Iran's Deputy Speaker of Parliament: Economic Growth Will Be Zero Percent in 2015

Continuing warnings about the possibility of halting Iran's positive three percent economic growth, the Deputy Speaker of Iran's Parliament described the ongoing 'recession' in the country's economy as 'concerning' and predicted that Iran's economic growth in 2015 would be zero. According to the House of Representatives news agency, Mohammad Reza Bahonar said on Friday, October 24, 'Although the country's economy has distanced itself from inflation, the existing recession is extremely worrying.' He emphasized that after the lifting of sanctions, we should witness 'effective measures' from the government to exit the recession in the following year. The Central Bank has reported Iran's economic growth rate for 2014 as a positive three percent. However, Es'haq Jahangiri, the first vice president, stated on September 10 that the three percent growth in 2014 did not continue into 2015. Meanwhile, Akbar Komijani, the deputy governor of the Central Bank, had predicted in recent days that economic growth in the spring of this year would be 'very low and even negative,' but ultimately, with the implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement, this year's growth rate would become positive. The Mehr news agency reported on Friday that the Central Bank and the Statistical Center of Iran have not announced the economic growth rate for the spring, while they had reported this figure in the spring of the previous year. The International Monetary Fund reported on October 5 that Iran's economic growth this year would depend on when sanctions against Iran are lifted, estimating it to be around negative half a percent to half a percent. Some analysts, however, have expressed hope that Iran's economy will grow by about four to five and a half percent in 2016 with an increase in oil production. Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, has predicted that Iran's economic growth in 2016, with an increase in oil production to two million barrels per day, will reach five percent. Iran's oil production has decreased to one million barrels per day following Western sanctions. Four ministers from Rouhani's government had previously warned in a letter to the Iranian president that if decisions are not made 'urgently and based on the rules governing crisis situations,' the current recession will turn into a crisis. In this context, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, stated on October 10 that the government and production sectors are facing problems and that Iran's economy may return to recession. The Tehran Chamber of Commerce reported that the current recession in Iran is unprecedented in the past 30 years. Rouhani also stated that the economic situation will change significantly next year. Car imports to Iran halved in the first half of 2015, and the number of building permits decreased by 26 percent in the spring of 2015.