Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's economic growth rate will hit zero per cent by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014), the Fars News Agency quoted the Central Bank of Iran Governor Valiollah Seif as saying.
The economic growth rate dropped to minus 5.8 per cent in the past year. We have taken drastic measures to curb liquidity growth and help stop the negative growth rate of the national economy, he added.
Signs of the economic growth can be seen in production growth and liquidity decline in the market, Seif explained.
On November 5, Iran's deputy economy minister Behrouz Alishiri said the country needs $1 trillion rials of investments to attain an eight per cent economic growth rate, the Fars News Agency reported.
The Iranian Parliament Research Centre has released a report saying Iran's economy contracted three per cent during the last Iranian year which ended on March 2013 and it is estimated to contract 1.3 per cent more during the current Iranian solar year.
According to the report, the average economic growth during the past eight years is 3.52 per cent.
In August, ISNA quoted Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia as saying that a low economic growth rate is currently the main challenge to the national economy.
The ministry will focus on improving living standards through curbing inflation and fostering businesses, he stated.
The Central Bank of Iran has recently reported that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate excluding oil sector, was 3.2 per cent in the Iranian calendar year 1390 which ended in March 2012, ISNA reported.
The Central Bank has said the GDP growth rates were 6.38 per cent, 3.16 per cent, and 0.83 per cent in the years 1389, 1388, and 1387 respectively, while the statistical centres put the figures at 5.8 per cent, 3 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.