Baku, Azerbaijan, April 8
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Iran’s foreign trade surplus amounted to $1.7 billion last Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), Director General of the Iranian Customs Administration and Iranian Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Mehdi Mirashrafi said, Trend reports via Fars news agency.
He said that non-oil products worth $44.3 billion were exported last year. This is 5.6 percent decline compared to the previous year, he noted.
He added that last year, goods worth $42.6 billion were imported to Iran, and this is a 21.7 percent decline compared to the previous year.
He said that the main import items were consumer and luxury products, and the imports of 1,339 kinds of these products were banned by the Cabinet’s decision.
Noting that the US sanctions are the main reason for the decline in exports, he added that if the coordination between the institutions is increased, the impact of sanctions can be minimized.
He noted that in particular, the exports of cars, petrochemicals, oil and gas condensate declined in the 11th and 12th months of last Iranian year.
He added that China (imported goods worth $9.3 billion from Iran), Iraq ($8.9 billion), the UAE ($5.9 billion), Afghanistan ($2.9 billion) and South Korea ($2.5 billion) are the top five countries importing goods from Iran.