BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 19
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
The liquidity has risen to 24.7 trillion rials (about $588 million) in Iran at present, Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) Masoud Khansari said, Trend reports citing Mehr news agency.
According to Khansari, this indicator can be assessed as both dangerous and positive.
Khansari added that rising prices for gold, gold coins, foreign currency and cars are the result of increased liquidity.
According to him, the Iran's budget is projected to have a deficit of 1.2 billion rials (about $28.5 billion) in the current Iranian year (began from March 20, 2020).
"The spread of the coronavirus in Iran and the unprecedented fall in oil prices have created a difficult situation for the Iranian economy," he said.
The official said that as for the impact of the spread of the coronavirus on various sectors of the Iranian economy, the Iranian government has begun to shrink.
"The government can be managed at a lower cost and with less manpower, and there will be no problems with government services," he said.
According to Khansari, with the spread of the coronavirus, additional bureaucratic work began to be eliminated. For example, then the government decided to produce alcohol, the decision was implemented within a few hours.
Khansari said that at present, Iran's only source of income is the export of non-oil products, and a number of steps must be taken in this direction for this.
He went on to say that currently, there is an increase in buying and selling in the Iranian exchange markets. Thus, the value of the transaction in the 12th month of last Iranian year (February 20 - March 19, 2020) was 200 trillion rials (about $4.76 billion).
"The government must take the necessary steps to continue this process," Khansari added.
The Iran exported 5.34 million tons of products (without calculation of crude oil) worth $1.65 billion in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 20-April 19, 2020).
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 122,400 people have been infected, and 7,057 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 95,600 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The Iran's current year's budget is 5.7 quadrillion rials (about $135 billion).