Details of Iran's H1 Economic Growth Released

EghtesadOnline: The government recently released the details of Iran's economic growth during the first half of the current Iranian year (started March 20, 2016).

News ID: ۷۳۹۴۷۳

29 January 2017

Based on the report published last week, Iran's economic growth over the six months to September 20 stood at 7.4%. The figures for spring and summer were 5.4% and 9.2% respectively.

The GDP growth, excluding oil sector, amounted to 0.9%. The figure for Q1 stood at -0.9%, while Q2 growth without oil amounted to 2.6%, Boursepress reported.

The oil sector registered the highest increase in GDP in the period with a growth of 61.3%. A 55.4% and 67.2% growth was reached in the first and second quarters respectively, Financial Tribune reported.

As the figures indicate, much of the growth was driven by the possibility of Iran increasing its oil exports following the removal of nuclear sanctions against the country early last year as part of the historic deal with world powers a year earlier.

In return for the sanctions removal, Iran agreed to scale back the scope of its nuclear works.

Iran is currently producing 3.9 million barrels per day of crude, the Oil Ministry's news agency Shana reported late Wednesday, citing the country's oil minister.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh indicated that Iran was closing in on its target of restoring output to the level of 4 million bpd the country produced before the 2012 imposition of international nuclear sanctions specifically targeting Iran's petroleum and financial sectors, while exceeding its deemed OPEC production ceiling of just under 3.8 million bpd following the group's decision in November to cut output by about 1.2 million bpd.

Other sectors posting growth in H1 include the agriculture and services, registering a 4.8% growth each. Both experienced a 4.2% growth in spring and 5% in summer.

The two sectors of 'industry' and 'electricity, gas and water' recorded 4.6% growth each—2.9% for Q1 and 6.2% for Q2.

Meanwhile, the construction sector has the biggest contraction during the six–month period, experiencing a -13% growth, with -25.6% for spring and -2.6% for summer.

The mining sector registered a -7.3% growth with the first and second quarters, registering -9.4% and -5.4% respectively.