Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 15
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
Iran's economy is completely dependent on foreign countries and imports exceed the exports in the country's foreign trade balance, an expert in economics Mehdi Naimi told Trend.
Therefore, sanctions by foreign countries negatively affects Iran's economy and unfortunately, Iranian economy cannot rely on itself, he added.
He noted that economies of all developed countries depend on foreign countries. But, a group of these are producing countries, he added, noting that such countries as Iran are not considered one of them.
He further added that there is production in Iran at a certain level, but this is not enough to meet the domestic demand fully.
Sanctions have been imposed against Iran since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Naimi said, adding that before 2010 sanctions were not as severe as they are now and Iran's exports were never as restricted as today.
"If we divide the period since the Revolution into four decades, taking into account the war [Iran-Iraq War], the development of Iran's economy was -1.6 percent in the first decade. In the following three decades Iran's economy, having increased to 4-5 percent in some occasions, later declined to 0.5 percent. In general, during the four decades Iran's economy lost many years of development. And we can relate all these to the sanctions," Naimi said.
As it comes to the sanctions Iran faces today, they fully aim the country's imports and exports, he said, adding that the new sanctions aim to cease exports of Iran's crude oil, as well as other important products such as pistachio.
The US imposed severe economic sanctions against Iran on Nov. 5, 2018.
