TEHRAN - The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said CBI’s major economic indicators show that the economy is emerging from a recession that began nearly two years ago when the United States imposed sanctions on Tehran.

“Although some are trying to mispresent the country's economic situation and picture a darker economic future, but according to the Central Bank of Iran data, important macroeconomic indicators such as the growth of non-oil sector, inflation, and other variables are all pointing to the relative stability and gradual recovery of the economy from recession, and this is amazing compared to what the enemies were looking for and imagined,” Abdolnasser Hemmati wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

Hemmati has previously cited reports by the CBI and the Statistical Center of Iran suggesting that the economy had started to grow regardless of the share of oil revenues in government budgets.

The chief banker also said that rampant inflation that caused a major slowdown in the economy after Washington imposed its sanctions in November 2018 had been brought under control.

The comments came as the Iranian currency continued to dip against other major currencies on Tuesday with each U.S. dollar traded at 140,000 rials in the unofficial market in Tehran.

Back in January, Hemmati had announced that CBI was fully controlling the currency market and people should not have any worries over the exchange rates.

Earlier this week, Iranian Economy Minister Farhad Dejpasand also said the country has pulled itself out of economic recession, as the economic growth without taking oil revenues into account has been positive from March to November 2019 despite the U.S. sanctions.

He made the remarks when elaborating on the government’s economic performance in the run-up to the 41st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in an interview with the Iranian state TV on Sunday.

EF/