TEHRAN, Iran, April 23
Trend:
Iran's unemployment rate has dropped from 12 percent to 10.2 percent in the last Iranian year (from March 20, 2019 through March 20, 2020), said Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, Trend reports citing IRNA.
"The government has been creating 600,000 jobs every year since it came to power and it has created 430,000 job opportunities in the last fiscal year, so the number of unemployed has reduced from 3.2 million to 2.8 million people last year," said Jahangiri.
"A total of $1.6 billion worth of loans has been prepared to be offered to the low-income village population at 4,6 10 percent interest rates, in the current Iranian year to create jobs," he added.
"The villagers can be active in eco-tourism, although during the coronavirus they have been facing damages, but they will be provide with support," he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 87,000 people have been infected, 5,481 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 64,800 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. 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.