TEHRAN - The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest World Economic Outlook, has estimated Iran’s inflation to decline to 31.7 percent in 2024 from 40.7 percent last year.

The IMF forecasted that Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 3.7 percent this year, up from a previous estimate of 3.3 percent announced in July, IRNA reported.

The IMF said that Iran’s current account balance will be 2.9 percent of its GDP this year, slightly up from 2.8 last year.

The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has put the average inflation rate in the twelve-month period ended on October 21, which marks the end of the seventh Iranian calendar month Mehr, at 33.6 percent, falling 0.6 percent from the figure for the twelve-month ended to the sixth month.

The center put the country’s point-to-point inflation rate at 31.6 percent in the seventh month, which means families have paid an average of 31.6 percent more for purchasing the same package of commodities and services in that month, compared to the same month in the preceding year.

The point-to-point inflation rate rose 0.4 percent in the seventh month from the previous month.

In mid-June, the SCI announced that Iran’s economy grew by 5.7 percent in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), marking the highest growth since 2017.

In its latest report, the SCI said the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the year ending in March 2024 at the constant prices of 2017 is equivalent to 5.7 percent of the total GDP and 3.4 percent of the GDP minus oil.

The field of activities of industries and mines group grew by 6.9 percent, the services group by 5.7 percent, and the agriculture group by 2.2 percent compared to the previous year.

As announced by the Central Bank of Iran (CB), the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) including oil grew 3.2 percent in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 21), compared to the first quarter of last year.

According to the CBI Economic Accounts Department, GDP to the base price (fixed prices in 2016), the figure excluding oil increased by 2.5 percent, IRNA reported.

As previously announced by the CBI, Iran's GDP grew 4.5 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year compared to a year earlier. The figure excluding oil increased by 3.6 percent.

In addition, the country’s economic growth without oil included in the mentioned period reached 3.9 percent.

The realization of 4.5 percent economic growth in the previous Iranian calendar year indicates the continuation of the growing trend of economic activities in the country.

EF/MA