Corporate News & Business

 

TCCIMA plans to cover all entrepreneurs (Tehran Times, 12 March 2017)

On 11 March 2017, Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) Chairman Mr. Masoud Khansari said that the TCCIMA plans to establish a comprehensive membership system in a way that all entrepreneurs will be members of this chamber. He added that the number of TCCIMA’s members has risen to 16,000 from 14,000 within the past two years and the Tehran Chamber of Commerce is trying to boost the members to 20,000. Mr. Khansari referred to cooperation with the government in order to remove the problems of private sector as a significant action of the chamber in the current Iranian year (21 March 2016-20 March 2017). Vice-Chairman of the TCCIMA Mr. Mehdi Jahangiri, said that other achievements of the chamber this year included the offering of services to the members in a short and clientele-oriented process as well as supporting unions and associations.

Five new Airbuses to join Iran fleet by March 2018 (Tehran Times, 11 March 2017)

On 11 March 2017, Managing Director of the state airline Iran Air Mr. Farhad Parvaresh said that Iran is to receive a new Airbus jetliners by the end of this Iranian year and four others in the next Iranian year (21 March 2017-20 March 2018). During a visit by President Mr. Hassan Rouhani to Paris in January 2016, Iran ordered 118 Airbus jets worth US$ 27 billion.

 

Tehran-Abidjan mull over boosting economic ties (Mehr News Agency, 11 March 2017)

Iran’s Ambassador to Ivory Coast Mr. Mansour Shakibmehr pointed to the two countries’ capacities for elevating bilateral ties in the economic and political arenas. In a meeting with Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Mr. Marcel Amon-Tanoh on 10 March 2017, the Iranian diplomat added that there existed proper venues for economic cooperation and reinvigoration of commercial exchanges between the two sides in energy, oil and gas, agriculture, health and transportation. While voicing willingness to visit Iran, Mr. Amon-Tanoh expressed hopes that arrangements for Iran Foreign Minister Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif’s trip to Ivory Coast would be made in the near future.

 

 

Finance

 

Liquidity stands at $318b (Tehran Times, 12 March 2017)

Iran’s liquidity stood at about US$ 317.7 billion during the 12-month period ended in the last day of the 10th Iranian calendar month of Dey (19 January 2017), according to a report released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). The figure shows 26 percent rise compared to the same period of time in the previous year, the report said.
Liquidity in Iran witnessed a 2.5-fold rise during the past four years, said Mr. Hamidreza Hajibabaie, Chairman of parliamentary (Majlis) ad hoc committee for reviewing the Sixth National Development Plan (2016-2021).

IMF: Early forex rate unification possible for Iran (Financial Tribune, 12 March 2017)

The International Monetary Fund is optimistic that Iran can unify its dual foreign exchange rates in 2017-18 despite recent challenges facing the country, such as currency market volatility. Senior economist at IMF Mrs. Catriona Purfield, said that since the Iranian government has already done a lot of preparations to adopt a single exchange rate regime, the country is capable of making an early move in this regard, explaining that half of imports have been put on the market rate, most of the goods are now at the flexible rate and Interbank FX market has been reestablished. Mrs. Purfield cautioned that reforming the monetary policy framework and moving away from fixing an exchange rate were contingent upon the market exchange rate being stable and having a good monetary policy and a good grip on inflation.

 

Oil & Gas

 

7 new petrochemical projects to come on stream (Mehr News Agency, 12 March 2017)

While pointing to operation of six new petrochemical projects in the present Iranian year (21 March 2016-20 March 2017), Director of Production Control in Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Mr. Alimohammad Bosaghzadeh said seven more plans will be inaugurated in the coming year (21 March 2017-20 March 2018). These include ow-density polyethylene unit of Kurdistan with an annual production capacity of 300 thousand tons, Phase 3 of Pardis Petrochemical Company with an output capacity of 1.755 million tons of urea and ammonia as well as Kaveh Methanol Petrochemicals with a capacity of 4.365 million tons per year, thylene glycol unit of Morvarid Petrochemical Company with an annual output capacity of 550 thousand tons, expansion polystyrene unit of Entekhab Petrochemical complex with a capacity of 250 thousand tons, Pars Persepolis Petrochemical plant as well as Phase 2 of Kavian Petrochemical Company with a capacity of one million tons of ethylene per year. Iran’s is now capable of producing about 62 million tons of petrochemical and polymer products per year though the figure is expected to hit over 120 million tons once the new projects become operational.

Iran sells $8.2bn petroleum products (Mehr News Agency, 11 March 2017)

Given the rise in natural gas production capacity following operation of new South Pars phases, the share of petroleum products in Iran’s fuel basket is gradually declining. Volume of natural gas output at South Pars joint field has reached over 500 million cubic meters though the figure is expected to hit the unprecedented level of 550-570 cubic meters per day once the five remaining phases come on stream. with the rise in gas output, a decline is being felt in consumption of petroleum products in the country’s energy basket as their share has dropped to less than 10% as regards supply of liquid fuel to power plants and major industries. On the basis of official statistics, a total of 93 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been used in Iranian power plants and major industries in so far in the current Iranian calendar year (began 20 March 2016). A total of about 165 million barrels of Iranian petroleum products have been shipped to regional and global markets, the pacific region in particular, bringing about a total of around US$ 8.2 billion. The figure will climb to 20 billion dollars if gas condensate revenues are included in calculations.

 

 

Society

 

Women overtake men in Iran’s job market (Financial Tribune, 12 March 2017)

Women held 89% of all the jobs created over the past Iranian year (March 2015-16), according to the Minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare Mr. Ali Rabiei. He said that some 700,000 new jobs will be created in the next Iranian year (March 2017-18), adding that new employment opportunities will be created in a range of sectors, mainly in information and communications technology as well as in internship programs offered by the Ministry. Earlier, Mr. Rabiei had announced that the share of ICT in job creation is expected to rise by 2% and reach 12% over the next Iranian year.

By Natela Outtier