World Bank expects Iran’s economy to grow by 2.2% in 2023

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
11 Jun 2023 10:41

The World Bank expects Iran to challenge the US sanctions by expanding its economic growth.

In this June 26, 2018, file photo pedestrians and motorists move past a construction building as they are reflected on an advertisement billboard at the Central Business District in Beijing. (AP)

The World Bank expects a 2.2% expansion in Iran's economy this year, despite the continued pressure of the US sanctions on the country's economy.

The World Bank's latest Global Economic Prospects report included tables showing that the development lender had revised its January growth outlook for Iran in 2023 from 0.0% to 2.2%. The organization forecasted that real global gross domestic product (GDP) is set to climb 2.1% this year.

The tables demonstrated that Iran’s GDP had expanded by 2.9% in 2022, down from 4.7% reported in the year before but up from a 2021 GDP growth of 1.9%. Moreover, the quarterly report indicated that Iran’s economic growth will decelerate to 2% in 2024 and to 1.9% in 2025, also indicating that Iran’s quarterly growth rate peaked at 4.7% in December last year.

The figures are consistent with statements by Iranian government authorities in recent months suggesting that the country has fully recovered from the impacts of US sanctions on its economy.

The US imposed what was described by economic experts as a series of crippling sanctions on Iran in 2018, after the withdrawal from the country's nuclear program. Over the years, the sanctions have been tightened with the aim of forcing Iran into concessions on its foreign policy and defense activities.

Last year, 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 GDP in 2022, an improvement from the previous year of 3.5%.

The report added that due to the significant increase in oil prices, most MENA countries (considered oil/gas producers and exporters) were expected to achieve 5.5% economic growth in 2022, as 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 was expected to be in Kuwait, according to the World Bank, which predicted that the country would reach a full 8.5% growth, while Morocco was set to experience the lowest growth of 1.2%.