TEHRAN-TIMES, February 28, 2020 - 21:2:   Government spokesman Ali Rabiei announced on Friday that Iran will face a ri­sing number of patients diagnosed with coronavirus in the next two weeks and urged citizens to fully observe the Health Ministry advices to contain the spread of the dis­ease. “In the next one or two weeks we face a condition which the cooperation of people with the recommen­da­tion of officials will be very essential and effective,” Rabiei said in a series of tweets. The an­nounce­ment by the government spokesman came as the National Headquarters for Campaign against Corona held a meeting on Friday in which Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri was also pre­sent. Rabiei said reports show coordination between different bodies and that the Health Mi­nis­try has control over the situation. He also said there will be changes in working hours.

The spokesman said decisions were taken to limit entry into and exit from provinces in which coronavirus cases have been confirmed. It was also decided to disinfect “special places” and pro­vinces inflicted by coronavirus, scientifically called Covid-19.  Health Minister Saeed Namaki also said it was decided on Friday to close all schools across the country until Monday. School week in Iran begins from Saturday until Wednesday. He also urgently asked the citizen to seri­ous­ly avoid unnecessary trips. The minister said if a passenger is diagnosed with coronavirus he will be quarantined for two weeks. “If a suspicious case is noticed in entry or exit of cities that person will surely be quarantined for 14 days.”

The Health Ministry has previously urged people to stay at home, restrict traffic, reduce inter­act­tions, avoid unnecessary travel, and cancel any nationwide gatherings. It has also said ob­ser­ving “individual health tips are the only ways to control Covid-19". Upon the advice of the Health Ministry, the Friday prayers in Tehran and 22 other provinces were also canceled to coun­ter the spread of coronavirus. The Health Ministry also placed restrictions on access to the Hazrat Masumeh shrine in Qom, where the coronavirus in Iran first emerged, and the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. Until Friday, the Health Ministry confirmed 34 deaths and 388 cases of coronavirus in the country.

Comment Marin-Consult:  On Saturday noon the Iranian Health Ministry confirmed 43 death and 593 cases of coronavirus in Iran.

The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) announced that the inflation rate in the twel­ve-month period ended on February 19, which marks the end of the eleventh Iranian calen­dar month of Bahman, stood at 37,0 percent. The SCI said that the inflation rate has fallen 1.6 per­­cent in the menti­on­ed time span from the twelve-month period ended in the last day of the tenth Iranian month of Dey, IRNA reported.

The center also announced that the point-to-point inflation rate has dropped 1.3 percent to 25 percent in the eleventh month from its previous month. Point-to-point inflation has fallen 1.1 per­cent to 25.1 percent in the urban areas and slid 2.6 percent to 24.4 percent in the rural regi­ons on a monthly basis, the same report confirmed.

EU-Iran Foreign Trade in the year 2019 generated 5,224 mil­li­on Euro.

The 28 EU coun­­tries exported goods worth € 4,523 million Euro to Iran and imported goods worth € 701 million.  Germany was the most important EU trade partner of Iran, with a trade volume of 1,708 million Euro, fol­lowed by Italy (898 million Euro) and the Netherlands 514 mil­lion Euro).

The European Union (EU28) export of goods to Iran stood at 4,523 million Euro, a de­crea­se of 49% com­­pared with the year 2018.  According to the la­test da­ta by Euro­stat, the sta­tis­tical of­fice of the European Union, 34% of the EU ex­ports to Iran ca­me from Ger­­­many, which de­­­li­ve­red goods worth €1,516 million, that was 44% less than in the year 2018. Second (18%) was Italy with exports worth € 746 million (-51%), fol­lowed by the Ne­ther­­­lands (€ 484 million, -34%) and France (€ 376 million, -58%). 

In the year 2019 the 28 EU countries imported goods worth € 701 million from Iran, (a de­crea­se of 93% compared with the year 2018).  Major Iranian ex­ports to the Eu­­ro­pean Union (27%) go to Germany, which imported goods worth € 192 million from Iran (-53%), fol­­lowed by Italy (€ 152 million, -95%) and Spain (€81 million, -96%).

Im Jahr 2019 fiel der deutsch-iranische Außenhandel auf 1.722 Millionen Euro und damit im Vergleich zum Vorjahreszeitraum um 45%. Deutschland lieferte Wa­­­ren im Wert von 1.516 Millionen Euro (-44%); die iranischen Lieferungen nach Deutschand  lagen bei 206 Mio. Euro (-45%). 

Wichtigste Warengruppen bei den deutschen Lieferungen nach Iran im Jahr 2019 wa­­ren Ma­­­schi­­nen, Apparate und mechanische Geräte (434  Mio. Euro, -60%),  pharma­zeu­ti­sche Er­­zeug­nisse (220 Mio. Euro, -12%), optische, photo­gra­phi­sche usw. Er­zeug­nisse (128 Mio. Eu­ro, -18%) sowie elektro­tech­ni­sche Er­zeug­nisse (117 Mio. Euro, -34%).

Die iranischen Liefe­run­gen nach Deutschland im Berichtszeitraum setz­ten sich u.a. zu­sam­­men aus geniessbaren Früch­­­­­­­ten und Nüssen im Wert von 68 Mio. Eu­­ro (-45%), ande­ren Waren tie­­ri­schen Ur­sprungs (Häu­te und Schafs­­därme) (30 Mio. Eu­ro, -16%), pharma­zeu­­ti­schen Er­zeugnis­sen (28 Mio. Euro, +32%) sowie Teppi­chen (22 Mio. €,m -5%).

Eine Ta­bel­le mit 98 Wa­rengruppen kann angefordert werden.  Hauptursache für den Rückgang des Han­­dels zwi­schen Iran und Deutschland sind die seit November 2018 wieder vollständig reak­ti­vier­ten US-Sankti­onen.  Nach Angaben des Statis­ti­schen Bun­des­amtes