TEHRAN- Iran’s economic growth rate stood at 5.4 percent in spring, which corresponds to the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year, according to the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif, ISNA reported on Sunday.

As Seif previously announced in early March, Iran expects economic growth of more than 5 percent in 2016, after emerging from the years of international sanctions over the country’s nuclear program.

“Iran’s economic growth slowed down in 2015 but domestic and international predictions both indicate that growth in 2016 would be beyond 5 percent,” CBI governor said at the time.

However, President Hassan Rouhani said earlier in April that his country needed 8 percent economic growth in order to deal with inflation and unemployment.

HJ/MA