TEHRAN – Iranian government’s statistics agency (SCI) has reported that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 54,970 trillion rials in the nine months to December 21, showing an increase of 5.1% against the similar period in 2020.
According to the report in the local media, Iran’s economy grew by over 5% over March-December last year despite continued pressure on the country because of American sanctions.
The report said that the GDP growth calculations were based on fixed prices reported in 2011 when the US dollar was worth around 120,000 against the Iranian rial.
Currency prices have more than doubled since then and the GDP figure reported for Iran for the March-December 2021 period is currently equal to $215.5 billion.
However, the report said that Iran’s GDP without oil had increased 3.8% year on year in March-December to reach 45,460 trillion rials.
The figure is consistent with reports suggesting that Iran’s crude exports increased in third quarter of 2021 to levels not seen since 2018 when the United States imposed its sanctions on Tehran’s energy trade.
The sanctions were meant to cause an economic collapse in Iran and force the country into giving up its nuclear and defense rights.
Highest GDP growth in the Iranian economic sectors in March-December was reported for manufacturing and mining as the sector expanded by 7.1%, said the report by Fars.
The Iranian services sector grew by 5.1% over the same period while the agriculture sector, a best performer of the economy in recent years, contracted by 3.9%, it added.