Iran non-oil exports can hit $60 billion
Iran has the potential to increase its non-oil exports to $60 billion in the current year, started on March 21, an Iranian banking expert said on March 25, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
"Bank loans currently account for around 2 per cent of the needed capital for exporting goods. If the figure rises to 10 per cent, Iran can hope for exporting $50-60 billion worth of goods in the current year," Seyed Kamal Seyed-Ali, former deputy director of the Central Bank of Iran explained.
"If Iran manages to reach the point, then the country's imports and exports would be balanced and the government won't need to use oil revenues to import goods," Seyed-Ali said.
"If Iran's non-oil exports rises by 20 per cent in the current year, the country would be able to use a fixed exchange rate for foreign currencies," he said.
Iran exported over $40.376 billion worth of goods in the previous Iranian calendar year (which ended on March 20), Iran's Customs Administration reported.
The figure is 2.59 per cent less than the preceding year.
The exported goods weighed around 90.83 million tons.
The country also imported some $48.364 billion worth of goods in the mentioned period.
Iran imported 33.85 million tons of goods in the previous year.
The country's imports faced 16.20 and 9.52 per cent decrease in terms of weight and value, respectively, compared to the preceding year.
Iran's total trade turnover in the previous calendar year stood at $88.74 billion.
Iran's Customs Administration's website mentioned that the released statistics are preliminary and the final figures will be announced in near future.