Iran is experiencing the positive results of the above-$30-a-barrel oil price, with its previous dormant economy showing 5 percent this current Iranian year, reported Mohsen Nourbakhsh, the governor of the central bank, speaking on state radio. Still, the figure is one percentage point short of the minimum 6 percent target that is listed in Iran's March 2000- March 2005 five-year economic development plan.
Exports in the first six months of the current Iranian year equaled at $12.9 billion, while imports totaled $7.2 billion, said the central bank governor. Nourbakhsh noted that the total income from sale of crude oil and refined products stood at $15.675 billion during the first eight months of the year. He said that total income from oil would reach $21.5 billion, assuming that the oil prices holds steady.
About $10 billion of the surplus income from oil is being deposited in a special fund. Half of that amount will be channeled to the country’s private sector to help develop production and exports, he added. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
