Iran economic growth to reach 3% by year-end

The Head of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seyf said that the country’s inflation will also stand at 17 percent by year-end, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on Dec. 5.

He went on to note that the country’s inflation will fall below 10 percent in the Iranian calendar year of 1395 (to start on March 21, 2016).

"Fluctuations in the stock exchange and forex markets are inevitable, but the markets will become stable in the coming days,” he said.

Seyf said on September 30 that the country's economy grew 4.6 percent in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 - June 21) compared to the same period previous year.

"One percent of the mentioned figure is related to the tourism sector, and another 1.5 percent is related to the industry and mine sector" Seyf said, Iran's IRIB News Agency reported.

Iran's economic growth comes after two years of stagflation.

A report released by the Central Bank of Iran also shows that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 480,491 billion rials in the first quarter.

The figure was around 459,252 billion rials in the same period previous year.

Iran’s Minister of Cooperative, Labor and Welfare Ali Rabi’ee said on Nov. 12 that the country plans to reach three percent of economic growth.

"We are currently coming out of negative growth,” he said, Iran’s IRNA News Agency reported.

"Iran’s capital market has also faced a 4-percent increase,” Rabi’ee noted.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a TV interview on Oct. 13 that the government’s goal is to increase the country’s economic growth up to 6 percent by the end of the current year (March 20, 2015).

Iran's Vice President for Planning and Strategic Supervision Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said on September 1 that the country’s economic growth will reach one percent in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 – September 22).

"The Statistical Center of Iran has estimated the economic growth to reach 0.5 percent in the mentioned period but our estimation is one percent,” Nobakht explained, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.

"The figure is expected to reach 2 percent by the end of the current year (March 20, 2015),” he noted.

It is while according to the International Monetary Fund, Iran's economic growth rate will hit 1.5 percent in the current year,

Masood Ahmed, the director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, the country's economic growth rate will increase to 1.5 percent after two years of contraction, IRNA news agency reported in August.

"The inflation rate in Iran has decreased, and the foreign currency exchange rates have been stabilized as a result of effective policies taken by President Hassan Rouhani's administration,” he said.

The official further added that the government's policies are aimed to improve monetary and fiscal policies and enhance efficiency and productivity in different sectors.

In April, the IMF said Iran's economy had contracted by 1.7 percent in 2013. However, the economy will come out of recession in 2014, the report added.

Business Monitor said in its April report that the Iranian economy will return to growth in 2014, as the improvement in relations with the West and better macroeconomic management will lead to an improved outlook for exports and increased business and consumer confidence.

Recent improvements in relations with the West bode well for the country's economy, which is forecast to expand by 2.9 percent in 2015, according to the report.