Over 200 Industrial Units Resume Operations in Q1

In a recent meeting with officials from the organization, Hossein Modarres Khiyabani, the ministry’s caretaker, said based on the policies devised for reviving inactive industrial units, an additional 1,500 recession-hit small- and medium-sized enterprises will be helped back on their feet by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2021), IRNA reported.

“As per a similar initiative, 1,020 inactive mines will be revived by the end of the year,” he added.

Khiyabani noted that despite the obstacles created by US sanctions, 200 major industrial projects with an aggregate value of 1.7 quadrillion rials ($8.5 billion) will be implemented by the fiscal yearend.

According to Deputy Industries Minister Mohsen Salehinia, more than 46,000 industrial units are operating in 820 industrial towns across the country, 93% of which are considered small, 4% medium and 3% large.

About 35,000 small and large units are also under construction, he added.

According to the ministry, Iran possesses more than 10,000 mines, around 1,400 of which are currently inactive. The revival of these natural resources can greatly contribute to bringing recession-hit industrial units back on track and boost the country’s value-added chain.

Chairman of Qom Province Industries, Mining and Trade Organization Mahmoud Sijani said 196 inactive industrial units were revived in the central city of Qom in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20).

“Plans are underway to revive 180 more units by the end of the current year [March 20, 2021],” he was also quoted as saying by IRNA on Thursday, during the inauguration of two major industrial projects in Qom.

He noted that the new projects were completed at a cost of 5 trillion rials ($25 million) worth of investments and are envisaged to provide 200 direct jobs.

The industries and mines sector in Iran contracted by a whopping 14.7% in the last fiscal year.

According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the country’s economy experienced a -7% contraction in the fiscal 2019-20.

GDP shrank by -0.6% without taking oil production into account.

However, the Central Bank of Iran says the Iranian economy grew by 1.1% in the fiscal 2019-20, excluding oil.

“GDP contracted by 6.5%, including oil,” CBI Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati wrote on his Instagram, adding that the industries and mines sector grew by 2.3%.

The World Bank expects Iran’s economy to bounce back to growth in 2021 with 2.1% in GDP expansion after having experienced an estimated 5.3% contraction this year.

In its June edition of Global Economic Prospects report, World Bank has revised down its forecast for Iran’s growth in 2020. The previous such report had estimated zero growth in 2020.

However, the forecast for next year has been revised up, as the previous report had forecast a 1% growth in 2021.

According to World Bank, Iran experienced respective growth rates of -8.2%, -4.7% and 3.8% in 2019, 2018 and 2017.