TEHRAN - Iran’s official accessible foreign currency reserves have increased significantly in 2022, registering a more than 94 percent rise to exceed $41 billion, Tasnim News Agency reported on Sunday, citing data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Islamic Republic’s gross official reserves are seen to increase by about $20 billion from $21.3 billion in 2021 to reach $41.4 billion in 2022, the IMF data showed.

The IMF put Iran’s foreign currency reserves at nearly $15 billion in 2019, a year after former U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran by imposing “toughest ever” sanctions.

It was a dramatic drop from the data in 2018 when Iran’s reserves stood at $122.5 billion.

The international financial institution blamed the nosedive on U.S. unilateral sanctions, which blocked Iran’s access to its funds overseas.

According to Tasnim, the decline deepened in 2020 to hit $12.4, the lowest in 18 years.

However, the slide was reversed in 2021, after the current government administration took office and the country managed to add approximately $8.9 billion to its ready-to-use deposit to reach $21.3 billion.

Tasnim attributed the jump in the country’s gross official reserves to the government of President Ebrahim Raisi’s active diplomacy to offset U.S. sanctions.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran’s non-oil trade surpassed $100 billion in the past 11 months, after Raisi took office in August last year. It showed a 31 percent increase compared to the previous corresponding period. 

In the latest ranking of the world's largest economies by IMF, Iran was ranked 20th and stands higher than many European countries such as Poland, the Netherlands, Argentina, Switzerland, Belgium, and Austria.

According to the international organization, the value of Iran's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita when adjusted by PPP was $1.436 trillion in 2021.

Based on the IMF data, despite being subjected to harsh sanctions over the past few years Iran's economy was reported to be larger than 173 countries in the mentioned year.

The International Monetary Fund has recently predicted that Iran's GDP, based on purchasing power index, will increase by $137 billion in 2022 to $1.573 trillion.

EF/MA