Economy

Radiofarda – The Iranian government is continuing to cut off cash subsidies as the economic crunch resulting from U.S. sanctions become increasingly daunting. Based on estimates published by Mehr news agency and Eghtesad Online news website, some 24 million Iranians will no longer receive cash subsidies by the end of the current Iranian year on 20 March 2020. Officials have …

Radiofarda – A serious and historic slowdown has gripped Iran’s residential real-estate market, with nationwide sales down 55 percent this month compared with the same period last year. Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency says nationwide sales from September 21-October 6 were 16,400 units, a huge drop from the previous year when around 35,000 units were sold in the same period. The …

Al-Arabia – A global dirty money watchdog said on Friday it had given Iran a final deadline of February 2020 to comply with international norms, after which it would urge all its members to apply counter-measures.“If before February 2020, Iran does not enact the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with the FATF Standards, then the FATF will fully …

Radiofarda – President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff has said October 17 that Iran is still able to sell its oil and those who try to block it do not know how it is done, according to official news website IRNA. “Enemies tried to prevent Iran from selling its oil, but we continue to do that, and they still don’t know …

Radiofarda – Iran’s customs chief has said that his country’s non-oil exports increased by 22 percent from March 21-September 21, compared with the same period last year, reaching 70 million metric tons. He also said that the total value of these exports was close to $21 billion, but he did not mention the monetary value of exports last year. Iran’s …

RFL/RE — Majority state-owned Turkish bank Halkbank has been criminally charged in an indictment for involvement in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran.Prosecutors in New York on October 15 alleged the bank had protection from high-level Iranian and Turkish government officials as it engaged in widespread fraud and money laundering using a vast, complex network of front companies to …

Al-Monitor – One of the impacts of the current US sanctions on Iran is the loss of income as a consequence of lower oil export revenues. To make up for the lost inflows into the state budget, the government has increased its efforts to sell its shares in large Iranian enterprises. Since most of the shares sold on the capital markets end …

Reuters – Iran’s economy is expected to shrink by 9.5% this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, down from a previous estimate of a 6% contraction, as the country feels the impact of tighter U.S. sanctions. The IMF forecasts, published on Tuesday in the fund’s World Economic Outlook report, are not far from estimates given last week by the …

Newyorker.com – After the Iranian Revolution, in 1979, the theocracy called on women to breed a new Islamic generation. It lowered the marriage age to nine for girls and fourteen for boys; it legalized polygamy and raised the price of birth control. By 1986, the average family had six children. A leading cleric said that the government’s goal was to …

Radiofarda – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that if Iran were serious about fighting money laundering and terrorism financing, it would have approved laws to make the country in par with international standards. The international watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) based in Paris in 2017 demanded Iran reform its legal system and banking practices by following international …