Azerbaijan, Baku, April 18 /Trend, D.Khatinoglu/
Ethnic Iranian, Paris-based economist Fereydoun Khavand says the statistics published by the Iranian government and the International Monetary Fund have deep differences.
Dr.Khavand during an interview with Trend said the Iranian president talked about eight-percent GDP growth for the country while submitting the budget bill to parliament, while according to IMF statistics Iran's GDP growth for 2011 was only twi percent and for 2012 it is predicted to reach a mere 0.4 percent.
The IMF's latest report published on April 17 predicts that the GDP growth in Iran will be 0.4 and 1.3 percent respectively for this and next year.
The Iranian Central Bank released a report last week indicating a 6.8 percent GDP growth for Iran over the next two solar years ago and Iranian Ecomonic Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said earlier Iran's GDP growth for the last solar year reached about 7.3 percent.
Ahmadinejad said in January that Iranian current budget bill, which is being discussed in parliament, is scheduled based on an eight percent GDP growth.
"Ahmadinejad's budget bill's goal seems doomed to failure, the IMF statistics indicates the lowest (excepting Sudan) GDP growth for Iran among Middle East and North Africa countries. This is a real signal disaster for Iran's economy," Khavand said.
The expert said international sanctions and the inefficiency of Iran's economic plans have led to poor economic growth in the country.
So far, the UNSC has adopted four rounds of sanctions against Iran.
Expert: Deep differences between IMF and Iran gov’t statistics
