Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.30/ Trend, F. Karimov/
Iran's economic growth rate should be increased to 5 percent from the currently rate of negative 1 in order to help resolve many economic problems, the Fars News Agency quoted Tehran Chamber of Commerce director Yahya Al-e Es'haq as saying.
"We are facing challenges, such as high inflation and unemployment rates. Such problems should be addressed," he noted.
If the economic growth rate reaches five or six percent, all the challenges will be turned into opportunities, he said.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said on April 16 that Iran's economy contracted by 1.9% in 2012 and is expected to shrink by 1.3% this year as it reels from the impact of Western sanctions.
However, the economy of the Islamic republic is forecasted to grow next year by 1.1%, the IMF said in its annual World Economic Outlook.
The IMF said the "macroeconomic environment is likely to remain difficult, given the sharp depreciation of the rial and adverse external conditions, which will sustain inflation at relatively high levels."
A Western ban on Iranian oil exports, which came into effect in July, hit the country's economy badly.
Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi acknowledged in January that Iran's oil exports have plummeted by 40% in the preceding nine months because of tough Western sanctions.
However, Iran's parliamentary research center has reported that the economic growth rate hit 0.36 percent in 2012, ranking the country 164th in the world.
Iran has been placed 23rd among regional countries in this respect.
Iraq had the highest economic growth rate of 11.14 percent, followed by Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kuwait.
Iranian MP Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moqaddam has rejected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that the country experienced a 5.2 percent economic growth rate.
"There are signs, such as rising unemployment rate and closing down of factories, which show the claimed figure is incorrect," he said.
The rate which has been announced by the president is not consistent with economic statistics, he noted.
Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mehdi Ghazanfari has said that sanctions against the Islamic Republic aim to paralyze the country's economy.
"The aim of [anti-Iran] sanctions is to paralyze our economy and to put people under pressure and in distress," Ghazanfari said, Press TV reported.
The ultimate target of these sanctions is the entire economy, he stressed, adding that enemies of the Islamic Republic seek to damage Iran's economy as well as the country's economic growth.