran will keep retaining its favorable position. In some part of the IMF report, the fund predicted Iran’s forex reserves to reach $103.3b by end of 2019. The IMF report shows that among 31 countries in the MENAP region, only Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s forex reserves conditions would be better than Iran by the yearend.

The report predicts the forex reserves of the countries in the region reiterates that Saudi Arabia’s forex reserves will be around $497.8b by the yearend while the figure for the UAE will be around $111.9b.

The IMF report predicts that the total forex reserves of the MENAP region will stand at around $1148.6b and Iran’s share accounts for 9 percent of the total forex reserves of the MEPNA states.

The report ironically questions the U.S. policies and reiterates that Iran’s forex reserves will remain over $100b and Iran will retain its third place in the region in terms of forex reserves.

The interesting point in the IMF’s report is that it claimed that Iran’s gross domestic production (GDP) has increased by $32b and its exports reached $74b exports which indicates the U.S. policy in stopping Iran’s exports has failed.

According to the IMF report, Iran’s economic growth declined to -4 % in 2018 and the negative economic growth will shrink more to -6% by the end of 2019.

Despite sanctions, Iran’s GDP, which was around $452.3, by a $32.4b increase will reach $485b by the end of 2019.

In its analytical part of the report, the IMF has underscored that the U.S. efforts to pressure sanctions on Iran’s economy have been in vain, adding that despite the. U.S. international efforts and threats for pressuring sanctions on Iran, the country can export 950,000 barrels of oil per day on average in 2019 while Iran was exporting 1.8m barrels per day on average in 2018. The reports added that Iran gas exports volume, which stood at 160m b/d per day in 2018, will remain unchanged this year despite sanctions.

The IMF has predicted that Iran’s exports in 2019 will be around $74.8b and its imports will reach $77.8b.

According to the IMF report, in 2018 Iran’s exports stood at $105.9b and its imports were $88b and the country’s trade balance became positive. But the report points to the inflation and control of prices in Iran which moves towards instability. It has gone further and reported that Iran’s inflation rate was 31.2% in 2018 and predicted that Iran’s inflation rate will bounce to around 37.2%. Of course with the current anti-public policies of the twelfth government, such a figure was nothing strange. Most of economic institutions believe that the President Rouhan’s current government will face the -7.5% economic growth and inflation rate will exceed 45%.

By: Hamid Reza Naghashian