Tehran, Iran, March 11
Trend:
The Head of Iran Export Confederation stated that the local market is locked in some way, and practically, the purchase and sale of goods has become a difficult issue.
"According to the statistics of customs, our non-oil export was $40 billion and imports stood at $37.5 billion, indicating that our trade balance was positive in the first 11 months of this year (started on March,21, 2018)," the Head of Iran Export Confederation Mohammad Lahouti said, Trend reports citing Tasnim News Agency.
“We expect exports to reach $43 billion by the end of the year (March 21, 2019)," added Lahouti.
He criticized the allocation of currency in official rate (42,000 rial per dollar) for importing some commodities.
"Despite the currency allocation, there are still expensive commodities in the market," Lahouti said.
He also announced the formation of a committee with participation of representatives of the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Central Bank, and Iran's Chamber of Commerce in order to eliminate the problems in the country's economy.
“The government has made new decisions to facilitate the return of foreign currency earned from exports and the possibility of providing an export currency for importers, which could facilitate the return of the export currency to the country,” he said.
“According to the Central Bank, so far, just 35 percent of the currency earned by exporters has been returned to the country,” said Lahouti.