Economy

In recent years, growth in the Iranian economy has been consistent and relatively high. The 5 year average growth has been 5.7% and the 10 year average 5.3%. Key drivers of the economic growth include:

• Abundance of natural resources including the largest energy reserves (crude oil and gas) in the world, iron ore, copper, zinc and lead, and gold.

• Continuous expansion of non-oil industries including steel, cement and automotive manufacturing

• Higher capital expenditure for infrastructure development in the government's budget

• The young and well-educated population  

• Appetite for a more liberalised and privately-owned economy.

Exports
Approximately 80% of Iran’s export earnings are from the direct sale of crude oil. The non-oil exports of the country, however, are diverse with petrochemicals, cars, fruits, carpets, pistachios and caviar being the main export commodities. The export strategy of the government is to diversify in order to reduce reliance on oil, due to the vulnerability to global oil prices.

Imports

Imports to Iran consist mainly of industrial machinery which is a characteristic of an emerging market keen to diversify its economy. Even though Iran holds the second largest reserves of crude oil in the world, the country has turned into an importer of refined petroleum products due to its rapid economic boom, massively growing automotive production sector and its stock of inefficient vehicles. Nevertheless, with the new measures introduced by the government, such as the rationing of petrol, consumption has slowed down.