Overview: Iran's economy is a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures. Over the past several years, the government has introduced several measures to liberalize the economy and reduce government intervention, but most of these changes have moved slowly because of political opposition. Iran has faced increasingly severe financial difficulties in 1992-93 due to an import surge since 1989 and general financial mismanagement. At yearend 1993 the Iranian Government estimated that it owed foreign creditors about $30 billion; an estimated $8 billion of this debt was in arrears. Earnings from oil exports--which provide over 90% of Iran's export revenues--are providing less relief to Iran than usual because of declining oil prices. Estimated overall growth was a robust 6.3% in 1992 and a moderate 3% in 1993.

National product: GNP - purchasing power equivalent - $303 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 3% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $4,780 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 30% (September 1992-September 1993)

Unemployment rate: 30% (1991 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Exports: $15.5 billion (f.o.b., FY92 est.)
commodities: petroleum 90%, carpets, fruits, nuts, hides
partners: Japan, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium/Luxembourg, Spain, and Germany

Imports: $23.7 billion (c.i.f., FY92 est.)
commodities: machinery, military supplies, metal works, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, technical services, refined oil products
partners: Germany, Japan, Italy, UK, France

External debt: $30 billion (December 1993)

Industrial production: growth rate 3% (1993 est.); accounts for almost 30% of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity:
capacity: 15,649,000 kW
production: 43.6 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 710 kWh (1992)

Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other building materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), metal fabricating

Agriculture: accounts for about 20% of GDP; principal products - wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton, dairy products, wool, caviar; not self-sufficient in food

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium poppy for the domestic and international drug trade; net opiate importer but also a key transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin to Europe

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-80), $1 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.675 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $976 million
note: aid fell sharply following the 1979 revolution

Currency: 1 Iranian rial (IR) = 10 tomans
Exchange rates: Iranian rials (IR) per US$1 - 1,748.86 (January 1994), 1,267.77 (1993), 65.552 (1992), 67.505 (1991); note - in March 1993 the Iranian government announced a new single-parity exchange rate system with a new official rate of 1,538 rials per dollar; there is also a black market rate of 2200 rials per US$1 (December 1993)

Fiscal year: 21 March - 20 March

NOTE: The information regarding Iran on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Iran Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Iran Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.