Economy

Radiofarda – Azerbaijan’s state-run oil and gas company, Socar, signed a new 25-year production sharing contract (PSA) with British Petroleum on April 26 to explore and develop an oil and gas block in the Caspian Sea. Socar is also preparing to contract another offshore gas project with Norwegian Statoil next month.

Al-Monitor – While the nuclear deal struck between Iran and six world powers in 2015 lifted international sanctions, it failed to remove primary US restrictions on dollar transactions. As such, some in Iran have grown to view currency swap agreements (CSAs) with other countries as a way to overcome remaining US sanctions. This is even though many swaps do not …

PayvandNews – Iran’s aluminum production is headed for a landmark rise of 70% when a new smelter comes online early next year, making the country self-sufficient in the strategic metal, Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian has said.

Radiofarda – More than forty percent of the unemployed in Iran are university graduates, says a representative of the government’s Planning and Management Organization (PMO). “42 percent of unemployed people in Iran have a university degree, and huge sums of money have been spent on their education,” said PMO Deputy for Social Development Sa’eed Namaki, adding that unemployment among university …

Radiofarda – Paper production in Iran has come to a complete stop until further notice, the chairman of the Paper and Cardboard Producers Union of Iran announced April 24.

Radiofarda – Two weeks after the Rouhani administration introduced its new foreign exchange policy of a single rate for US dollar, travellers and businesses complain that foreign currency is not available at the government-imposed rate of 42,000 rials for a dollar. Vice-President Ali Asghar Mounesan told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) on Monday April 23 that travel agents have …

RFL/RE – Every day, hundreds head to Tehran’s bustling Ferdowsi street to buy foreign currency, only to find that many exchange offices have shut up shop, have turned off their currency-rate displays, or have signs up reading, “We don’t have U.S. dollars to sell.”

RFL/RE – Iran has banned the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by its banks and financial institutions. “The use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in all the country’s monetary and financial centers was banned,” an April 23 statement by the central bank said. It said the decision had been made in December by the government’s money-laundering committee and it …

Al-Monitor – Iranian and international experts have opined for some time that Iran’s banking sector is at risk of a financial collapse due to toxic assets. It is no secret that over the past decade all Iranian banks were negatively affected by sanctions, internal mismanagement and corruption. Another disturbing factor in the financial sector has been the presence of unlicensed …

VOA – Iranians say prices of foreign pharmaceuticals have surged in recent weeks because of the strengthening U.S. dollar, causing hardship for the sick and inciting anger toward people seen as profiting from the situation. In Tuesday’s edition of VOA Persian’s Straight Talk call-in show, callers from inside Iran accused the government of failing to deal with the problem. The …