Azerbaijan, Baku, July 15/ Trend F.Karimov/
Iran's GDP (PPP) is nearing one thousand billion dollars, ISNA quoted Iran's finance and economic affairs minister Shamseddin Hosseini as saying.
He also said that the country's foreign exchange reserve has exceeded $100 billion, while foreign debt stands at $14.3 billion, which is one third of the figure in 2005.
He stated that the national economy's prospect is promising despite the global economic crisis and the international sanctions against the country.
He further said that Iran's human development index has improved.
The International Monetary Fund said the country's gross domestic product is forecasted to shrink 1.3 per cent this year after contracting 1.9 per cent last year.
That was a downgrade from the IMF's last report in October, when it estimated Iran's GDP would shrink only 0.9 per cent in 2012 and grow 0.8 per cent in 2013.
The international body forecast unemployment in Iran would rise to 13.4 per cent this year and 14.7 per cent in 2014 from 12.5 per cent in 2012.
But the IMF also predicted that GDP would resume expanding in 2014, at a pace of 1.1 per cent. This suggests the economy will be able to find domestic sources of demand to at least partly compensate for its damaged export industries.