Economy (Iran)
==============


     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. After a decade of economic decline, Iran's GNP
         grew roughly 4% in FY90 and 10% in FY91. An oil windfall in 1990 combined
         with a substantial increase in imports contributed to Iran's recent economic
         growth. Iran has also begun implementing a number of economic reforms to
         reduce government intervention (including subsidies) and has allocated
         substantial resources to development projects in the hope of stimulating the
         economy. Nevertheless, lower oil revenues in 1991 - oil accounts for more
         than 90% of export revenues and provides roughly 65% of the financing for
         the five-year economic development plan - and dramatic increases in external
         debt are threatening development plans and could prompt Iran to cut imports,
         thus limiting economic growth in the medium term.
     GNP:
         exchange rate conversion - $90 billion, per capita $1,500; real growth rate
         10% (FY91 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         18% (FY91 est.)
     Unemployment rate:
         30% (1989)
     Budget:
         revenues $63 billion; expenditures $80 billion, including capital
         expenditures of $23 billion (FY90 est.)
     Exports:
         $17.8 billion (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         petroleum 90%, carpets, fruits, nuts, hides
       partners:
         Japan, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium/Luxembourg, Spain, and Germany
     Imports:
         $15.9 billion (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         machinery, military supplies, metal works, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals,
         technical services, refined oil products
       partners:
         Germany, Japan, Italy, UK, France
     External debt:
         $10 billion (1990 est.)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate NA%
     Electricity:
         14,579,000 kW capacity; 40,000 million kWh produced, 740 kWh per capita
         (1989)
     Industries:
         petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other building materials,
         food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production),
         metal fabricating (steel and copper)
     Agriculture:
         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
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-80), $1.0 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