Iran's Economic Growth Rate Reached Three Percent in 2014

The Central Bank of Iran published its first assessment of economic developments for the year 2014. According to the bank's announcement, the economic growth rate for the year 1393 (2014) was three percent. Based on the report released on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, on the official website of the Central Bank, Iran's gross production at 2004 prices reached over 203 trillion and 159 billion tomans in 2014, indicating a three percent growth compared to the similar figure in 2013. The latest report on Iran's economic developments states that last year, the industrial and mining sectors led other economic sectors, with a growth rate of five percent in 2014. Following the industrial and mining sectors, the oil sector grew by 4.8 percent, the agricultural sector by 3.8 percent, and the services sector by 2.4 percent. The growth of Iran's economy in the reported year, excluding the oil sector, was equivalent to 2.8 percent. Among the sub-sectors of the services sector, the highest growth rate in 2014 was related to financial and monetary institutions, which experienced a growth of 15.7 percent. This report from the Central Bank confirms that Iran's economy, after two years of negative growth in 2012 and 2013, where the GDP contracted by 6.8 and 1.9 percent respectively, was able to experience positive growth. Hassan Rouhani had stated a few months ago, after announcing positive growth in the first nine months of the year, that the Iranian economy had emerged from recession. The report also announced the economic growth rate for the winter of last year. In the winter of 2014, the growth rate of Iran's economy compared to the winter of 2013 was 1.3 percent. In this season, the highest growth compared to the same period in 2013 was in the agricultural sector, which saw an added value growth of 3.1 percent. Last winter, the oil sector had disappointing performance, with its added value shrinking by 5.2 percent compared to the winter of 2013.