Tehran Province Accounts for Over One-Fifth of Iran’s GDP

EghtesadOnline: Tehran Province accounted for 22.1% or more than one-fifth of Iran’s gross domestic product in the fiscal 2019-20.

News ID: ۷۵۱۰۶۱

22 September 2020

The value of Tehran’s output stood at 7,400 trillion rials ($27.1 billion) in the last fiscal year to grab the lion’s share of Iran's GDP.

Real estate was the most productive economic sector in Tehran, accounting for one-fifth of the province’s GDP.

The industries sector accounted for 15.1% of Tehran’s total production.

According to a report by the Persian-language daily Donya-e-Eqtesad, citing the Statistical Center of Iran, Khuzestan was the second biggest economic player among Iranian provinces during the period under review, as it comprised 14.8% of Iran's GDP, despite registering a 1.6% decrease compared with the year before.

The decline in oil output over the past two years due to the imposition of sanctions is to blame for the downturn in Khuzestan’s GDP, although 68% of its GDP came from the mining sector.

Tehran and Khuzestan constituted more than one-third of Iran's production in the fiscal 2019-20.

With 2,020 trillion rials ($7.39 billion) in GDP, Bushehr was the third largest economy among Iranian provinces during the period.

“Supply of electricity, gas, steam and air ventilation” was the most productive economic sector in Bushehr, thanks to its natural gas and nuclear power plants, accounting for more than half of the province’s total output.

Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi ranked fourth and fifth in the country’s GDP share.

Isfahan’s economy is built on industries: 31% of its GDP are produced by its industries. Real estate also plays a significant role in the economy of Isfahan but not as much as in Tehran. But like Tehran, “wholesale and retail, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycle” has a considerable share in the province’s GDP with 16.3%.

When it comes to Khorasan Razavi, the agriculture sector has the biggest share in GDP. “Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing” sector accounts for 11% of the province’s GDP.

Tehran, Khuzestan, Bushehr, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, Fars, East Azarbaijan, Mazandaran, Alborz and Kerman provinces accounted for more than 70% of Iran’s total GDP in the year ending March 2020.

Unlike Khorasan Razavi, its neighboring provinces, namely North Khorasan and South Khorasan, had the smallest share in Iran’s GDP. They accounted for 1% of the country’s GDP together.

As the biggest economic player, Tehran’s share in GDP is 50 times bigger than South Khorasan's, Iran’s smallest economy. Even Khorasan Razavi’s economy is 10 times bigger than South Khorasan.

Agriculture plays the most significant role in South Khorasan’s economy, generating 17.6% of its GDP. The positive aspect about South Khorasan's GDP in the last fiscal year was the increase in the shares of industries and services compared with the preceding year.

The agro sector constituted one-fifth of North Khorasan’s economy, followed by industries, construction and wholesale services.

Mazandaran and Fars had the highest shares of agricultural output in the country with 8.36% and 7.81%, respectively. In the industrial sector, which includes extraction of oil and natural gas, extraction of other minerals, industries, water supply, electricity, natural gas and construction, Khuzestan and Bushehr had the highest shares, while Tehran accounted for 33.41% or 5,280 trillion rials ($19.34 billion) of GDP in the services sector, the Statistical center of Iran reported.

Following is the shares of all Iranian provinces in Iran's GDP: Markazi with 1.9%, Gilan with 2.2%, Mazandaran with 3.3%, East Azarbaijan with 3.5%, West Azarbaijan with 2%, Kermanshah with 1.5%, Fars with 4.7%, Khuzestan with 14.8%, Fars with 4.7%, Kerman with 3.1%, Khorasan Razavi with 4.9%, Isfahan with 5.8%, Sistan-Baluchestan with 1.4%, Kurdestan with 0.9%, Hamedan with 1.2%, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari with 0.6%, Lorestan with 1.1%, Ilam with 1.2%, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad with 2.2%, Bushehr with 6%, Zanjan with 1%, Semnan with 0.9%, Yazd with 1.8%, Hormozgan with 2%, Tehran with 22.1%, Ardabil with 1%, Qom with 1%, Qazvin with 1.5%, Golestan with 1.2%, North Khorasan with 0.5%, South Khorasan with 0.5%, Alborz with 2.8% and trans-provincial areas with 1.6%.

The Iranian economy contracted by 7% in the fiscal 2019-20, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.

According to the center, GDP shrank by -0.6%, excluding oil production.

The sectors of "industries and mines" and ""services" saw respective contractions of 14.7% and 0.3%.

This is while Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati has put last fiscal year's growth at -6.5%. Excluding the oil sector, he put the growth at 1.1%.

Hemmati also said the oil sector shrank by 38.7% amid sanctions on Iran's oil sales.

The sectors of “agriculture” and "industries and mine" saw respective growths of 8.8% and 2.3%, as services contracted by 0.2%, he added.

Notably, all rial values in the above text have been converted to dollar based on current market rates as of Monday's close.