BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 11
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
Iran's economic development will decline in the next 12 months, Iranian expert on energy issues Mehrdad Emadi told Trend.
According to Emadi, Iran's economic growth is expected to be up to 1 percent over the next 12 months, although it is difficult to predict, considering the economic trends.
Emadi added that as a result of the US sanctions against Iran and the decline in Iranian oil exports, economic growth may even drop from by 3 percent to 5 percent.
The expert said that each one-percent decrease means the closure of 85,000-120,000 jobs in Iran and can lead to high inflation in the country.
"In the situation when oil exports are low, Iran needs to protect its foreign trade in various fields including the energy sector and continues to give great privileges to countries such as China, India and Turkey," Emadi said.
"However, China has recently reduced its trade with Iran, taking into account the US sanctions against Iran, because China prefers its trade with the US over its trade with Iran," he added.
In November 2018, the US imposed new sanctions on Iran. Over the past period, the sanctions included Iranian oil exports as well as more than 700 banks, companies and individuals.
According to the latest official statistics, inflation reached 37 percent in Iran.