Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 5
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's deputy economy minister Behrouz Alishiri has said that the country needs $1 trillion rials of investments to attain an eight percent economic growth rate, the Fars News Agency reported.
One fourth of the sum should be secured through foreign investment, Alishiri added.
The Iranian Parliament Research Center has released a report, which says Iran's economy contracted 3 percent during the last Iranian year which ended on March 2013, and it is estimated to contract 1.3 percent more during the current Iranian solar year.
According to the report, the average economic growth during the last 8 years is 3.52 percent, while the Statistical Centre of Iran said earlier that Iran's economy contracted by 5.4 percent during the last solar year.
In August, ISNA quoted Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia as saying that a low economic growth rate is currently the main challenge to the national economy.
Tayyebnia referred to high unemployment as another serious concern.
For the time being, some 3.5 million people are jobless in the country, he said, adding that the figure will soar to 8.5 million, because a large number of educated youth will graduate from universities soon and will be seeking jobs.
The ministry will focus on improving the living standards through curbing inflation and fostering businesses, he stated.
The Central Bank of Iran has recently reported that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate (excluding oil sector) was 3.2 percent in the Iranian calendar year 1390, which ended in March 2012, ISNA reported.
This is while the Statistical Center of Iran had put the figure at 3 percent.
The central bank has said that the GDP growth rates were 6.38 percent, 3.16 percent, and 0.83 percent in the years 1389, 1388, and 1387 respectively, while the statistical centers has put the figures at 5.8 percent, 3 percent, and 0.8 percent respectively.