Die niederländische Fluggesellschaft KLM hat ihre Flüge nach Teheran zumindest bis Ende Oktober 2013 eingestellt. Das geht aus einer Meldung der “APA” hervor. Damit fliegen derzeit nur noch Alitalia und Lufthansa als große europäische Airlines in den Iran.  “Die Strecke war wegen der wirtschaftlichen Lage im Iran nicht mehr rentabel zu führen. Daher haben wir sie eingestellt. Wir versuchen aber, für alle Passagiere, die schon ein Ticket nach Teheran haben, eine vernünftige Lösung wie etwa eine Umbuchung oder die Rückerstattung des Ticketpreises, zu finden”, erklärte ein Sprecher der KLM gegenüber der Agentur.

The inflation rate in the Iranian economy is expected to decrease in the current calendar year (starting March 21, 2013) and in the years to come, the Economist Weekly Magazine reported.  According to a report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit for February 2013, Iran’s inflation rate, which amounted to 30 percent in the past calendar year (ending March 20, 2013), will drop to 21 percent by the end of the current year (March 20, 2014).  Last year’s inflation, the report noted, has been the highest over the period analysed by the Economist (2008 – 2017).

The Weekly predicted that the figure will further decrease to 17 percent in the next year followed by a 0.9 percent fall in the year after to stand at 16.1 percent.  In the Iranian year 1395 (2016), the report added, Iran’s inflation is predicted to drop to 16 percent, further going down to 15 percent in 2017.

 DUBAI: Iran's economy should emerge from a recession caused by international sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme, but not until 2014, a year later than previously forecast, according to the IMF. The sanctions have hurt trade and largely frozen Iran out of the international banking system since late 2011; analysts believe the country's oil exports have been roughly halved. 

But the International Monetary Fund said Iran was avoiding any balance of payments crisis, in a report suggesting sanctions remain far from having the "crippling" effect on the Iranian economy that US leaders have said they intend.
Iran has restricted access to sensitive economic data during the nuclear crisis so analysis from the IMF, which has remained in touch with authorities in Tehran, may be among the most accurate available indications of the state of its economy.
The country's gross domestic product is forecast to shrink 1.3 percent this year after contracting 1.9 percent last year, the IMF estimated in a report forming part of its half-yearly analysis of the world economy. That was a downgrade from the IMF's last report in October, when it estimated Iran's GDP would shrink only 0.9 percent in 2012 and grow 0.8 percent in 2013.
The international body forecast unemployment in Iran would rise to 13.4 percent this year and 14.7 percent in 2014 from 12.5 percent in 2012. But the IMF also predicted GDP would resume expanding in 2014, at a pace of 1.1 percent. This suggests the economy will be able to find domestic sources of demand to at least partly compensate for its damaged export industries. The sanctions have thrown tens of thousands of people out of work and cut living standards over the past year, but the nearly $500 billion economy is large and diverse enough to continue functioning in many areas, businessmen operating in Iran say.

EXTERNAL SURPLUSES
The IMF also estimated Iran was continuing to run external surpluses; the current account surplus, which covers trade in goods and services, was forecast at 3.6 percent of GDP in 2013 and 1.9 percent in 2014, after 4.9 percent last year.
If these figures are accurate, they suggest the sanctions are failing to push the country's foreign reserves down to dangerously low levels. Many of the sanctions have targeted Iran's balance of payments as a vulnerable area of its economy. Iran has continued much of its trade through barter deals and a web of front companies. It has also imposed capital controls while a plunge of its currency, which lost about two-thirds of its value against the U.S. dollar in the free market over 15 months, seems to have helped its balance of payments by deterring some non-essential imports. The IMF predicted that the average inflation rate in Iran would fall moderately to 27.2 percent in 2013 and 21.1 percent in 2014, from 30.6 percent last year. Inflation began rising sharply at the end of 2010 when the government slashed food and fuel subsidies; since then the sanctions have added to upward pressure on prices by weakening the currency. "The macroeconomic environment is likely to remain difficult, given the sharp depreciation of the currency and adverse external conditions, which would sustain inflation at relatively high levels," the IMF said in its report, without commenting further on its estimates for Iran.

TEHRAN, Apr 9 (MNA) – Iran’s non-oil trade with outside world hit $94.8 billion in the past Ira­nian calendar year, which ended on March 20, Iranian Customs Administration Director Abbas Memarnejad said on Monday.  Non-oil exports stood at $41.5 billion, while imports amounted to $53.3 billion in the past year, he added.

According to official statistics, the figures were $43.7 billion and $61.7 billion, respectively, in the calendar year which ended in March 2012. In January, Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) Director Hamid Safdel stated that the value of Iran’s non-oil exports in the current Irani­an calendar year is predicted to reach $59.5 billion.

Exports of mineral, agricultural, industrial, and petrochemical products are seen to add up to $41 billion, the Mehr News Agency quoted Safdel as saying. The value of technical and enginee­ring exports is estimated to be around $5.5 billion, he added.  Exports of other goods, including gas condensates, are envisaged to reach $13 billion, he noted.  Iran is currently in trade with 151 countries, he noted.  TPOI Deputy Director Kiyumars Fat’hollah Kermanshahi said in May 2012 that Iran’s annual imports and exports are projected to reach $77 billion and $83 billion, respectively, by March 2016.