Economy - 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. Newly elected President KHATAMI has continued to follow the market reform plans of former President RAFSANJANI and has indicated that he will pursue diversification of Iran's oil-reliant economy. In the early 1990s, Iran experienced a financial crisis and was forced to reschedule $15 billion in debt. The strong oil market in 1996 helped ease financial pressures on Iran and allowed for Tehran's timely debt service payments. Iran's financial situation tightened in 1997 and early 1998 because of lower oil prices. Iran may be forced to decrease imports and slow debt repayments if the oil market worsens further.

GDP purchasing power parity - $371.2 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 3.2% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $5,500 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 21%
industry: 37%
services: 42% (1994 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 23% (1996)

Labor force
total: 15.4 million
by occupation: agriculture 33%, manufacturing 21% (1988 est.)
note: shortage of skilled labor

Unemployment rate more than 30% (January 1998 est.)

Budget
revenues: $34.6 billion
expenditures: $34.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $11.8 billion (FY96/97)

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

Industrial production growth rate 5.7% (FY95/96 est.)

Electricity - capacity 25.117 million kW (1995)

Electricity - production 79 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 1,222 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool; caviar

Exports
total value: $19 billion (f.o.b., 1997 est.)
commodities: petroleum 80%, carpets, fruits, nuts, hides, iron, steel
partners: Japan, US, UK, Germany, South Korea, UAE

Imports
total value: $15.6 billion (f.o.b., 1997 est.)
commodities: machinery, military supplies, metal works, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, technical services, refined oil products
partners: Germany, Italy, Japan, UAE, UK, Belgium

Debt - external $21.9 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $40 million (1993)

Currency 10 Iranian rials (IR) = 1 toman; note - domestic figures are generally referred to in terms of the toman

Exchange rates Iranian rials (IR) per US$1 - 1,752.14 (January 1998), 1,750.76 (1996), 1,752.92 (1997), 1,747.93 (1995), 1,748.75 (1994), 1,267.77 (1993); black market rate: 4,600 rials per US$1 (March 1997); note - as of May 1995, the "official rate" of 1,750 rials per US$1 is used for imports of essential goods and services and for oil exports, whereas the "official export rate" of 3,000 rials per US$1 is used for non-oil exports and imports not covered by the official rate

Fiscal year 21 March - 20 March

NOTE: The information regarding Iran on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Iran Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Iran Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.