TEHRAN – Iran's gross domestic product, excluding the oil sector, has registered a positive growth rate of 1.3 percent in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 -December 21, 2019), IRIB reported, quoting the governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

“Total non-oil economic growth for the first nine months has reached 1.3 percent. We all hope that as soon as we overcome the coronavirus [outbreak], we will see continued production boom and positive economic growth,” Abdolnasser Hemmati wrote in an Instagram post.

According to Hemmati, the country’s economic performance shows that despite maximum pressure imposed by the U.S. sanctions, Iran’s economy has achieved good results in the framework of the production boom strategy outlined by the leader of the Islamic Revolution.

The CBI statistical reports indicate that in the third quarter of the year, non-oil economic growth stood at 3.3 percent and economic growth with oil was 1.2 percent.

The report put the growth for the country’s agriculture, industries, construction, and services sectors at 7.8 percent, 7 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively for the mentioned quarter.

In Early February, Majlis research center said in a report that Iran's non-oil gross domestic product expected to register a positive growth rate of 1.8 percent in the current fiscal year (March 21, 2019-March 19, 2020).

“Although due to the significant negative growth rate of the oil sector, economic growth in the country will continue to be negative in 1398 [the current calendar year] but oil-free economic growth is estimated at 1.8 percent for the year,” the report said.

The report saw the growth for the country’s agriculture, industries, energy, construction, and services sectors at 5.5 percent, 1.5 percent, and 10 percent, as well as 14.5 and 0.5 percent, respectively for the current Iranian calendar year.

EF/MA