World Bank expects economic growth in Iran despite sanctions, embargo

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen English + Agencies
9 Oct 2022 20:00

The latest World Bank economic report on the MENA region expects the Islamic Republic of Iran to witness 2.9% of economic growth in 2022.

The World Bank Group logo seen on the building of the Washington-based global development lender (Reuters)

The World Bank expected in an economic report covering the MENA region that the Iranian economy will grow in 2022 by 2.9% while the "average growth for developing oil exporters is expected to fall back to 2.7 percent,” according to the report.

The report titled “A New State of Mind: Greater Transparency and Accountability in the Middle East and North Africa” stated that it is expected that the account balance of Iran will reach 3.8% of the GDP in 2022, an improvement from the previous year of 3.5%. In addition, the Fiscal Balance of the Islamic Republic is expected to witness an improvement from 5.3% in 2021 to reach 4.5%.

The report added that due to the significant increase in oil prices, most MENA countries (considered oil/gas producers and exporters) are expected to reach 5.5% economic growth in 2022, were West Asia and North Africa back in 2021 reached a 3.6% economic growth.

The highest economic growth to be experienced in the MENA region in 2022 will be in Kuwait, according to the World Bank, which predicts that the country will reach a full 8.5% growth, while Morocco will experience the lowest growth of 1.2%.

During a press conference back in August on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of his presidency, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced that, despite the embargo and sanctions imposed, the Islamic Republic of Iran was able to attract $5.16 billion of domestic and foreign capital, while succeeding in a span of 6 months to reduce inflation from 60% to 40%, noting that Iranians "no longer suffer from problems related to the stock of basic goods and commodities."

Earlier this year in January, Iran's leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei addressing a group of Iranian manufacturers and entrepreneurs in Tehran said that the "enemies waged a war against Iran's economy in order to bring it to its collapse."

The leader added that “the collapse of the economy was, of course, a prelude in order to set the people against the Islamic Republic by destroying the Iranian economy and to carry out their malicious political intentions in this way," adding that "the workers were the sincere and earnest warriors of this battle. You and all economic actors share in this honor of preserving the country's economy."

In a more recent speech delivered less than a week ago, Sayyed Ali Khamenei stated, while addressing the foreign-backed riots in Iran, that Iran has advanced despite sanctions and Western conspiracies, which were the reason why foreign governments attempt to destabilize the country as they "feel that the country is progressing toward full-scale power and they can’t tolerate this."

2021: Iran economy grows by 4.1% in first 3 quarters: Central Bank

During 2021, Iran's total GDP grew by 4.1% during the first 9 months of the Iranian calendar year of 1400, which extends from March 21 to December 21 of 2021.

Iran's central bank released statistics showing that the country's economy grew by 3.4%, not taking into account the Islamic Republic's oil exports, as national economic growth excluding oil registered a growth of 5.8% during the same period.

The Central Bank of Iran's figures reflected growth in various areas and sectors, which included the services sector (8.1%), the industries and mines sectors (3.8%), and the oil sector (5.4%) compared to the same period in 2020.