Tehran, Iran, May 4
By Temkin Jafarov, Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The Islamic Republic has adopted a policy to reduce, or even stop, selling raw material, Member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce Mehdi Zohrevandi told Trend May 3.
He asserted that for a country that seeks development and improvement of its GDP it is meaningless to sell raw material.
Zohrevandi called for establishing the infrastructure needed for processing raw material instead of exporting them.
The Iranian official however admitted that economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic have delayed the measures needed to fulfill those needs.
He said that if processed, the raw material now exported would come with an added value of four to five times.
Iran's non-oil trade turnover (including condensates) surpassed $102.221 billion during the last Iranian fiscal year (ended on March 21). The country's non-oil exports stood at $49.744 billion during the period, meanwhile the value of imports reached $52.477 billion.
According to the World Bank, Iran is the second largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after Saudi Arabia, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $406.3 billion in 2014.
Edited by CN
Mehdi Sepahvand is Trend Agency's journalist in Iran, follow him on Twitter: @mehdisepahvand