Baku, Azerbaijan, May 19
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The lion's share of goods which are smuggled to Iran enters via official customs, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Iranian Justice Minister said.
Statistics show that between $12 billion and $20 billion worth of goods are smuggled to the country, he said, adding that the lion's share of the smuggled goods enter the country via official customs, Iran's Fars news agency quoted Pourmohammadi as saying May 19.
Iranian MP Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi said on May 13 that over $25 billion of goods are smuggled into Iran annually, which is more than the country's oil income.
"Unfortunately, domestic manufacturers are grappling with a drop in sales, and consequently, a shortage of liquidity and revolving capital due to irregular and illegal imports of goods," he said.
Although the administration had been obliged to pave the way for tracking all products existing in the domestic market, but no measure has been taken, he noted.
Edited by CN