Baku, Azerbaijan, April 5
By Gazenfer Hamidov – Trend:
Iran’s trade balance became negative is last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2018), Mojtaba Khosrotaj, head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran(TPOI), said.
The Islamic Republic experienced a $7 billion negative trade balance in the period, Khosrotaj said, the TPOI reported.
Iran’s non-oil exports accounted to $47 billion in the 12-month period based on the early estimates, the official said.
Meanwhile the country imported $54 billion worth of various goods in the last fiscal year, which is $10 billion more compared to the preceding year, he added.
Khosrotaj said that Iran’s industrial exports witnessed an increase by 22 percent year-on-year.
He further said that 57 percent of Iran’s imports were raw materials and intermediate goods, meanwhile capital goods accounted for 15 percent of imports.
Over 17 percent of the imported commodities were consumer goods, Khosrotaj noted.
Iran imported 33.4 million tons of goods, worth $43.648 billion during the fiscal year to March 20, 2017, 5.16 percent more year-on-year, in terms of value.
The country’s non-oil exports including gas condensates reached $43.93 billion during the same span of time, which indicates a 3.54 percent increase compared to the same period of the preceding year.