Tehran, Iran, Jan.29
Trend:
Iran's Minister of Industry Mines and Trade Reza Rahmani has announced that the country's auto industry has annually been saving the country some $10 billion, despite the current problems, including the US sanctions.
"If there was no auto industry in the country, the annual cost of importing autos would be $15,000 billion. At the moment imports of parts has cost around $5,000 billion for the industry," said Rahmani, Trend reports citing IRNA.
The official noted the quality of domestic autos is not acceptable.
"The Ministry has a cohesive plan to increase the quality and improve the domestic production," he said.
"Although in the past years there has been support for the auto industry in Iran, in recent years, due to new sanctions, the support has decreased, mostly in terms of provision of facilities," he said.
Rahmani previously announced that some 500,000 people are directly employed in the auto industry, and should not lose their jobs.
The re-impose of US sanctions by Trump administration against Iran, has hit the country's auto industry alongside other sectors. Meanwhile, the devaluation of national currency has led people to rush buying domestic cars, which in turn sparked the increase of prices.