TEHRAN – Iran has the capacity to become a newly industrialized country (NIC) in the next calendar year, starting March 21, Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Mohammadreza Nematzadeh said on Wednesday.

“Currently, Iran’s per capita income stands at $5,900,” he said, adding that the figure should rise to a minimum of $10,000 as per capita income is $10,000-$20,000 in NICs.

To this end, “Iran needs to attract three billion dollars of foreign investments, improve its competitiveness index to 55, increase non-oil exports to $103 billion, and boost exports of industrial and mining products to $61 billion, while the ratio of exports to imports should reach 98 percent,” IRIB quoted Nematzadeh as saying. 

According to the minister, Iran can experience an eight-percent economic growth thanks to its young and educated workforce, huge hydrocarbon reserves and rich mineral deposits, unparalleled geopolitical situation as well as access to high seas and emerging markets in the region.
 
NIC is a socioeconomic classification applied to several countries around the world by political scientists and economists. NICs are countries whose economies have not yet reached a developed country’s status but have, in a macroeconomic sense, outpaced their developing counterparts.

HJ/MA/MG