Economy

VOA – Iran is seeing an uptick in labor protests coinciding with annual deliberations on raising the minimum wage to keep up with increases in living costs, yet the actions have elicited no violent government crackdown such as the one that crushed a women’s rights movement one year ago. One of the Islamic republic’s most sustained labor protests of recent …

iranintl – The Gaza-Israel conflict has significant implications for Iran’s already strained economy, characterized by currency devaluation, reduced government revenues, and high inflation. Iran’s involvement in the regional conflict hinders its economic growth efforts, further reduces the value of the Iranian rial, and decreases government income. Additionally, it has worsened economic problems such as inflation, diminishing oil exports, and weaker GDP growth. …

iranintl – Iran’s insistence on gas exports despite the huge deficit in production and growing domestic demand that has severely damaged the country’s industrial sector. Plunging electricity deliveries in warm months and gas in the cold season to major industrial sectors, including petrochemicals, cement, and steel, has widened their idle capacity. The energy value (heat of combustion) of one cubic …

iranintl – Iran International has obtained information about two oil smugglers, helping to circumvent US sanctions, affiliated with top officials close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.  The two, Edman Nafrieh (Adman Nafariyeh) and Ali Bayandarian, collaborated with Parsargad Bank to sell millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil illegally, a common practice for the Islamic Republic meant to circumvent …

VOA – The U.S. on Wednesday sanctioned three people and four firms — across Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey — for allegedly helping to export goods and technology purchased from U.S. companies to Iran and the nation’s central bank. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the procurement network transferred U.S. technology for use by …

RFL/RE – Almost six out of every 10 Iranians are neither employed or seeking work, while more than half of those who are employed also hold down a side job. Ghasem Rostampor, the director-general of entrepreneurship and employment planning at the Labor Ministry, told the Tasnim News Agency that 58.5 percent of the country’s population is considered inactive, which refers to …

iranintl.com – Tehran’s municipality has announced that China will soon start building housing units in the capital, raising question about surrendering public land to foreign companies and other issues. Mayor Alireza Zakani, who has recently visited China, announced earlier in February that several contracts have been signed with Chinese companies to revamp the capital’s infrastructure, including construction and transportation projects. …

iranintl – The rise in food prices in Iran have been accelerating in recent weeks with two big factors driving food price inflation higher, Ramadan and Nowruz, set to begin in March. This year Ramadan starts on March 10 and the two-week holidays of Nowruz, which is the start of the Iranian New Year on March 20, lead to a …

Iranwire – As bloggers and social media content creators in Iran face mounting pressure from the authorities, the government has invited 20 foreign influencers to visit the country in an attempt to boost tourism. Deputy Tourism Minister Ali Asghar Shalbafian made the announcement on February 6, as the Didban Iran website reported that bloggers and clothing sellers are facing stricter …

iranintl – With Iran’s national currency on a rollercoaster, the government has given the green light to state banks for a whopping 30-percent interest rate for special fixed-term deposits. Last week, the Central Banks of Iran announced the issuance of special certificates of deposit with an annual profit rate of 30 percent (paid monthly), a measure aimed at incentivizing people to keep …