Figures by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) show the country’s economy grew by 5.3% year on year in the three calendar months to December 21, 2022.
CBI’s deputy governor for economic affairs Peyman Ghorbani said on Monday that the economic growth reported by the bank for the December quarter was an increase of 0.5% compared to the year on year growth rate reported in the same quarter in 2021.
Ghorbani told the Iranian state TV that the non-oil sector of Iran’s economy had also expanded by 4.5% in the three months to late December last year.
The quarterly figures marked the highest increase in Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the calendar year starting late March 2022, he said, adding that the country had experienced growth rates of 2.2% and 3.6% in quarters to late June and late September, respectively.
The official said Iran’s oil sector was the best performer of the Iranian economy in the December quarter with a GDP expansion of 15.4%, adding that agriculture grew by 1.1% over the period, the lowest among Iranian economic sectors.
Ghorbani said Iran’s economic growth rate in the three quarters to late December was 3.7%, adding that the non-oil sector of the economy had expanded by 3.2% over the same period.
The CBI uses fixed prices reported in 2016 as a baseline for its GDP calculations. The price of US dollar in the Iranian market was nearly 37,300 rials in late 2016 while its current price is around 450,000 rials.
The figures come days after data by the Statistical Center of Iran showed that the Iranian economy grew by 3.3% in the three quarters to late December last year.