TEHRAN, Iran, May 13
Trend:
Iran's pharmaceutical imports in the first two months of the current Iranian year (began March 20, 2020) haven't been big, the head of Iranian Pharmaceutical Importers Association Naser Riyahi told Trend.
"Import of Iran's medicine by the private sector during the past two months was nearly zero, since the government didn't assign the official currency rate for this sector," he explained.
"It is possible that some importers have registered their orders a few months ago and their medicines have arrived just recently," Riyahi explained.
The official also said that possibly some products have arrived at Iran's customs in the past two months, and were released early, considering the urgent need in them, but overall, the exports stood flat during the mentioned time.
"No foreign currency has been assigned to import of basic materials for pharmaceutical producers during this time," he added.
Riyahi said there isn't any special medicine for treating the coronavirus, but there are drugs that are used to treat the symptoms.
"Iran was among the first countries in the world that got hit by COVID-19, and we were able to find certain medicine to tackle the spread of the virus," he said. "Now, the situation isn't as hard as it was before, so now we have enough of drugs stored."
Speaking of the INSTEX mechanism (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges), he said it is for the goods that aren't sanctioned, and can be purchased by Iran.
"The channel was launched for providing humanitarian aid, the European countries try to use some of Iran's blocked money for export of medicine. The European countries were forced to reduce medicine export to Iran due to the US pressure, so their efforts has not reach serious result," he said.
"Although the European pharmaceutical companies have cooperated with Iran, but naturally it's not possible to transfer foreign currency for purchasing goods. The European companies would give us some goods on account of credit, but there is no serious export since they are commercial companies," he said.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread of the disease. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.