TEHRAN- Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has supplied about $15 billion for importing basic and essential commodities as well as medicine in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22), IRIB reported.

As reported, the figure has increased 27 percent compared to the same period in the previous Iranian calendar year.

Some $4.6 billion of the mentioned figure was allocated for the imports of essential goods and medicine, which was 70 percent more than the allocation in the previous year’s same time span.

Of the above-mentioned figure, $1.546 billion was provided for importing corn, barley and wheat, $1.124 billion for oilseeds and edible oil, $1.171 billion for medicine and medical equipment, and $348 million for soybean meal.

Also, $10.4 billion in foreign exchange was provided for other basic commodities, registering an increase of 15 percent over the same period last year.

Back in July, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had said that enough basic and strategic goods were imported into the country and there are no worries over the supply of such commodities.

Iran imported 12.5 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $14.5 billion in the first four months of the present year, with 32 percent growth in value and five percent rise in weight year on year, according to the Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi.

The country traded 50.8 million tons of non-oil products worth nearly $29 billion with other countries in the mentioned four-month period, which indicated also 21 percent growth in terms of weight on an annual basis.

The United Arab Emirates with four million tons of goods worth $4.7 billion was the top exporter of goods to Iran in the mentioned period, followed by China with one million tons of goods worth $3.1 billion, Turkey with 1.3 million tons worth $1.5 billion, Germany with 351,000 tons worth $563 million, and Switzerland with 672,000 tons worth $539 million, the official stated.

EF/MA